Consumer Privacy

Mar 13 2018

World Privacy Forum in the news: spring update

Here is a spring 2018 update on a selection of privacy stories WPF has been quoted in over the past few months, many of them quoting our work on privacy. For more articles, see our full World Privacy Forum in the News page. In you missed our recent posts on data ethics and our test of

Feb 12 2018

Testing out PriBot, the new AI privacy policy analysis chat bot

Today we took the new PriBot privacy policy analyzer and chat bot tool out for a test run. The PriBot chat bot uses AI to analyze privacy policies — many of which are verbally and legally complex — and returns bite-size nuggets of information to those interested. The overall impact of using the chat tool

Jan 11 2018

CES 2018

World Privacy Forum will be participating in the 2018 Consumer Electronics show in four main issue areas: blockchain and digital payments, biometrics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and digital health. Watch our blog for video and blog recaps of what we learned, what’s new, and what is just around the corner. CES 2018: January 7-11, 2018 Las

Dec 08 2017

WPF Panelist at FTC Informational Harms Workshop

WPF’s ED Pam Dixon will be presenting new research on medical identity theft and on biometrics at the FTC’s Informational Harms Workshop, to be held in Washington DC December 12, 2017. Dixon will be presenting on Panel I, Injuries 101. More about the event: The event begins Dec. 12, 2017 at 9:15 am at the

Oct 27 2017

Updated: Three steps to take today if you have been impacted by the Equifax data breach

We have updated our tips for immediate steps victims (or potential victims) of the Equifax data breach can take. In this updated version of our tips, we have added information for individuals in the UK who want to check and see if they have been affected by the breach, and additional information for US consumers.

National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.
COVID-19 and HIPAA: HHS’s Troubled Approach to Waiving Privacy and Security Rules for the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic strained the U.S. health ecosystem in numerous ways, including putting pressure on the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The Department of Health and Human Services adjusted the privacy and security rules for the pandemic through the use of statutory and administrative HIPAA waivers. While some of the adjustments are appropriate for the emergency circumstances, there are also some meaningful and potentially unwelcome privacy and security consequences. At an appropriate time, the use of HIPAA waivers as a response to health care emergencies needs a thorough review. This report sets out the facts, identifies the issues, and proposes a roadmap for change.