Login
‘I Can’t Go Toe to Toe With Social Media.’ Top U.S. Health Official Reflects, Regrets.
As they entered office at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2021, Xavier Becerra and his allies had a plan to restore Americans’ faith in the nation’s beleaguered public health agencies. Becerra, tapped by President Joe Biden to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, empowered career government scientists and experts muzzled under the Trump administration.
Biden officials took on social media posts they said spread disinformation about coronavirus vaccines, urging Facebook and other companies to remove them. The White House mounted a nationwide vaccination campaign, convinced the results would win over skeptics.
Four years later, the pandemic has receded. But trust in America’s health agencies has not recovered. The percentage of adults who regarded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “excellent” or “good” fell from 64% in April 2019 to 40% in October 2021 — a rating that has stubbornly refused to budge in the subsequent three years, according to Gallup polls, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to rebuild confidence.
A Company That Tracks and Sells Americans’ Location Data Has Seemingly Been Hacked
Russian cybercriminals have hacked one of the largest companies that track Americans’ location through smartphone data in exchange for ransom, according to two cybersecurity researchers, a person who has posted a massive trove of allegedly hacked files and a notice the company sent to the Norwegian government.
The incident would be one of the largest known breaches of a handful of controversial U.S. companies that sell people’s location data, a gold mine for advertisers because it can be used to extensively map people’s lives, usually without their knowledge.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last month accused the company, Gravy Analytics, and its subsidiary, Venntel, of illegally collecting and selling Americans’ location data without their knowledge or obtaining proper legal consent. Some of the people Gravy tracked were monitored going into sensitive locations like government buildings, health clinics and places of worship, the FTC said.
Texas Sues Allstate Over Collection of Driver Data
Allstate has been sued by the state of Texas, which accused the insurer on Monday of illegally tracking drivers through their cell phones without consent and using the data to justify charging more for car insurance.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Allstate created the “world’s largest driving behavior database,” with data on more than 45 million Americans, by paying mobile app developers millions of dollars to secretly incorporate its driver tracking software.
According to a complaint filed in a Texas state court near Houston, Allstate profited by using the data to raise premiums or deny coverage, and by selling the data to other insurers.
Payments were made through Allstate’s data analytics unit Arity, the complaint said.
The lawsuit accuses Allstate of violating Texas laws governing data privacy, data brokers, and unfair and deceptive acts by insurers. It seeks damages including civil fines of up to $10,000 per violation. Allstate did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Do you have a news tip? We want to hear from you!
US Executive Order on Mobile Driver’s Licenses Expected This Week
The Biden administration is expected to issue an executive order instructing U.S. federal agencies to work towards adopting mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) and other forms of digital identity.
Nextgov/FCW has seen a draft of the executive order and notes expectations that it will be signed by President Biden this week. Deputy National Security Director for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger said publicly that executive action on cybersecurity has been in the works for months.
The draft order instructs the Social Security Administration to consider offering attribute validation services, providing a yes or no response to queries for identity verification to government systems and benefits programs. Such services could replace those offered by data brokers and credit bureaus.
The use of mDLs for online interactions could involve the use of face biometrics or a PIN, the report notes. Many of those online interactions with federal government bodies are currently supported by scans of physical IDs, along with selfie biometrics, as provided by companies like ID.me, and as currently being adopted by Login.gov.
U.S. Lawmakers Renew Call for Probe of TSA’s Use of Biometrics, AI
Lawmakers once again are expressing concerns about the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) use of biometric technologies, including facial recognition and artificial intelligence, or AI, and, once again, have renewed calls for investigations.
On Jan. 8, Republican Representatives Mark Green and Carlos Giménez, members of the House Committee on Homeland Security, asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a comprehensive review of TSA’s deployment of these technologies.
Their inquiry seeks to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these technologies, their impact on operational efficiency and security, and the adequacy of data protection measures. The review they’ve called for will also assess the long-term implications of deploying these tools, particularly in terms of financial costs and societal impact. In a letter to GAO Comptroller Gene Dodaro, Green and Giménez said, “As TSA continues to adopt biometric identification technologies and leverage artificial intelligence to enhance screening procedures, it is imperative that Congress evaluates the cost-effectiveness, operational impact, and privacy implications of these advanced tools.”
