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These are long overdue features that Instagram should have put in place years ago…
— Jim Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media
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Welcome back to Snippets! How's September treating you so far? 🍂 Here's what's going on in privacy and tech:
- Instagram announced sweeping changes for minors on the platform, introducing "Teen Accounts" for users under 18.
- LinkedIn opted all U.S. user accounts into training their generative AI, providing notice only after the fact.
- How tech lobbyist Andrew Kingman has exercised an outsized influence on U.S. data privacy laws.
- Plus more...
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Instagram introduces sweeping changes for minors’ accounts
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Anthony Gerace
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Against the backdrop of lawmakers' increasing concern about social media’s impact on young people, Instagram has announced “Teen Accounts,” an initiative meant to enhance privacy and safety for users under 18.
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- Instagram's updates include making minors' accounts private by default, introducing nighttime notification restrictions, and providing parents with more tools for supervision.
- The goal of these measures is to address issues like exposure to inappropriate content, messages from unknown adults, and excessive screen time.
- While some experts praised the changes, critics argue they don't fully address the issue of minors lying about their age and may be an attempt to avoid stricter federal regulations.
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LinkedIn opted in users for AI training before giving notice
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Image: The Verge
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LinkedIn opted in all U.S. users for training its AI models before notifying the public through an update to their privacy policy and is now facing significant backlash online.
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- U.S. users may opt out using a toggle that was recently added to LinkedIn's interface, however this will not affect any training that has already taken place.
- The opt-out feature is not available for users in the EU, as LinkedIn currently isn’t using user data for AI training in that region due to the bloc's stricter privacy laws.
- The Open Rights Group has called for an investigation into LinkedIn's practices, criticizing the opt-out model as inadequate for protecting users' rights and advocating for opt-in consent.
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One lobbyist’s outsized impact on state privacy legislation
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Shuran Huang
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Lobbyist Andrew Kingman has significantly influenced state-level data privacy legislation across the U.S., often resulting in business-friendly laws that are less protective of consumer privacy.
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- Kingman represents the State Privacy and Security Coalition, which includes major tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta, and has lobbied to shape privacy laws in at least 32 states.
- His tactics involve working with local business groups, presenting himself as a problem-solver, and pushing for laws that protect companies from citizen-filed privacy lawsuits.
- While Kingman's approach has led to the passage of privacy laws in many states, critics argue these laws are weak, full of loopholes, and potentially worse for consumers than having no law at all.
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ICO accepts blame for the rise of ‘pay or okay’
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Ana Maria Serrano / Getty Images
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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data regulator, has attributed the rise of the ‘pay or okay’ model to its crackdown on websites that profile users and track their activity without consent.
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- Though the ICO didn't name specific companies guilty of this practice, it recently rebuked Bonne Torre, the group trading as Sky Betting and Gaming, for unlawfully processing user data.
- The reprimand is part of a wider crackdown that began with a review of the UK’s top 100 websites—53 of which were found to be inappropriately deploying advertising cookies.
- Following the discovery, the ICO called on the offending websites to improve their practices, resulting in a cleanup of non-compliant behaviors.
- However, for some companies, those corrective measures include introducing ‘pay or consent’ paywalls, a regulatory gray area with little official guidance.
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Congress fails to deliver on AI rules that protect elections
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Alex Brandon/AP
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Despite earlier promises, Congress has made little headway on laws regulating AI, specifically laws that protect against misinformation ahead of November’s presidential election.
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- Following warnings that deepfakes could mislead voters, legislators proposed several bills to combat fake AI content. However, even with bipartisan backing for some, none of these bills have passed.
- Despite continued support from some legislators, there's no longer enough time or political will to bring these bills to a vote—a stark contrast to the urgency expressed during last year's Senate meeting on the issue.
- Currently, the only regulations on the use and creation of AI come from a handful of state laws, which have limited authority compared to a federal edict.
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🎪 Where to find Transcend at IAPP Privacy. Security. Risk.
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Transcend is thrilled to be the Title Sponsor at IAPP's Privacy. Security. Risk. in Los Angeles next week! Find us...
- Giving live demos at Booth #302
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- Recharging devices at the Transcend Lounge
- Giving away amazing swag + daily raffles
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Find more details below.
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Snippets is delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning by Transcend. We're the platform that helps companies put privacy on autopilot by making it easy to encode privacy across an entire tech stack. Learn more.
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