Protect Privacy Rights Research Articles

Securing Privacy: Safeguarding Against Cyber Threats in the UAE and Morocco

This research evaluates the effectiveness of the current legal frameworks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Morocco in organizing cybersecurity risks and safeguarding the privacy of individuals in the digital world. The research focuses on assessing the response of the legislation of these countries to the constantly evolving cybersecurity threats and determining its adequacy in ensuring the protection of the privacy of individuals while complying with European Union (EU) standards. The study explores different legal perspectives on protecting privacy rights by comparing the legislation from Morocco and the UAE with recent EU regulations. It recommended that effective control over electronic services be sought to mitigate illegal forms of privacy and personal data abuse. The legislative body of the UAE is urged to develop legislation on the right to information, taking cues from the legislative actions of Morocco. Furthermore, the Moroccan legislature emphasizes expanding the definition of personal data beyond the confines of sound and image.

Encrypted data-sharing for preserving privacy in wastewater-based epidemiology

The rapidly expanding use of wastewater for public health surveillance requires new strategies to protect privacy rights, while data are collected at increasingly discrete geospatial scales, i.e., city, neighborhood, campus, and building-level. Data collected at high geospatial resolution can inform on labile, short-lived biomarkers, thereby making wastewater-derived data both more actionable and more likely to cause privacy concerns and stigmatization of subpopulations. Additionally, data sharing restrictions among neighboring cities and communities can complicate efforts to balance public health protections with citizens' privacy. Here, we have created an encrypted framework that facilitates the sharing of sensitive population health data among entities that lack trust for one another (e.g., between adjacent municipalities with different governance of health monitoring and data sharing). We demonstrate the utility of this approach with two real-world cases. Our results show the feasibility of sharing encrypted data between two municipalities and a laboratory, while performing secure private computations for wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) with high precision, fast speeds, and low data costs. This framework is amenable to other computations used by WBE researchers including population normalized mass loads, fecal indicator normalizations, and quality control measures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Wastewater Surveillance System shows ∼8 % of the records attributed to collection before the wastewater treatment plant, illustrating an opportunity to further expand currently limited community-level sampling and public health surveillance through security and responsible data-sharing as outlined here.

PERSONAL DATA IN THE DIGITAL AGE: AN OVERVIEW STUDY IN VIETNAM

Purpose: In today's era, the fourth industrial revolution, coupled with the remarkable development of information and communication technology, has shifted all human activities to the digital platform. However, personal data digitization and storage methods have risks related to data security and ensuring user privacy. This study comprehensively examines the prevailing legal framework and explores the associated challenges related to personal data protection in Vietnam. Study methodology: Examining legal documents issued by the State is highly significant, and decrees and circulars are essential legal texts utilized in the research process. In addition to the legal bases that are considered the basis for analysis and evaluation, interdisciplinary research methods are used such as dialectical materialism methodology, analysis-synthesis, logic-history, induction-interpretation, etc. Results and Discussion: The current legal framework on personal data protection in Vietnam has various shortcomings that must be addressed through appropriate amendments and supplements aligning with international standards. The challenges in implementing this legal framework in Vietnam must also be clarified to find solutions. Recommendations: Securing personal data is of utmost importance because if data is stolen, it can lead to severe financial losses, the risk of extortion, fraud, asset misappropriation, defamation, infringement of dignity, honor, sexual harassment..., causing both material and psychological consequences, directly affecting the rights and legitimate interests of organizations, businesses, and individuals. Therefore, first and foremost, each needs to ensure the security of their data to prevent data theft, ensure the integrity of personal information, protect privacy rights, and avoid the consequences and risks that arise when personal data is disclosed, leaked or stolen.

LAC and OPI advise FTC to protect privacy rights of people with SUDs

In an August 8 letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Legal Action Center (LAC) and the Opioid Policy Institute (OPI) urged the agency to clarify and strengthen its proposal to modernize the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR). The proposal by the FTC, published in the Federal Register on June 9 (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/09/2023‐12148/health‐breach‐notification‐rule), does not adequately cover substance use disorders (SUDs), but rather refers to categories and silos like “physical health” and “mental health.” This leaves interventions for SUDs — and drug use itself — in a “regulatory and policy blind spot,” according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by ADAW.

Autonomous Archaeological Authority: The Future of Drone Use and Privacy Laws in Cultural Heritage Preservation

Since ancient times, humanity has placed high value on natural and cultural phenomena, with Philo of Byzantium recording the first list of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” as early as 225 B.C.E. Similarly, modern world leaders continue to recognize the value of these and more sites through preserving them as United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage sites. With the advancement of drone technology, researchers now employ drones to aid preservation efforts since drones can enter dangerous and humanly-inaccessible spaces, provide detailed images of sites the human eye cannot see, and assist governments in identifying illegal looting. However, while many countries have developed drone use regulations, the challenging ethical questions drones pose regarding privacy rights have resulted in a lack of drone-specific privacy regulations. As countries create new legislation to fill the policy gaps, the tension between protecting privacy rights and preserving cultural heritage results in an unclear future for the use of drones for site preservation. Section II of this Comment analyzes the history of World Heritage sites, drone development, and their intersection to understand the vital role drones play in site preservation. Subsequently, Section III conducts a comparative analysis of drone-use and privacy regulations in four countries with the greatest amount of UNESCO sites to identify the current status of global drone laws. Finally, Section IV addresses the lack of drone-specific privacy regulation and asserts potential implications new drone legislation could have on preservation efforts while postulating methods to protect preservation drone use.

