Privacy newsletter - June 16, 2020

Welcome to the latest edition of the Privacy Insider Newsletter. Each week we send you the latest news in the world of data privacy.

Here are the top stories from last week you might have missed:

1. Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon announced that they will not sell facial recognition systems to police departments. These announcements follow recent nationwide protests that are raising privacy concerns about the use of police body cameras. Microsoft and IBM explicitly referenced the US protests about police violence in their announcements. Microsoft - IBM - Amazon
   
   
2. In other facial recognition news, US Democratic senators have raised concerns about government surveillance at anti-police brutality protests. This topic has been especially prominent since many police departments have partnered with Clearview AI, the facial recognition company that has been under significant legal pressure lately for privacy abuses. Link
   
   
3. Bombora sues ZoomInfo for breaching the CCPA. Two B2B data companies are in a spat over CCPA abuse, just a week after ZoomInfo went public. Bombora accuses ZoomInfo of capturing and storing peoples' personal information without their consent, which is not allowed by the CCPA. Although enforcement by the California Attorney General doesn’t start until July 1st, the law is already in effect. Link
   
   
4. A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill this week to protect health information of people who opt in to contact tracing apps. We’ve mentioned in the past that most people are suspicious of contact tracing apps, and that it will be an uphill battle to get enough people to adopt them. This sort of legislation is a necessary first step, but there is a long road ahead. Link
   
   
5. Step aside California! North Dakota passed a landmark bill to protect the privacy of student data. The bill prevents the state’s 11 public colleges from selling or releasing any student information for advertising purposes. Some student-specific privacy protections are in place with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, but this bill is one of the first of its kind to specifically clarify students’ privacy rights. Link
   
   
6. A data privacy group analyzed the privacy-friendliness of more than 100 Covid-19 apps. The International Digital Accountability Council found that about half the apps had intrusive permissions and opaque third-party sharing practices. Link
   
   Meanwhile, Apple added anonymous symptom and health information sharing to its Covid-19 app. Link