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YouTube Faces Fresh Complaint Over Its Children’s Privacy Practices
Children’s privacy advocates are urging federal regulators to consider issuing a massive fine “upwards of tens of billions of dollars” and imposing sweeping privacy limits on Google-owned YouTube over reports that it may have let companies track kids’ data across the internet.
Ad tracking firm Adalytics last week released a report suggesting that YouTube served ads for adults on videos labeled as “made for kids,” stoking concern that the video-sharing giant may be trampling on federal privacy protections for children, as the New York Times first reported.
In response, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the matter, writing that the purported tactics may have “impacted hundreds of thousands, to potentially millions, of children across the United States.”
Now children’s privacy advocates including Fairplay and the Center for Digital Democracy are kicking the process into high gear, filing a formal complaint with the FTC on Wednesday that floats forceful new privacy restrictions for YouTube.
The complaint alleges that Adalytics’ research and additional tests run by Fairplay raise “serious questions about whether Google is violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act,” or COPPA. The law requires sites to get parental consent to collect data from users under 13.
Here’s Why Readers Are Against Vaccine Mandates for Healthcare Workers
Current state rules do not require most healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID, but newly proposed amendments could change that.
The amendments address COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations for personnel of clinics, out-of-hospital dialysis units, hospice programs, hospitals, adult day health programs, emergency medical services, and long-term care facilities — all of which are subject to medical, religious, and personal exemptions.
Some healthcare leaders, however, such as the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, are worried the ambiguous wording in the new amendments could create confusion about the implementation of the new rules, not to mention that enforcement could end in “unnecessary and costly litigation.”
Jay from Plymouth said healthcare staffing shortages were already “extremely tight,” and he warned adding a vaccine requirement would be “draconian” and “a horrible idea.” Stevie from Peabody echoed Jay’s concerns about how vaccine mandates could affect healthcare staffing: “People have left jobs they love because of this,” he said.
Atlanta-Based Morris Brown College Says They Are Reinstating COVID Mask Mandates
Atlanta-based Morris Brown College has announced that the school is reinstating its COVID mask mandate for the next two weeks as a result of positive cases at the Atlanta University Center.
The historically black college posted a note on its official Instagram account noting that the protocols would be in effect for the next 14 days. This includes a requirement for mask-wearing by students and employees, physical distancing, contact tracing, and other significant efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among the population on the Atlanta campus.
There is no word, at present, if any of the other collegiate institutions at the AU Center — including Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University — are planning to return to mask mandates.
Recalled Products Linked to More Than 100 Infant Deaths Still for Sale on Facebook, Lawmakers Say
Recalled baby products linked to more than 100 infant deaths are still widely sold on Facebook Marketplace despite thousands of requests from federal regulators to take down the items, four members of Congress said.
In a letter sent Friday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the lawmakers said the Boppy lounger, which was recalled in 2021, and the Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play, an infant sleep product that was recalled in 2019, are among the items still sold on the platform.
Lawmakers wrote that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has sent Facebook parent Meta about 1,000 requests a month since 2022 to remove the recalled Boppy Newborn Lounger, but the product keeps cropping up for sale on the platform.
“Meta’s failure to prevent recalled products from being posted for sale on its platform has resulted in your users and their children being placed at risk of purchasing and using a product that CPSC has found to pose a serious risk of injury and potential death,” the lawmakers wrote.
Whole Foods Sparks Boycott Calls Over ‘Controversial’ Change
Whole Foods Market‘s new store in Washington, DC, has earned the ire of some shoppers not happy with technology that requires them to scan a QR code to enter.
The supermarket opened a new 47,000-square-foot store in the historic Walter Reed development on June 28 with a range of specialized features. The new store includes gates at multiple points during the shopping experience which require a QR code to pass through. They are located at the entrance, at either end of the checkout and at the exit. The system replicates those seen at Amazon Fresh stores around the country (Whole Foods Market is a subsidiary of the online retail giant).
By scanning a code upon entrance at the gates, shoppers at the D.C. Whole Foods simply need to take what they want off a shelf and it is added to their virtual basket. Then they just pay the total at the checkout or via the app. It’s a feature that left some people unimpressed.
Concerns around the use of such technologies stem from potential data breaches and identity theft to the moral objection of companies using information about their customers’ shopping habits to direct bespoke marketing to them. Concerns around the use of such technologies stem from potential data breaches and identity theft to the moral objection of companies using information about their customers’ shopping habits to direct bespoke marketing to them.
Political analyst Michael Ashura posted on X: “If we don’t boycott stores like this we’re sleepwalking into tech totalitarianism.”
Senator Ted Cruz Slams U.S. Agency for ‘Collusion’ With EU on Big Tech Rules
U.S. Republican Senator Ted Cruz called for details on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) work with its European counterparts in a letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan on Tuesday.
The conservative Texas lawmaker criticized Khan and other FTC staff for meeting with European Commission officials to discuss incoming EU rules designed to rein in Big Tech companies, which are largely U.S.-based.
“It is one thing for the EU to target U.S. businesses,” the letter said, but “it is altogether unthinkable that an agency of the U.S. government would actively help the EU” on its digital platform regulation.
The letter comes just as tech giants like Meta, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok are set to have to comply with the Commission’s Digital Services Act (DSA); they face steep fines if they don’t follow the DSA’s content-moderation rules, adopted in 2022.
Facebook Works to Manipulate Public in the Entire World, Says Elon Musk as He Attacks Mark Zuckerberg Again
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg‘s cage fight might seem fictional but there seems to be no end to their social media war. Musk, who owns X aka Twitter, has now launched a fresh attack on Zuckerberg over algorithms that their companies use to surface and spread content.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Musk accused Mark Zuckerberg — the owner of Meta — of manipulating the public across the globe. He said that because of this specific reason, and to avoid getting caught, Facebook will never open its algorithms to public scrutiny.
Musk reposted a tweet shared by Michael Shellenberger, an American author, who claimed that Facebook was financially supporting activists who were advocating for the censorship of their opponents. The claim is in stark contrast to Zuckerberg’s assertion that Facebook lets independent fact-checkers work and that it welcomes all viewpoints without interfering in elections.
Elon Musk, in his tweet, pointed out that Facebook seems to be manipulating people on a large scale. This also explains why Meta, the company behind Facebook, won’t release their algorithm as open source, Musk wittily added.
Facebook Owner Meta Breaks Privacy Rules, Norway Regulator Tells Court
Meta Platforms (META.O) is breaking European data privacy rules in Norway, the country’s data regulator told a court on Wednesday, in a case that could have wider European implications.
Meta has been fined one million crowns ($94,145) per day since Aug. 14 for breaching users’ privacy by harvesting user data and using it to target advertising at them. So-called behavioral advertising is a business model common to Big Tech.
The owner of Facebook and Instagram is seeking a temporary injunction against the order, which imposes a daily fine for the next three months.
The fine is valid as Meta is not respecting the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), said Hanne Inger Bjurstroem Jahren, a lawyer representing the regulator, Datatilsynet.