The importance of digitalisation and data science for HIS strengthening

Abstract The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic has underscored the critical need for all countries to strengthen their health data and information systems and ensure the routes the data travel, from submission to use, are unobstructed. Timely, credible, reliable, and actionable data are key to ensuring that political decisions are data driven and facilitate understanding, monitoring, and forecasting. To ensure that critical decisions related to the wider health and socioeconomic effects of this pandemic are data driven, each country needs to develop or enhance a national data governance plan that includes a clear coordination mechanism, well-defined and documented data processes (manual or electronic), the exchange of data, and a data culture to empower users. In addition, countries should now more than ever invest and enhance their data and health information systems to ensure that all decisions are data driven and that they are prepared for what is next. Furthermore, strong enabling environments and advanced and digitized health information systems are vital to controlling epidemics. Sustainable finance and government support are required for the continued implementation and enhancement of HIS. It is important to promote digital solutions beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Now is the time to discuss potential solutions to obtain timely, accurate, and reliable health information and steer policy-making while protecting privacy rights and meeting the highest ethical standards.

Pirates of Privacy: How Companies Profit Off Your Personal Data by Using Capital Surveillance Methods in Criminal Prosecution

Surveillance involves monitoring an individual as a method of obtaining information for future use, and is defined as continuous observation of a place, person, group, or ongoing activity in order to gather information. Governments are normally restricted by judicial safeguards such as warrants and common law when it comes to surveillance methods of obtaining an individual’s private data. However, private companies are not. When users agree to terms and conditions on technology apps they often are not aware that they are consenting to being monitored and their information could easily be sold, even to the government. This process of capturing and commodifying personal data for profit-making is commonly referred to as “surveillance capitalism”. Surveillance capitalism poses a threat to privacy rights because the methods by which users’ online data is collected are overly intrusive due to the nature of how the data is stored on these apps. Additionally, the data collected by private companies can be sold, distributed, and used against the user’s legal interests and liberties. However, both International Law and the United States Constitutional Law recognize the right to privacy. This raises the question: How do we protect privacy rights when much of our personal data is now stored digitally and on technological applications that society is becoming reliant on for everyday tasks? Privacy laws have not yet adapted to address this modern day challenge. This article discusses the legal understanding of privacy rights, the threat modern-day surveillance capitalism poses to those rights, and possible solutions for updating outdated privacy laws.

Bee occurrence data collected in citizen science program “Hanamaru‐Maruhana national census” in Japan

AbstractTo understand bee distributions in Japan, we started the citizen science program “Hanamaru‐Maruhana national census (Bumble bee national census in English)” from 2013, and collected bee photographs taken by citizens. Bee photographs were collected via e‐mail or “Mobile Phone System and Cloud Services” provided by Fujitsu FIP, Co. Species were identified from photographic images, and latitude‐longitude data were extracted from GPS data in Exif information of photographs or address in text of e‐mail. We have confirmed all 16 bumble bee species inhabiting in the Japanese archipelago excluding the Kurile Islands, and have got 5503 records of these bumble bees. In addition, we have got 380 records of three carpenter bee species that are often mistaken for bumble bees by citizens. This occurrence data cover the time range from September 2006 to October 2018, the latitudinal range from 26.45 to 45.29 and the longitudinal range from 127.80 to 145.82. The latitude–longitude data were rounded off to two decimal places in the published dataset for protecting privacy rights of citizens. In addition, the latitude–longitude data of five rare bumble bee species/subspecies were rounded off to one decimal place for protecting their habitats. The complete data set for this abstract published in the Data Paper section of the journal is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2021-04.1/jalter-en.

Health Information Systems in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Short Survey of Experiences and Lessons Learned From the European Region.

Introduction: The COVID-19 crisis provides an opportunity to reflect on what worked during the pandemic, what could have been done differently, and what innovations should become part of an enhanced health information system in the future.Methods: An online qualitative survey was designed and administered online in November 2020 to all the 37 Member States that are part of the WHO European Health Information Initiative and the WHO Central Asian Republics Information Network.Results: Nineteen countries responded to the survey (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russian Federation, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan). The COVID-19 pandemic required health information systems (HIS) to rapidly adapt to identify, collect, store, manage, and transmit accurate and timely COVID-19 related data. HIS stakeholders have been put to the test, and valuable experience has been gained. Despite critical gaps such as under-resourced public health services, obsolete health information technologies, and lack of interoperability, most countries believed that their information systems had worked reasonably well in addressing the needs arising during the COVID-19 pandemic.Conclusion: Strong enabling environments and advanced and digitized health information systems are vital to controlling epidemics. Sustainable finance and government support are required for the continued implementation and enhancement of HIS. It is important to promote digital solutions beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Now is the time to discuss potential solutions to obtain timely, accurate, and reliable health information and steer policy-making while protecting privacy rights and meeting the highest ethical standards.

