If you live in California, you can see what Clearview has on you, and ask them to stop - here's one reporter's example

The reporter emailed privacy-requests@clearview.ai and requested the information they had on her, how they got it, and how they used it. She also requested they delete what they had, and then opted out of their future data collections on her.

After 11 days, Clearview asked for a "clear photo" of her, and a government-issued ID. *Of course they did.*

She sent them what they requested, and got a PDF showing all the photos they'd scraped of her from her social media accounts and those of her friends, from 2004 to 2019.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dmkyq/heres-the-file-clearview-ai-has-been-keeping-on-me-and-probably-on-you-too

More than 2,200 agencies and companies have tried Clearview, report finds
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/02/more-than-2200-agencies-and-companies-have-tried-clearview-report-finds

Apple Says Clearview AI’s Facial Recognition App Is Violating Its Rules
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/loganmcdonald/apple-clearview-app-violates-tos-supension


#clearview #biometrics #facial #recognition #why #how #california #usa #apple

Lawmakers Ask California DMV How It Makes $50 Million a Year Selling Drivers' Data

Motherboard previously revealed the California DMV was making tens of millions of dollars a year by selling personal data.

A group of nearly a dozen lawmakers led by member of Congress Anna Eshoo wrote to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Wednesday looking for answers on how and why the organization sells the personal data of residents. The letter comes after Motherboard revealed last year that the DMV was making $50 million annually from selling drivers' information.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jgxanx/lawmakers-california-dmv-selling-data

#us #california #DMV #privacy

The Department of Justice wants to stop California from having net neutrality

The US Department of Justice has filed for an injunction to stop California from implementing their own net neutrality laws. Net neutrality has been repealed in the United States Federal Communication Commission (FCC) effective since summer 2018, and now the effort of states to bring their citizens back under net neutrality protections is being challenged by federal law. In the wake of the FCC repeal of net neutrality laws in 2017, many states sought to pass their own net neutrality laws.

The same thing occurred after the repeal of broadband privacy laws in 2017. In the case of broadband privacy which was passed at the state level in Maine, the internet service providers (ISPs) actually tried to stop the law from being enacted by claiming that their right to selling profiles of user internet activity and history is part of their constitutional right to free speech. In the case of net neutrality, California was the largest state to pass net neutrality rules for internet companies and users within its borders. As part of the FCC repeal of net neutrality laws, the FCC actually included language that would forbid individual states or smaller jurisdictions from passing their own net neutrality laws.

👀 👉🏼 https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/the-department-of-justice-wants-to-stop-california-from-having-net-neutrality/

#usa #netneutrality #california #FCC #why #thinkabout
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Judge blocks Uber, Lyft from classifying drivers as contractors in California

(Reuters) - A California judge on Monday granted the state’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) from classifying their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.

The ruling by Judge Ethan Schulman of San Francisco Superior Court is a defeat for the ride-hailing companies, as they defend against a May 5 lawsuit by state Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-california/judge-blocks-uber-lyft-from-classifying-drivers-as-contractors-in-california-idUSKCN2562J6

#US #California #Lyft #Uber

Lyft may suspend service in California if court requires it to classify drivers as employees

Lyft may suspend services in California if the state does not overturn a recent ruling requiring it to classify its drivers as full-time employees, Lyft co-founder and President John Zimmer said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Shares of Lyft were as high as 6% after hours, but went negative when Zimmer said Lyft might suspend service in the state.

Uber would also likely pause its service in California if the ruling is not overturned, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in an MSNBC interview Wednesday. Khosrowshahi said a suspension would likely last until November when voters would decide on the ballot measure, Proposition 22, which would exempt drivers for app-based transportation and delivery companies from being considered employees.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/12/lyft-president-says-it-may-have-to-suspend-service-in-california.html

#US #California #Lyft #Uber

California DMV Is Selling Drivers' Data to Private Investigators

An internal document obtained by Motherboard lists the commercial requesters for California DMV data.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is selling drivers' data to private investigators and bail bondsmen, according to an internal DMV document obtained by Motherboard. The document in all lists nearly 98,000 entities that have had access to some form of DMV data, including trucking companies and insurance firms.

