English teen commences legal action against TikTok over data use
A 12-year-old English girl took the first steps in a lawsuit against TikTok on Thursday. The intended claimant is joined by Anne Longfield as a litigation friend, a form of legal advocate in the English court system. Longfield, the United Kingdom’s Children Commissioner, and the claimant intend to bring action against “six corporate defendants said [...]
Microsoft, Google join Facebook lawsuit against Israel hacking company NSO
Several large tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, and LinkedIn filed Monday an amicus brief in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Facebook’s lawsuit against Israeli surveillance company NSO. NSO creates cyber-surveillance tools, which it then sells to foreign governments and other customers. Those customers can use the tools to track individuals’ [...]
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Friday that the state of California has filed to join the US Department of Justice in an antitrust lawsuit against tech giant Google. The lawsuit was filed in October by the federal government, and was joined by 11 states including Texas, Georgia and Florida. Becerra will be the first [...]
The Administrative Court of Stockholm on Monday rejected Google’s appeal against the decision of the Swedish data protection authority (Authority) and confirmed that Google has violated the provisions of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Authority had imposed a fine of 75 million Swedish kronor (approximately 7 million euros) on Google in March [...]
The global chaos created by COVID-19 has proven to be a stress test for modern governance. The pandemic and its fallout have proven especially revealing in the context of European data policy, which is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), promulgated in May of 2018. But, COVID-19 has exposed its fault lines. While [...]
The TikTok Controversy Should Be a Catalyst for a Deeper Look at China's Data Governance Policies
To Americans, TikTok means many things. For some, it is only an onomatopoeia. To others, it is the defining social media app of their generation. For Republicans and Democrats, it may be the one foe that can actually unite the two parties. But the policy world should let it act as a catalyst for a [...]
EU launches investigation into proposed Fitbit acquisition by Google
The European Commission has launched an investigation into the proposed acquisition of wearable fitness accessory company Fitbit by search engine giant Google. Google announced in November 2019 that it would seek to acquire Fitbit. The company noted at the time that for the deal to be successful, the privacy and security of Fitbit users would [...]
Australia competition regulator sues Google for misleading customers about collecting personal data
The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed suit against Google on Monday, alleging that Google misled consumers to obtain consent to expand the type of personal data that Google can collect. Google allegedly used this information for a variety of purposes, including targeted advertising. From June 2016 through December 2018, Google account holders were [...]
Despite its comeback, the recent suspension of the Mitron Application, hailed as a Swadeshi alternative for TikTok, has brought to light the inadequacy of data protection laws in the country. This short video platform had garnered over 5 million downloads on the Google Play Store. Prior to the app’s removal, there were media reports of [...]
When we talk about defunding the police, we focus on what we can see. We imagine hiring fewer cops to flock in subway stations and wander sidewalks. We picture fewer high-priced tanks and military-grade tools of war in our communities. But today’s policing infrastructure also spends millions of dollars on an invisible, sprawling data surveillance [...]
