Episode 153 — Online Advertising, Consent, and Data Privacy: Big Changes looming for 2024

Episode 155 considers three important developments as 2024 opens:

Why do businesses create cookies for their websites – and what choices can visitors make when a popup asks us to choose? Can chatbots write privacy policies for businesses? How can we determine if a website shares personal information we provide to it – and if so, for what purposes?

Data clutter – we keep our homes tidy, at least some of us do. But what about digital data? It accumulates and grows over time. Unlike hard copy files, which can be pitched or sent to long-term (expensive) storage, data is silent and unobservable (except perhaps to IT personnel). Explore how organizations amass vast amounts of data containing personal information, some highly sensitive. There it resides, posing serious risks to organizations and individuals.

Major data privacy news from November - the meaning beneath the headlines: California issues proposed rules on ADTs – Automated Decision-making Technology. Applying California’s principal data privacy statute, the California Privacy Protection Agency proposes opt-out requirements, pre-use notices, and other measures for AI and related organizations. A New Landmark for Consumer Control Over their Personal Information: CPPA Proposes Regulatory Framework for Automated Decisionmaking Technology (ca.gov). The TSA is using biometrics at U.S. airports with little notice or disclosure. Some U.S. Senators have called “time-out.” What’s going on with biometrics at airports? BUR23A41 (senate.gov). The influential Data & Trust Alliance proposes eight cross-border Data Provenance Standards. Learn how international standards are being set by the private sector to increase transparency, reliability, and use of datasets essential for AI. Will data become labeled and tracked like food and art? How does private standard setting lay the groundwork for privacy conscious laws and regulations? Consider the immediate opportunity to provide your comments about AI and personal data privacy. The Data & Trust Alliance (dataandtrustalliance.org). Tune in to Episode 151 for analysis, as the world of data privacy spins toward 2024.

Perry Johnson & Associates (PJ&A) provides medical transcription services to healthcare organizations. Its website states that it offers “secure HIT solutions,” using “multiple U.S. based, secure data centers for documentation storage and disaster recovery.” But in November 2023, PJ&A began informing about nine million people by individually sent letters that “between March 27, 2023 and May 2, 2023, PJ&A learned that an unauthorized party gained access” to its network and “acquired copies of certain files from PJ&A systems.” A November 2023 TechRadar report summarizes the background: “A total of 8.95 million individuals are affected, with the stolen data including full names, birth dates, postal addresses, medical records, and hospital account numbers. Furthermore, the hackers took admission diagnoses, as well as dates and times of service. In some cases, the hackers also stole Social Security Numbers (SSN), insurance and clinical information from medical transcription files, and names of healthcare providers - all of which would be more than enough to stage highly convincing social engineering attacks (phishing, identity theft, etc.) and could result in many class-action lawsuits.” How did a leading MedTech company respond to this cybersecurity incident? Tune in to learn how one podcast listener was informed by letter about the wrongful release of the individual’s medical information and sought details with no success. Consider how society must prepare better to address the aftermath of data breaches and what we can do collectively and individually to protect our most sensitive information.