The hard divide of who's willing to implement more invasive surveillance methods may be blurring
No. 2: Bringing you the news that matters in video privacy and security
A note from our Editor
Hi all,
I hope everyone is starting to get used to this new mode of home working (and schooling). We are all having to rapidly change behaviour and in turn, are now asking more from our governments, businesses and service providers to support our heightened requirements for safety and connectivity - whilst not giving away our privacy in the process. In the West, we have been getting used to seeing growing levels of mass surveillance reported from China but are now seeing similar technologies and approaches being looked at on our own shores. Earlier this week we saw the same story break on the usage of Police monitoring drones in the UAE and Derbyshire in the UK alongside a wider roll-out of mobile tracking data across countries. It seems the hard divide of who's willing to implement more invasive surveillance methods may be blurring.
The challenge is prioritising everyone's safety in the short-term whilst not bringing in surveillance powers that could be exploited later on. This whole area is moving rapidly on a global scale; forcing a fast review of the governance models for ultra-personal population-level data sets and their usage.
On the micro level, we are all now coming to terms with home-working as the new normal and being forced into using video conferencing solutions as critical business tools (and as the primary method of schooling for our children). Usage of these platforms has grown rapidly causing bandwidth challenges alongside a new focus on security concerns for a range of providers. There will likely be some more bumps in the next weeks but we should come out of this period with more secure solutions for remote working and learning.
In parallel with the pandemic-led changes, Washington State has just passed a landmark new bill (driven by Microsoft) to place guardrails around the use of facial recognition tech in their state. The legislation has been set up to include upfront bias testing + transparency and accountability for the performance and deployment of systems. The new law will also require that humans, not machines, be responsible for decisions using facial recognition technology. All great steps forwards to mitigate the weaknesses of these systems whilst allowing their strengths to be used for the benefit of us all.
A round-up of the latest news on these areas follows below.
Stay safe.
Simon
News
Privacy and Pandemics: Future Privacy Forum
A closer look at location data and its usage in fighting COVID-19. Outlines the important details associated with the collection and usage of mass location data.
Short-term pressures vs long-term privacy concerns
Countries are using apps and data networks to keep tabs on the pandemic - and their citizens.
Remote monitoring - keeping Police safe
UAE Police using drones to remotely monitor people movements so they can keep themselves well out of reach of contagion.
With smaller scale usage in Derbyshire (and other UK locations). A sign of things to come?
Video conferencing: ease of use vs security
Zoom has started to come under fire for reported security issues including data sharing with Facebook, user monitoring and encryption approach. Having used pretty much all providers in the last two weeks it seems most corporates and government departments have made their own decisions on which systems they are happy to use. It's not the first time technologies have ended up being used outside of the areas they were specifically designed for - am sure Zoom did not design their system with requirements for secure virtual schooling or the hosting of sensitive team meetings. This increased scrutiny and usage will hopefully bring improved security provision to all platforms over the coming months.
The jury is still out on the new Houseparty app; is it a case of fake news sabotage or are there some genuine security concerns under the hood?
Policy Updates
Washington signs new facial recognition law
A critical step forward in the use of guard rails for facial recognition tech in Washington. The new legislation has been setup to ensure upfront bias testing + transparency and accountability for performance and deployment. It will also require that humans, not machines, have to be responsible for decisions using facial recognition technology. It's great that legislators are starting to work with big tech to understand new technologies and to create balanced approaches to their usage.
UK Information Commissioner Office COVID-19 and Data Privacy Hub
A great hub for the UK that pulls together all the latest information on personal data privacy in the context of COVID-19.
ICO
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