No. 31: Bringing you the news that matters in video privacy and security

A note from our Editor

Hi all,

With privacy becoming more and more of a priority for consumers and businesses, it is having a marked impact on compliance crackdowns and company policy changes. The UK Information Commissioner's Office is becoming more active - starting to dish out more fines for privacy violations under GDPR: among them, the UK government, who suffered a data leak exposing over 1000 names and addresses, and was found to have a lack of appropriate IT measures in place to help keep personal data safe.

Twitter has been making positive strides to help keep users safe online and protect their privacy, by implementing a new policy banning anyone from sharing images and videos of private individuals without their consent. Even though they do not require consent from each individual for every picture (and they exclude images of large crowds and events); anyone may object to their photo being on the platform and have it immediately taken down by Twitter. Twitter says this is aimed to help personal data security on the platform and to avoid any discrimination against minority groups.

Chinese province Henan's plans to use facial recognition technology in their surveillance system to monitor 'people of concern' looks set to overstep the mark when it comes to privacy - especially since the list of people it will survey (which includes foreign students and immigrant women) seems to have no ethical basis for 'concern'.

The way in which criminal data is processed and made public (i.e. when an accused individual "loses" their privacy) is also being challenged in a revolutionary privacy case: ZXC v Bloomberg.

It's really positive that privacy is making huge strides across the world, that legislation is getting some teeth, and that the awareness for personal data rights are growing - but it's still early days. Companies' actions need to mirror their statements in order to build trust with their users and the public, with privacy needing to be implemented across a whole organisation: from internal communications, to product design and customer engagement.

Emma

News

Twitter bans people posting images of individuals without their consent

Twitter has banned anyone from sharing images and videos that contains private individuals who have not yet given their consent. This means that if an individual is identifiable in an image or video (excluding large crowds at events), and they wish for that image to be taken down, it will be taken down by Twitter.

Tech Crunch: Twitter expands safety policy, bans posting images of people without their consent

The Verge: Twitter bans posting pictures of ‘private individuals’ against their wishes

AI company comes under fire for violating privacy

The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has expressed grave concern over Clearview AI's processing of British citizens' personal data - so much so that they are now facing a £17m fine for dishonoring UK data protection laws.

IT Pro: Clearview AI faces £17 million fine for violating UK data protection laws

The Times: AI is coming to steal your face

Chinese province plans to monitor journalists via traffic light surveillance system

The Chinese province of Henan is building a surveillance system that relies on facial recognition technology to spot journalists and/or 'other people of concern', including foreign students and immigrant women. The system will use a "traffic light" system to classify journalists as green (no concern), amber and red (who they will deal with accordingly).

The Guardian: Chinese province targets journalists and students in planned surveillance system

BBC News: China surveillance of journalists to use 'traffic-light' system

UK Government fined for Honours list data breach

The UK Government has been fined by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for a data leak in 2020, exposing over 1000 names and addresses of individuals of the New Years Honours recipients list. They found that this breached the Data Protection Act 2018, and that the Cabinet Office did not have secure enough IT measures in place.

IT Pro: Cabinet Office fined £500,000 for New Year Honours data leak

Info Security: UK Government Fined Over Honors List Data Breach

Camera the size of a grain of salt?!

A team of researchers at Princeton University and at the University of Washington have created a microscopic camera that is allegedly the size of a grain of salt. It can create full-colour high resolution images, and will hopefully be useful in the world of health and better quality camera phones.

ITV News: Scientists develop tiny camera the size of a grain of salt

AI Snippet of the Week

How AI is changing wine retail

AI is already being used to match consumer preferences with wine, in order to reduce wastage, market specific wines to customers and increase sales. The AI can recommend individuals a specific bottle, because it has been taught to decode the flavour and aroma matrices of wines by chemically analysing thousands of products.

The Drinks Business: Could AI technology soon replace wine expert recommendations?

Policy Updates

The privacy case currently happening that could change how criminal data is made public

A US businessman who was being investigated by a UK law enforcement body; had details of a of mutual legal assistance request made public by Bloomberg, the publication house - even though it seems that it was made confidential. The outcome of this case (ZXC v Bloomberg) will be transformative as it means that when an accused "loses" his privacy must be reexamined.

Pinsent Masons: ZXC v Bloomberg – privacy and the criminal process

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