Tony Bradley reports: A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds that smartphones are at greater risk for privacy breaches than traditional flip or feature mobile phones. That seems like an obvious conclusion that needed a study about as much as we need research on whether or not water is wet or ice…
Category: Misc
Re-Identification Risks and Myths, Superusers and Super Stories (Part II: Superusers and Super Stories)
Here’s a snippet from Part II of Daniel Barth-Jones thoughtful commentary on re-identification studies (Part I can be found here): In part 2 of this essay, I address the broader issues of how privacy law scholars and policy-makers should evaluate various scenarios being presented as motivators for the need for potential privacy regulations. Fortunately, Professor Ohm…
Re-Identification Risks and Myths, Superusers and Super Stories (Part I: Risks and Myths)
Daniel Barth-Jones has a critique of re-identification studies that informs the conversation about risks: In a recent Health Affairs blog article, I provide a critical re-examination of the famous re-identification of Massachusetts Governor William Weld’s health information. This famous re-identification attack was popularized by recently appointed FTC Senior Privacy Adviser, Paul Ohm, in his 2010 paper “Broken Promises of…
New survey shows mobile users avoid or uninstall apps that risk privacy
Pew Internet has released a new survey that suggests that users are wising up about the privacy concerns with some apps: More than half of mobile application users have uninstalled or avoided certain apps due to concerns about the way personal information is shared or collected by the app, according to a nationally representative telephone…