This acquisition shouldn't have happened.
It may not primarily be about past body/health data.

But in addition to Fitbit's hw/sw/brand/workforce, it's about ongoing access to future device data and taking control over user+b2b relationships in order to expand Google/Alphabet's intermediary/healthcare/insurance business.
G promising not to exploit Fitbit data for "ads" is clearly not enough.

"Technology can change the way people manage their health ... We’ll work closely to create new devices and services that help you enhance your knowledge, success, health and happiness"

Sounds like a threat.
At this point, I recommend to watch Google's "selfish ledger" video (again):

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More from @WolfieChristl

15 Jan
Regardless of the announced update, what kind of personal information does Whatsapp currently share with FB, according to its website?

- account+device info
- transaction data
- service-related information
- information on how you interact with others

Basically, all metadata. Image
Personal data Whatsapp shares with Facebook "may include other information identified in the Privacy Policy section entitled ‘Information We Collect’ or obtained upon notice to you or based on your consent"

Upon 'notice'?

Current non-EU privacy policy:
whatsapp.com/legal/updates/… ImageImage
According to the current privacy policy for non-EU users, Facebook may use Whatsapp (meta)data for all kinds of extensive digital profiling including for "product suggestions (for example, of friends or connections, or of interesting content) and showing relevant offers and ads". Image
Read 14 tweets
6 Jan
Austrian telco A1 with 25 million customers in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, North Macedonia and Belarus announces to sell 'insights into the movement of people' based on 'aggregate'+'anonymized' location data via @here's data marketplace:
here.com/sites/g/files/… Image
Exploiting the pandemic to expand on commercial location data business, great.

"Our analytics product, A1 Mobility Insights, has already proven itself to be considerably helpful during the current coronavirus crisis. By joining the HERE Marketplace, we can go a step further" Image
'A1 Mobility Insights' is provided together with invenium.io. According to the FAQ, A1 'replaces' IMSI numbers with daily changing 'random IDs' before sharing data with Invenium.

This would still mean they process (pseudonymous) personal data.
invenium.io/de/blog/2020-1… ImageImage
Read 9 tweets
5 Jan
Letzten März war ich kompromissbereit, was die Auswertung von aggregierten Mobilfunk-Bewegungsdaten für gemeinwohlorientierte epidemiologische Zwecke betrifft. Vielleicht ein Fehler.

Das Schüren von Ressentiments fällt sicher nicht unter diese Zwecke. kurier.at/chronik/oester… Image
Invenium sagt, man nutze Standortdaten von A1 inkl. Bob/Yesss/RedBullMobile und decke damit in AT 43% ab.

Auch wenn "je nach Projektanforderung" eine Gruppierung auf 20 Personen erfolge, werden laut FAQ pseudonymisierte personenbezogene Daten verarbeitet.
invenium.io/de/blog/2020-1… ImageImage
Invenium behauptet, die österreichische Datenschutzbehörde und der TÜV Saarland hätten deren "Anonymisierungsverfahren als datenschutzkonform bestätigt", ebenso eine "Studie der führenden Rechtsexperten der Universität Wien".

Denke, das sollte dringend nochmals geprüft werden.
Read 5 tweets
21 Dec 20
Austria's job center wants to sort the unemployed into three classes. It has never listened to criticism of civil society. Now it's fighting the Austrian data protection authority, who banned the system.

Or, how to *not* handle public-interest algorithms.
derstandard.at/story/20001226…
This legal fight may have implications beyond Austria.

The data protection authority said that while case workers could theoretically modify the system's classifications, they won't have the time+resources to do so, and thus the system actually makes solely automated decisions.
In my opinion, the Austrian job center (AMS) is acting in a reckless+irresponsible manner.

Instead of being an advocate for the unemployed and listening to criticism, it's pushing for technocratic solutionism and is even willing to accept that this may weaken EU data protection.
Read 10 tweets
14 Dec 20
argyle.com, a US startup that aims to aggregate employment records across employers, including data on work activities and reputation, and sell it to recruiters, lenders, insurers. It claims it has already access to 40m records.

This is terrifying + shouldn't exist.
"The short term objective for Argyle is access to 100% of employment records; the reason for fundraising at this moment is to quicken the date of 100% access"

From the company's "funding memo":
notion.so/Argyle-A-Round…

Argyle has raised $20m+ in funding:
crunchbase.com/organization/a…
"We started with building coverage where Equifax has not - in the gig economy"
notion.so/Argyle-A-Round…

US data brokers have been gathering+selling data on work history/salary for decades, which also shouldn't happen. Argyle's sales pitch suggests they want to go far beyond that.
Read 10 tweets
14 Dec 20
Predicio, a French data broker who was caught selling location data harvested from ordinary smartphone apps to the US defense contractor Venntel, also provides 'foot traffic data' in partnership with Aspectum, another US company who sells to law enforcement and homeland security.
Aspectum (aka EOS Data Analytics) claims to provide 'geospatial insight based on cell phone activity and other data sources for a better understanding of local social interaction hazards' such as 'demonstrations, protests, riots, and other mass civil disorder acts', for example.
Sources:
aspectum.com/industry-publi…
aspectum.com/data-on-demand/

As a part of a 'combined offer from Aspectum and Predicio', that 'enables' clients 'to track and analyze human activities', 'foot traffic data' is 'available for selected countries' including the US and most EU countries.
Read 19 tweets

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