In a fascinating announcement, Facebook declared that it’s now rebranding itself as a metaverse to offer an improved user experience. The problem is that a Meta can be more invasive to users’ privacy than ever before. Privacy concerns are not just huge with Facebook, but also for automobile companies because many cars have the ability to collect massive amounts of data about drivers.
“Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse may be as privacy flawed as Facebook,” Fortune- October 29th, 2021
Facebook recently announced that it is converting into a metaverse and will be rebranded as Meta. Although Facebook believes that this rebranding will help improve their image, in reality the company will still be faced with the same or even more data privacy issues. Facebook will be implementing new “metaverse technologies like VR and AR [that] are perhaps the most data extractive digital sensors we’re likely to invite into our homes in the next decade.” In fact, the “VR movement data ‘can be used to identify you, like a fingerprint.’” Facebook users need to be aware of these new changes before taking Facebook’s Meta plunge.
“Privacy Concerns Aren’t Keeping Automakers From Selling Massive Amounts of Your Data,” Newsweek- October 27th, 2021
With vehicles becoming more high tech, the data collected by cars is rapidly expanding. Data includes your car’s specific location, speed, music choices, and many other things. Unfortunately, the majority of automakers are selling your data to third parties. We need privacy laws to protect drivers’ data and keep automakers accountable.
The data privacy movement made strides forward this week with several states enacting new genetic data privacy laws. Also, Democratic Senator Catherine Masto is insisting that Congress passes data privacy legislation to improve data protection and security for American consumers.
“Growing Number of States Enact New Genetic Data Privacy Laws,” Health IT Security- October 27th, 2021
Several states this week enacted healthcare focused data privacy laws to help protect patients’ data and ensure that genetic testing companies have the right data practices in place. The latest states to enact these laws are California, Arizona, and Utah. Since genetic data can be very personal, it is vital that more states enact similar laws to protect the misuse of patients’ genetic data.
“Democratic Senator Introduces Data Privacy Legislation,” The Hill- October 29th, 2021
Democratic Senator Catherine Masto introduced legislation to improve data privacy rights for consumers. This new law, the Digital Accountability and Transparency to Advance Privacy Act, ensures that companies employ proper data practices that do not mis-use consumer data. Any business that collects data on more than 50,000 consumers/year will be affected by this legislation.