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Ex-KCCI Worker Settles Vaccine Mandate Lawsuit; Claimed Religious Objection to COVID Shot
A former KCCI News employee has settled his lawsuit alleging the company violated a state law by firing him for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Carson Light, a former advertising executive, sued KCCI and its parent company Hearst in Dec. 2022. He alleged that the company had told employees in Sept. 2021 they would be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
When Light requested an exemption, stating that “my beliefs do not allow me to alter my God-given immune system,” the company denied his request, finding that he failed to show a “sincerely held belief” and that allowing an exemption, even with Light working remotely and taking other precautions, would be disruptive to its business.
Light alleged that this violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act, as well as a law passed just three weeks before his termination. That statute requires that, if an employee states the COVID-19 vaccine “would be injurious to (their) health or well-being” or “would conflict with the tenets and practices of (their) religion,” then the employer “shall waive the requirement.”
Biometrics, Tokenization to Replace Credit Card Numbers by 2030
Mastercard intends to do away with the 16-digit number on their credit and debit cards and replace them with on-device biometrics and tokenization as part of a plan to quash identity theft and fraud. In Australia the initial rollout of these new numberless cards will be via a partnership with AMP Bank, but other banks are expected to follow over the next 12 months.
Mastercard recently committed to phasing out manual card entry and static passwords by 2030 in favor of tokenization and biometrics, and to replace traditional authentication methods with on-device biometrics for users to authenticate purchases without exposing personal data online. In a piece for The Conversation, the authors observed that we could ultimately be heading towards the end of cards.
It is a fact that hackers often target businesses such as travel or hospitality operators or online companies. For example, Ticketmaster was hacked in a major breach last year resulting in several hundred million customers’ personal details accessed illegally. This means credit card numbers, among other sensitive information, are leaked. Removing the numbers prevents fraudsters from using your card when they don’t have the physical card, which is known as card-not-present transactions.
Facial Recognition in Policing Is Getting State-By-State Guardrails
In Jan. 2020, Farmington Hills, Michigan resident Robert Williams spent 30 hours in police custody after an algorithm listed him as a potential match for a suspect in a robbery committed a year and a half earlier.
The city’s police department had sent images from the security footage at the Detroit watch store to Michigan State Police to run through its facial recognition technology. An expired driver’s license photo of Williams in the state police database was a possible match, the technology said.
But Williams wasn’t anywhere near the store on the day of the robbery. Williams’ lawsuit was the catalyst to changing the way the Detroit Police Department may use the technology, and other wrongful arrest suits and cases are being cited in proposed legislation surrounding the technology. Though it can be hard to legislate technology that gains popularity quickly, privacy advocates say unfettered use is a danger to everyone.
Teen Mental Health App Sent Kids’ Data Straight to TikTok
A telehealth company that New York City paid $26 million to provide free online therapy to teens was leaking data about who visited the website to TikTok, Meta, Snap and other social media companies that the city is currently suing for harming teen mental health, according to a coalition of privacy advocates.
In a series of letters sent to New York City officials, the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, AI for Families, and the New York Civil Liberties Union say they identified a wide array of online tracking pixels on the special landing page for NYC Teenspace, a service built by Talkspace. Pixels are snippets of code that collect information about who visits a website so that platforms can retarget people with content and advertisements related to their web browsing.
“There’s a particular type of exploitation that comes when any of us, but particularly kids, search for sensitive issues online,” said Shannon Edwards, a New York City parent, digital marketing consultant, and founder of AI for Families. “Under the guise of a service that a provider is intending to be beneficial, a simple search can be something that follows you around on social media or television.”
New TSA Facial Recognition Audit Faces Skepticism
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has announced an audit into the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) expanding use of facial recognition technology following a formal request from Senator Jeff Merkley and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers.
The audit aims to evaluate whether TSA’s biometric screening system enhances security while safeguarding passenger privacy.
However, the investigation itself is now facing scrutiny, as critics question whether Inspector General Joseph Cuffari — who has been embroiled in controversy over allegations of withholding critical oversight reports — can be trusted to conduct a thorough and unbiased review.
Purolator Loses Court Challenge After It Fired Unvaccinated Employees
Shipping giant Purolator has lost its B.C. Supreme Court challenge of an arbitrator’s decision to compensate unvaccinated employees suspended or terminated by the company. Purolator instituted a “safer workplaces policy” that mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for its employees on Sept. 15, 2021, amid the rapid spread of the deadly virus.
In Jan. 2022, unvaccinated Purolator employees were either placed on an unpaid leave of absence or had their contracts suspended — prompting the Teamsters union to file hundreds of grievances, arguing the vaccination mandate wasn’t reasonable. Nearly two years later, in Dec. 2023, a labour arbitrator found in the employees’ favour and ordered Purolator to compensate them for lost wages and benefits.
The arbitrator found the vaccination policy was reasonable until June 30, 2022, a time when scientific evidence had shifted to show that vaccination alone wouldn’t stop COVID-19 from spreading. In a court challenge to that decision, Purolator argued the arbitration decision was not reasonable. But in a judgment that was made public on Monday, the B.C. Supreme Court found in the union and arbitrator’s favor.
