404 Media reports on cybercriminal activity involving the unauthorized access and sale of U.S. credit header data. Hackers are allegedly purchasing former law enforcement identities to enter credit reporting companies' databases and then selling lifted information to fellow criminals.
Meta announced millions of Facebook Messenger accounts will be able to trial end-to-end encryption standards for individual and group chats. Meta is working to finalize default encryption standards by year's end and maintains it is on track to do so.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said the Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act, a bill she introduced in 2019 and again in 2021, could "help protect people from discrimination fueled by artificial intelligence," MediaPost reports.
Privacy advocates are concerned biometric payment systems could result in the theft or misuse of biometric data, Bloomberg reports. "If I look at an image of a palm, I probably can't tell it's you versus me necessarily.
Spain's data protection authority, the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, will host a joint conference with the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity on EU data spaces. The conference will focus on the "challenges and opportunities" in the EU's data strategy in the context of both Spain and the EU as a whole.
AdExchanger reports regulators are cracking down on dark patterns. In the U.S., Davis+Gilbert Partner Paavana Kumar said targeting dark patterns is "a huge priority" for federal regulators, while BBB National Programs' Executive Vice President of Policy Mary Engle said state laws are "specifically calling out" dark patterns and she foresees enforcement actions. Dark patterns are also on the radar of the U.K.
The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office seeks young people to come forward and share their experiences being subjected to "text pests." The practice occurs after an individual provides personal information to a business, and they are later contacted by a worker making a romantic advance to the customer, for instance. The ICO commissioned research that found 29% of people ages 18-34 have received unwanted contact from text pests.
Tesla Chief Privacy Officer Steven Elentukh revealed two former employees allegedly caused an April data breach that affected more than 75,000 individuals, Reuters reports. Elentukh identified the former employees in a breach filing to Maine's attorney general, noting lawsuits have been brought and the devices used to leak customer data have since been seized.Full story
In an op-ed for Tech Policy Press, cybersecurity entrepreneur Tom Kemp discussed how data privacy policy and practices "start with the customer experience and work backward." Kemp recommended consumer-focused considerations for moving the dialogue on privacy, including universal opt-out mechanisms, strict data broker regulation and dark patterns prohibition. Editor's note: Tom Kemp is a policy advisor for the non-government group Californians for Consumer Privacy.
MediaPost reports Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said the state's TikTok ban is justified by the protection from alleged "harms inseparable from TikTok's data-harvesting practices." Knudsen's opinion came in a federal court filing against TikTok's appeal of a statewide ban passed during Montana's state legislative session.