Articles by Paula Kift

By Alexia Ramirez Popular Chinese credit rating firms, Sesame Credit and China Rapid Finance, have been reported to use consumer’s online-shopping habits and social networks to calculate their credit scores. The companies reward consumers with good credit scores with perks such as express service at hotels or deposit-waivers on rental cars, which serves to incentivize consumer participation and the relinquishing of such personal data.…

By Eliana Pfeffer Security contractors recently discovered preinstalled software in some Android phones that monitors where users go, whom they talk to and what they write in text messages. The American authorities say it is not clear whether this represents secretive data mining for advertising purposes or a Chinese government effort to collect intelligence.…

By Caroline Alewaerts The news of the discovery of new e-mails potentially relevant to Hillary Clinton’s private server investigation is all over the media. The fact that these e-mails have been discovered as part of an unrelated investigation raises an important question regarding compliance with the 4th Amendment.…

By Alexia Ramirez AARP has filed a lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in response to the growing number of employers who financially incentivize their workers to sign up for wellness programs. AARP argues that the programs, which force individuals to choose between financial penalties and the disclosure of private medical information, violate anti-discrimination laws meant to protect workers’ medical information.…

By Eli Siems Researchers from the Center for Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law released a major study on the police use of facial recognition software. The report, The Perpetual Line-Up: Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America, reveals that half of all Americans are catalogued in law enforcement facial recognition networks and that the use of such networks by at least 52 agencies is effectively unregulated.…

By Nate Tisa The ACLU of Northern California has revealed U.S. firm Geofeedia used social media metadata access to deliver location and monitoring information to law enforcement agencies engaged in tracking activists, particularly those involved in the Ferguson, MO protests surrounding the death of Micheal Brown.…