The revelation highlights how not only private companies are in the business of selling information but some government bodies as well, and has reignited calls for laws around drivers' data to be changed. The news comes after Motherboard previously revealed that the California DMV makes $50 million a year selling data of drivers.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/dyzeza/california-dmv-data-private-investigators

#US #california #DMV #privacy

Researchers use AI to combat and quantify browser fingerprinting

Browsers including Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome have begun providing protections against cross-site tracking methods employing cookies and IP addresses. It’s an encouraging development, but there’s a fear it will push trackers to adopt more opaque, “stateless” tracking like browser fingerprinting, which tracks browsers by the configuration information they make visible.

https://venturebeat.com/2020/08/17/researchers-use-ai-to-combat-and-quantify-browser-fingerprinting

#US #California #browser #fingerprinting

What Happens If Uber and Lyft Flee California? Look at Austin

The ride-hail services are threatening to stop service in the Golden State to protest a judge's ruling. They did something similar in Texas in 2016.

Rafael Rodriguez remembers the moment he learned Uber and Lyft were leaving Austin. “It was Mother’s Day, and I was with my girl in a restaurant,” he says. “I said, ‘Now I’m not paying for that piña colada.’” Today, he laughs about it. But in 2016, the situation was worrying. Rodriguez was a full-time driver for the ride-hail companies. Just two days later, the platforms ditched the Texas capital, frustrated that they had lost a ballot measure that forced them to fingerprint potential drivers for background checks. Rodriguez was out of a job.

https://www.wired.com/story/uber-lyft-flee-california-austin/

#US #California #Uber #Lyft

Ad trade groups say amended California consumer protection bill will ‘threaten online content and economy’

Advertising trade groups are condemning amendments to a California consumer protection bill, claiming the changes would “have a chilling effect on commercial speech, the availability of digital content, and online commerce during a time when the economy is already under significant strain.”

AB 3262, which seeks to hold “electronic retail marketplaces” to the same liability standards applied to brick-and-mortar retailers, has been the subject of opposition from Etsy, eBay’s public policy arm and industry groups who say existing law already protects consumers and that it will stifle small businesses that sell products online. Lawmakers on Monday amended the bill to include online marketplaces that profit off advertising fees collected by merchants.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/27/ad-trade-groups-decry-amendments-to-ca-consumer-protection-bill.html

#US #California #consumer #protection #bill

Etsy CEO says Amazon is trying to ‘wipe out its competitors’ by backing California consumer protection bill

Etsy CEO Josh Silverman on Tuesday accused Amazon of “taking bold steps to wipe out its competitors” by backing a new California consumer protection bill.

Amazon on Friday broke away from its peers when it voiced conditional support for the bill, AB 3262, which seeks to hold “electronic retail marketplaces” to the same liability standards applied to brick-and-mortar retailers. The bill has garnered opposition from Etsy, EBay’s public policy arm and a slew of industry groups who say existing law already protects consumers and that it will stifle small businesses that sell products online.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/25/etsy-amazon-trying-to-squash-competitors-by-backing-california-bill.html

#US #California #consumer #bill #Etsy #Amazon

Former YouTube content moderator describes horrors of the job in new lawsuit

A former YouTube moderator is suing YouTube, accusing it of failing to protect workers who have to catch and remove violent videos posted to the site.

The suit filed Monday in California Superior Court in San Mateo says the plaintiff was required to watch murders, abortions, child rape, animal mutilation and suicides. As a part of moderator training, the company allegedly presented a video of a “smashed open skull with people eating from it,” a woman who was kidnapped and beheaded by a cartel and a person’s head being run over by a tank.

YouTube parent company Google faces increasing pressure to control content spanning violence and misinformation — particularly as it approaches the 2020 U.S. election and antitrust investigations from state attorneys general, the Department of Justice and Congress.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/22/former-youtube-content-moderator-describes-horrors-of-the-job-in-lawsuit.html

#US #California #Google #Youtube #lawsuit

California votes to “expand” privacy laws to allow companies to make you pay for privacy

On election day, California voters chose to pass Proposition 24, which alters the newly inaugurated California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) with some pretty significant changes that can be viewed as a net negative for privacy. There are modest improvements to the CCPA; however, some such as those in the No on Prop 24 campaign, think that those modest gains are far outweighed by the negatives. One of those negatives is formally allowing tech companies to pay for privacy.

