Privacy newsletter - June 23, 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. Apple will require apps to publish a standardized privacy policy. The move will make apps' data collection practices more prominent in app store listings. Announced at yesterday's annual developer conference, Apple made further privacy-friendly moves by requiring permission to track users across apps and websites owned by other companies. Link
   
   
2. Germany’s smartphone tracing app was downloaded 6.5 million times within the first 24 hours of the app’s release. High product adoption makes contact tracing apps more effective. Germany is off to a strong start. There are still privacy concerns associated with the app, such as a requirement for users to call a hotline to confirm a positive COVID-19 test, which compromises their anonymity. Link
   
   
3. This week in data breaches...Oracle. A subsidiary of Oracle called BlueKai left personal information in a publicly exposed database. The size of the breach makes it one of the largest lapses of the year. Link
   
   We reported a breach of the website Minted two weeks ago. The company is now being sued under CCPA for the incident. Link
   
   
4. Zoom will now offer end-to-end encryption to all users. This announcement backpedals on previous statements that only paid users would get encrypted calls. This is just the latest of many privacy-related controversies that Zoom has dealt with in the past couple months. Link
   
   
5. Facebook is suing companies for scraping data from Instagram without permission. Two new suits have been announced in the past week, but Facebook has been prosecuting companies for similar behavior on a regular basis for the past year. These moves are meant to head off the risk of another privacy scandal. Link
   
   
6. GDPR has taught businesses the many benefits that can come from data privacy legislation. This article focuses on marketers, who have traditionally been apprehensive of privacy regulation. “Many elements of the regulations were long-established best practices, and many marketers who were quick to embrace have seen significant benefits from doing so.” Link
   
   
7. The Russian government is planning on installing facial recognition technology in every school. The government claims it is meant to prevent outsiders from disrupting school, but it would introduce many other opportunities for privacy abuse. Link
   
   
8. Police in China are storing the genes of tens of millions of citizens in a centralized database. This adds to the growing surveillance net that police are deploying across the country. The effort is supported by testing equipment made by Thermo Fisher, a US-based company. Link