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 is his work on Europe’s

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 OECD Principles on Artificial Intelligence,

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.