Proposition 24 allows pay for privacy, and more

Detractors also point out that there was no public process as in legislative proceedings and the iterations of the Prop 24 highlight that there may have been many backroom deals that were done here to create the ballot measure to rewrite the CCPA even though the CCPA has only been in effect for less than a year. Many of these negatives will affect consumers directly: Allowing Pay for privacy has a positive impact on the bottom lines of corporations, but is a net negative to netizens. They are essentially allowing companies to charge when someone exercises their privacy rights.

If global opt outs of tracking by your browser won’t be respected, it’s a net negative. The mentioned points are just scratching the surface. For more information on why Prop 24 wasn’t a net benefit to privacy, read why the EFF didn’t support Proposition 24.

Privacy News Online has previously written extensively on pay for privacy schemes that have been tried by big tech companies such as AT&T and Verizon in the last several years. The price of privacy changes from $3.50 to “five or ten dollars” depending on who you ask and what type of privacy is being considered, but one thing is clear: setting any price on it devalues its innate nature as an inalienable human right.

👀 👉🏼 https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/california-votes-to-expand-privacy-laws-to-allow-companies-to-make-you-pay-for-privacy/

#california #CCPA #EFF #privacy #netpolitics #thinkabout
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Exclusive: Facebook to move UK users to California terms, avoiding EU privacy rules

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will shift all its users in the United Kingdom into user agreements with the corporate headquarters in California, moving them out of their current relationship with Facebook’s Irish unit and out of reach of Europe’s privacy laws.

The change takes effect next year and follows a similar move announced in February by Google here. Those companies and others have European head offices in Dublin, and the UK's exit from the EU will change its legal relationship with Ireland, which remains in the Union.

Initially, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters about the move. Facebook later confirmed it.

“Like other companies, Facebook has had to make changes to respond to Brexit and will be transferring legal responsibilities and obligations for UK users from Facebook Ireland to Facebook Inc. There will be no change to the privacy controls or the services Facebook offers to people in the UK,” the company’s UK arm said.

Facebook’s UK users will remain subject to UK privacy law, which for now tracks the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Facebook is making the change partly because the EU privacy regime is among the world’s strictest, according to people familiar with the company. The EU rules give granular control to users over data about them.

https://www.reuters.com/article/britain-eu-facebook-exclusive-idUSKBN28P2HH

#DeleteFacebook #fb #uk #usa #california #eu #privacy #rules #thinkabout
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Six California WeChat users sue Tencent for alleged chat surveillance

A group of California WeChat users sued Tencent Holdings Ltd., the Chinese owner of the messaging and payment app, for allegedly violating their right to privacy by surveilling and censoring their communications.

Citizen Power Initiatives for China, a group promoting transition to democracy in China, and six anonymous WeChat users said comments made using WeChat that can be perceived as critical of the Chinese government have led to the users’ accounts being frozen, causing them to be cut off from friends and relatives in China as well as their business clients in the U.S.

“All this chills constitutionally protected speech,” according to the complaint filed Friday in California state court in San Jose. “Indeed, many WeChat users have told CPIFC that they feel real fear that the Party-state or its agents will retaliate against them or their family, and that, as a result, they self-censor, despite the fact that they live in California.”

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-01-11/california-wechat-users-sue-tencent-for-alleged-surveillance

#US #California #China #tencent #wechat #surveillance #privacy

#LA #California #USA #apartheid

All but one of the City Council members present on Wednesday said they supported the proposed "emergency" ordinance, which would require proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, shopping centers, gyms and other indoor spaces.

If the proposal is approved next week, as expected, Los Angeles would join San Francisco and New York among major U.S. cities requiring proof of vaccination for indoor businesses. The new rule would take effect in November.

https://news.yahoo.com/los-angeles-moves-toward-barring-210258976.html