#data-privacy

#data-privacy

Google told employees who want health benefits that they must allow a third-party AI healthcare tool to access their data, a move that has rankled some staff members. If they decline it, they will not receive health coverage. The company announced this month that US-based employees who wish to sign up for health benefits through its parent company Alphabet in the coming enrollment period must grant access to AI-powered tools provided by Nayya, which offers personalized benefits recommendations, according to internal documents reviewed by Business Insider.

Social event planning app Partiful, which calls itself "Facebook events for hot people," has firmly replaced Facebook as the go-to platform for sending party invitations. But what Partiful also has in common with Facebook is that it's collecting a tsunami of user data, and Partiful could have done better at keeping that data secure. On Partiful, hosts can create online invitations with a retro, maximalist vibe, allowing guests to RSVP to events with the ease of ordering a salad on a touch-screen.

Whether it's talking about your ex too much or your date not looking anything like their profile picture, we'd like to hear about your bad first date experiences. What happened and did you leave early or stay until the end of the date? Did it prompt any changes in how you date or did you just chalk it up to bad luck? Share your experience You can tell us about your bad first date experiences by filling in the form below.

* Federal judiciary can stay open until October 17 amid shutdown. After that? Have you guys ever seen The Purge? [ Reuters] * Lawyer giving out roadside legal advice. Did you know lawyers could provide pro bono work without a corrupt quid pro quo? [ Axios] * E-Verify goes down after government shutdown in perfect encapsulation of how the administration doesn't care about immigration beyond authorizing masked vigilantism. [ Law360]

Data brokers are part of a worldwide multibillion-dollar industry of companies that profit from hoarding and selling access to huge amounts of Americans' personal, financial, and granular location information, often collected from phones and other devices connected to the internet. This data gets sold, including to governments, who don't need a warrant for commercially obtainable data. The collection of huge banks of data also comes with its own risks, including security lapses and data breaches.

Are you going to allow OEMs to control the vehicles? said Farley on The Verge's Decoder podcast. How far do you want the Apple brand to go? Do you want the Apple brand to start the car? Do you want the Apple brand to limit the speed? Do you want the Apple brand to limit access? In this respect, Ford has already rolled out several features to its Pro customers, such as limiting access to the vehicle on the weekend.

"All public AAA companies have overemphasized 'returning value to shareholders' over taking care of all stakeholder groups, including labor," he said. "Now, that will be shifted to keeping the company afloat amidst enormous debt payments and servicing [private equity] owners."

Want a crystal ball into the future of Wall Street? You might try starting with Goldman Sachs' annual intern survey. Goldman polled around 2,100 summer analysts and associates for its 10th annual intern survey, asking about everything from AI use to morning commutes to their homebuying ambitions. Technology dominated the topics covered in this year's survey, with close to 100% of respondents saying they use AI in their personal lives, up from 86% in 2023.

Neon's premise is simple: You allow the app to record yourself during phone calls. The company said it pays 30 cents per minute for calls with other Neon users, or half of that if the other caller isn't on Neon. In turn, the app says the data is "anonymized and sold to trusted tech companies." "Phone companies profit off your data. Now, you can too," Neon's website reads.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday declaring that his plan to sell Chinese-owned TikTok's U.S. operations to U.S. and global investors will address the national security requirements in a 2024 law. The new U.S. company will be valued at around $14 billion, Vice President JD Vance said, putting a price tag on the popular short video app far below some analyst estimates.

Only calls made or received through the Neon app are recorded. Any conversations you have through the regular phone app on your iPhone or Android phone are excluded. Neon will pay you 30 cents per minute when you speak with another Neon user. In that case, both sides of the conversation are recorded. You'll get 15 cents per minute when you speak with a non-Neon user.

Apple says it's having to delay bringing some product features to Europe because it's struggling to make them compliant with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). In a statement published on Wednesday, Apple said that DMA rules have created "more complexity and more risks for our EU users," blaming the obligation to open Apple features to third-party devices for the delays.

"It's a rip off 'Find my Friends.' I was able to reverse engineer the SF parking ticket system so I could see close to real time where parking tickets were issued in the city. And I was making a map of where the actual parking cops were as they traverse the city and issue tickets. In theory, you could use that to avoid them and avoid a ticket," said Walz.

I started using Google Drive, Gmail, and the whole suite of tools back when they were still invite-only. Back then, the cloud was an unknown entity, and many of us had no idea that it would become the backbone of both business and personal use. According to , the public cloud market alone will break the $1 trillion mark by 2026. indicates that 67% of senior executives say that their organization has accelerated its plans for cloud adoption. That's a lot of people using cloud services, and it's only going to continue to grow.

Basically, all Facebook users who had an account on the social media platform between May 7th, 2007 and December 22nd, 2022 are entitled to the payout, as they're most likely affected by the data scandal. However, in order to receive payment, you must also assert your claim-which means you needed to join the class action and submit a claim before the August 25th, 2023 deadline.

County supervisors voted Tuesday to approve a , introduced by Supervisor Hilda Solis, to beef up oversight of data gathered by law enforcement devices known as automated license plate readers. It's already illegal in California for local law enforcement agencies to share information gleaned from license plate readers with federal agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a warrant.

Walk down the street and you're likelyto be recorded by one of thousandsof security cameras, some belongingto the New York Police Department,others just connected or available to the department's databases. Drive into the city and traffic cameraswill automatically photograph your car, capturing your vehicle's license plate, make, model, color, distinctive markings and even passengers. Post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or TikTok and the N.Y.P.D. can scrape and store your messages, capturing your thoughts, plans, political statements and friend groups.

That sarcastic GIF you sent in Slack last Tuesday? Your IT department can pull it up, along with when you sent it, from which device, and your exact login history. While you're treating workplace apps like casual texting platforms, your employer is collecting data with the thoroughness of a social media algorithm. Those "productivity tools" you rely on-Slack, Google Workspace, Zoom-aren't just facilitating remote work. They're creating comprehensive digital profiles of every professional move you make.

Alphabet's health tech subsidiary, Verily, used the health data of more than 25,000 patients without authorization and actively covered up those violations, a former company executive alleges. The executive, Ryan Sloan, claims Verily fired him after he discovered breaches of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, and reported his concerns to the company's senior management. Patient data in the U.S. is protected under HIPAA, which ensures the sensitive information cannot be disclosed without a patient's consent.

What does the volatile global political environment have to do with the menstruation of millions of people? With whom do menstrual cycle apps share our medical data? And how can this information be used to criminalize women who choose to have an abortion? More and more people are downloading menstrual tracking apps on their phones. Hence, these questions are becoming a major concern for researchers and academics.

The visible Claude chatbot conversations included prompts from Anthropic's team for the chatbot to create apps, games and a "comedy Anthropic office simulator." Other users tasked Claude with writing a book, coding and completing corporate tasks that revealed staff names and emails. Several transcripts made users identifiable by name, or by details shared in the prompt. Google estimated that it had indexed just under 600 conversations.

The report argued that improved data is especially critical now that federal Pell Grants have been restored to incarcerated students. "Better data is essential to realizing the promise of higher education in prison," the report noted. "With reliable, accessible, and ethical data practices, programs can better support student success, identify and address disparities, and advocate for resources and reform ... At this turning point, data is not just a tool for accountability-it is a foundation for educational quality and meaningful opportunity."