Executive Director Pam Dixon gave a one hour webinar 4 May 2020 on global contact tracing apps and technology focusing on case studies in the US, UK, India, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, and other jurisdictions. Recommendations and lessons learned are included, as well as audience questions. Event: Festival of Identity ...
In response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a HIPAA waiver April 9, 2020 regarding Community Based Testing Sites, which waives enforcement of all HIPAA privacy and security protections and data breach rules from some health care activities affecting COVID-19 testing. This statement from WPF includes the following information: -What are the changes the Community Based Testing Sites HIPAA waiver creates? -What are the privacy concerns? -WPF recommendations to correct the privacy problems in the Community Based Testing Sites HIPAA waiver -Background on HIPAA waivers and a list of all current waivers in force
Without Consent is the first major benchmarking privacy report to examine school directory information practices and related privacy issues in a multi-year study across more than 5,000 schools at the primary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. The research found troubling and challenging student privacy problems that need to be urgently addressed. The report contains extensive findings and recommendations regarding student privacy, and includes best practices, sample forms, and resources for schools, parents, and students.
In response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a HIPAA waiver April 2, 2020 regarding Business Associates. The April 2 waiver is consequential and poses significant privacy challenges. This statement from WPF includes the following information: -What are the changes to HIPAA the April 2 waiver creates? -What are the privacy concerns? -WPF recommendations to correct the problems in the April 2, 2020 waiver
This FAQ provides responses to the most frequently asked questions about coronavirus and privacy, especially COVID-19 testing, records, and health privacy for people in, or visiting, the U.S.
In response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced some changes in HIPAA practices. This statement from WPF includes the following information: -What are the changes to HIPAA during the COVID-19 emergency? -What are the privacy concerns? -WPF recommendations to ensure patient privacy is protected
All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have enacted data breach notification laws. The first data breach law was passed in 2002 in California, and in 2018 the final two states, South Dakota and Alabama, passed their data breach laws. Some states require ...
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has published a new code of practice for online services directed to children, Age appropriate design: A code of practice for online services. The new code sets 15 flexible standards and gives specific explanations of how the GDPR applies to childrens’ online activities and pursuits. ...
In a new National Academies of Science report on the emerging bioeconomy , Safeguarding the Bioeconomy , the authors did something a bit unexpected: they called out cybersecurity and sensitive data protections and practices as significant co-factors for economic success.In the past, these same data security and privacy factors may ...
WPF Press Release: NIST has issued extensive scientific documentation of demographic effects in face recognition systems in its new report, Face Recognition Vendor Test Part 3: Demographic Effects. The detailed findings in the NIST report are troubling. World Privacy Forum calls on the face recognition industry to accept, acknowledge, and address the new NIST findings, and calls for new multistakeholder work as well as significant safety guardrails.
WPF is urging the National Institutes of Health to do more to properly advise the research community and to protect data subjects in its draft guidance on data management and sharing. WPF is asking for changes to the NIH guidance because in the US, much health research data in the hands of researchers is not subject to the privacy or security rules in HIPAA.
WPF has been recognized as one of the leading organizations globally influencing privacy, security, inclusion, and fairness in digital identity systems. Goode Intelligence, which produces an annual report on digital identity around the world, has named WPF as a top ten globally influencing organization, as well as ID4Africa, Women in ...
Guest Post by Dr. Isaac Rutenberg, Director and Senior Lecturer, Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya. On the 8th of November, the President of Kenya signed into law the Data Protection Act 2019. This action completed a process that spanned more than a decade, and allows Kenya to enter a new phase with respect to the evolving centricity and treatment of data in society. This article looks at the content of the Act, highlights important and interesting provisions, and concludes with predictions as to the implementation.
WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon will testify before the full committee of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) regarding emerging privacy concerns in the healthcare environment, including the role of artificial intelligence, patient authorizations, and automated access to patient health information. The NCVHS is the statutory [42 ...
This coming Friday, the government of India is planning to announce the winner of a Request For Proposals to create a large, national, centralized facial recognition system for law enforcement purposes. The tender for the project outlines an ambitious program of facial surveillance in India utilizing image databases that law ...
The World Privacy Forum advised the SEC in comments today regarding the SEC proposal to modernize the description of business, legal proceedings, and risk factor disclosures pursuant to Regulation S-K. In its notice, the SEC described risk from environmental regulation as material to companies. In its comments to the SEC, ...
The World Privacy Forum and the Brookings Institution will co-host a Biometric Roundtable Wednesday, October 23 at the International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners’ Conference in Tirana, Albania. Cam Kerry of Brookings and Pam Dixon of WPF will co-moderate the discussion. The purpose of the Biometrics Roundtable is to promote ...
The Office of Civil Rights in the US Department of Health and Human Services has taken its first enforcement action under the HIPAA right of patient access to health records. HHS announced that it fined a health care provider $85,000 for failing to provide health care records to a patient ...
Pam Dixon, ED of the World Privacy Forum, will present a detailed analysis of privacy and biometrics in the US to a multistakeholder group convened by the Biometric Institute. The talk will outline key biometric misunderstandings, key risks, priorities for solutions, and key solutions that already exist. WPF has done ...
Giovanni Buttarelli, the European Data Protection Supervisor, has passed away. EDPS Buttarelli was an important privacy thinker and strategist, and stands among the giants in privacy. He had a long and distinguished career prior to becoming the EDPS, including spending time as a judge in the Italian judiciary. But it ...
For several years now, groups of stakeholders large and small and points in between have been working on ethical AI, rules for AI, privacy and explainability in AI, and more. WPF actively participated as a delegate in one of the largest international efforts, that of the OECD to write the ...
The first Roundtable of African Data Protection Authorities was a wide-ranging and vibrant roundtable conversation on the status and response to privacy risks in identity systems on the continent of Africa. The dialogue focused on data protection and privacy experiences, challenges, risks, and solutions in identity ecosystems, including biometrics. It was an extraordinary, first-of-its-kind event, and the DPAs had notable experiences and thoughts to share. These thoughts are captured in the Rapporteur’s report, which was written by WPF’s Pam Dixon.
While the $5 billion fine in the Facebook settlement has received a lot of attention, it is the compliance requirements that come with it that are of particular interest. Also noteworthy are the details in the complaint about how Facebook has handled facial recognition information and phone numbers.
The FTC recently announced a “phantom debt broker” settlement. Phantom debt is debt that has been fabricated and then treated as if it was real debt that could be collected from consumers. This case gives a clear view into practices that form the modus operandi for a newly emerging type of identity theft.
Pam Dixon, WPF Executive Director, is testifying before the US Senate Banking Committee today on the topic of privacy, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, data brokers, and predictive analytics. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss our research and what we have documented about the privacy of Americans ...
