Privacy
UK orders tech firms to implement age assurance checks: kids can’t just click “I’m 13” anymore
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on social media and video-sharing platforms to do more to prevent children from using their services.
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Scottish police fined £66K for collecting too much personal information from a suspect
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has imposed a fine of £66,000 on Police Scotland for failing to properly protect sensitive personal information.
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App meant to help people quit porn reportedly exposed the intimate habits of over 600,000 users
Quittr, a popular app designed to help people with a sex addiction, has leaked intimate data on hundreds of thousands of its users.
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WhatsApp rolls out parent-managed accounts for kids under 13
WhatsApp is rolling out parent-managed accounts for kids under 13 in the US, giving families new controls over contacts, groups, and activity alerts as pressure grows to protect children online.
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Dutch DPA calls pay-or-okay models “undesirable, but not forbidden”
The Dutch privacy and data protection authority (DPA) considers pay-or-okay policies “undesirable.” However, websites aren’t prohibited from implementing such business models.
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“There’s only one way out for Europe:” create its own social media platform
Citizens from all over the European Union have registered a so-called European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) for a European social media platform.
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Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party pushes social media ban for kids under 15
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party submitted to parliament on Wednesday a draft bill that would ban social media access for children younger than 15.
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Scientists slam the brakes on rushed age verification laws for teens
More than 400 security and privacy researchers and scientists from 30 countries have signed an open letter warning that proposed online age verification laws are flawed.
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Virginia defends one-hour daily social media cap for kids in court
Virginia has appealed a judge's preliminary injunction against a state law limiting children under 16 to one hour of social media use a day.
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Trying to message mom on WhatsApp? Expect ads
WhatsApp users in the EU will now see ads as soon as they open the Updates tab. This means that users all around the world are now offered advertisements in Meta’s chat application.
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Europe supports social media age limits: "the aim is to close gaps in existing laws"
Members of the European Parliament support implementing online age verification checks across the European Union.
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Samsung comes clean after collecting Texans’ TV data
The State of Texas and Samsung have reached a settlement over the collection of Texans’ viewing habits through smart TVs.
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$100 devices turn your car’s tire sensors into 24/7 trackers – no GPS needed
Privacy advocates warn that tire pressure monitoring systems – required in nearly every passenger vehicle – can allow hackers to track vehicle locations 24/7, exposing drivers’ travel patterns, habits, daily routines, and more.
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“What currently exists is a sham:” Poland plans social media ban for under 15s
Poland is among the latest countries to jump on the social media ban wagon in Europe. Lithuania does, too.
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FTC encourages websites to use age verification: “It’s some of the most child-protective technologies to have emerged in decades”
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is encouraging websites to use age-verification tools and has issued a new policy statement on the collection of personal data to determine a user's age.
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Instagram will notify parents if teens repeatedly search suicide or self-harm content
Instagram said it would notify parents if their teenager repeatedly searches for terms related to suicide or self-harm within a short period, as pressure grows for governments to follow Australia's ban on the use of social media for under 16s.
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Russia breaks VPN defenses, fines Alphabet’s Google for app violations
Those who want out of Russia’s information space might be stuck. The country’s court has fined Alphabet's Google over 22 million roubles ($288,000) for distributing VPN (virtual private network) services on the Google Play app store, state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.
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UK fines porn site $1.83M: “adult sites must deploy robust age checks to protect children from seeing porn”
British media regulator Ofcom has issued a fine of $1.83M million to porn company 8579 LLC for failing to implement age verification checks on its adult websites. On top of that, the company has been fined £50,000 for ignoring an information request.
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UK slaps Reddit with $20m fine for age verification and privacy breaches, warns other platforms to “take note”
The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Reddit £14.5m pounds (almost $20m dollars) after finding the platform relied on easily bypassed age checks and unlawfully processed children’s data.
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Tech firms ordered to remove intimate images within 48 hours: no woman should wait any longer
Tech companies in the UK are now required to take images of non-consensual intimacy offline within 48 hours.
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