Future uncertainties for preserving tweets: Peoples’ perceptions in Japan

Social media content includes an unprecedented number of personal documents reflecting our time. Few countries or regions have established legal grounds for securing long-term access to these documents, while paper-based publications have been exhaustively accumulated under legal deposit systems. However, archiving social media through national libraries, as a sort of state intervention, could bring about chilling effects on free speech in unexpected ways. The article aims to present empirical data of public concerns concerning social media content, focusing on Twitter’s public tweets archived by third parties, through two questionnaire surveys involving university students (Research I) and the public (Research II). The surveys were designed based on three settings: researchers, organisations to which the respondents belong and the National Diet Library in Japan. Consequently, approximately 30% and 47% of the respondents in Research I ( n = 197) and II ( n = 728), respectively, disagreed with any hypothetical scenario. An ordered logistic analysis to reveal the inter-relations of variables suggests the existence of other factors; thus, neither variables related to Twitter/Internet use nor demographic variables influenced people’s perceptions of the archival issue. While protecting privacy rights and copyrights was the primary reason for disagreements regarding third-party archival of tweets, many respondents intuitively displayed a negative reaction without any specific reason. Those who question its value and feel uncomfortable with an authoritative intervention were also identified. To nurture acceptant attitudes, advocating the archival of personal documents and adopting more restrictive archival procedures like taking down posts and anonymisation, public debates on the intervention of public bodies and demonstration of archival values should be considered.

The impact of GDPR on WHOIS: Implications for businesses facing cybercrime

To protect privacy rights, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been effectively blocking access to the personal information of individuals who register Internet domains. Prior to the May 2018 GDPR enforcement deadline, this information was available through WHOIS, the directory service maintained by the ICANN, the organisation that manages the global domain system. By preventing access to this information, GDPR is depriving cyber security professionals of data that is vital for fighting a variety of Internet-based crimes. ICANN and European authorities have been engaged in high-stakes negotiations over who may legally access the data in the future, and how. To address the concerns of security professionals and others, ICANN has proposed creating a tiered system to allow accredited users, including security professionals, to continue accessing personal data. However, how that tiered system would work is unclear, complicated and mired in controversy. Corporate security officials should take note, as it could speed up the already rapidly escalating problem of cybercrime.

Persona Non Data: How Courts in the EU, UK and Canada are Addressing the Issue of Communications Data Surveillance vs. Privacy Rights

When we make a phone call, send an email, connect to the internet or use an app on a connected device, our service provider gathers the “communications data” that we generate that identifies us and reveals details of our activities. This data is increasingly used by law enforcement and intelligence services in the detection and prosecution of crime and the prevention of terrorism. There is, however, anxiety in some quarters, fueled by the Snowden revelations that some western governments have been engaged in mass surveillance of the communications of their citizens, that the existing rules governing retention of our communications data and access to it do not afford adequate protection against state incursion into our private lives. This paper examines how the United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada -- three jurisdictions that share with the United States a strong commitment to personal rights and freedoms -- are approaching the task of safeguarding personal security while protecting personal privacy. We do so through an examination of recent court decisions ruling on the conformity of communications data retention and access laws with privacy rights. These cases present a picture of active judicial engagement in the data retention/access issue that is focused on three main topics: justification (In what circumstances can data retention and access laws justifiably intrude upon privacy rights?); accountability (Is some form of judicial or other independent overview of requests for communications data retention/access necessary to protect privacy rights?); and transparency (How much is the public entitled to know about the state’s practices relating to surveillance of communications data in light of the need to conduct some investigations of serious crimes and terrorist offences in secrecy?) The courts have either declared legislation invalid or imposed safeguards designed to protect privacy rights where communications data retention/access laws do not provide satisfactory answers to these questions.

Birchfield V. North Dakota: Why the United States Supreme Court Should Rely on Riley V. California to Hold that Criminalizing a Suspect's Refusal to Consent to a Warrantless Blood Test Violates the Fourth Amendment

Although the interest in deterring drunk driving and protecting the public cannot be overstated, the importance of protecting privacy rights is far too often understated. In an era where technological advancements enable law enforcement to investigate criminal activity in a manner the Founders could not possibly foresee, few would doubt that the benefits of technology also bring grave threats to individual and collective liberty. However, as courts struggle to balance privacy rights with the investigatory powers that new technology enables, they must not overlook the more conventional threats to privacy, as present in Birchfield, that often lurk under the Fourth Amendment radar. States cannot – and should not – be allowed to weaken privacy protections through laws, such as N.D.C.C. §§39-20-1 and 39-08-01, compelling motorists, under threat of criminal prosecution, to consent to warrantless blood tests that, at least in some cases, are neither necessary nor reasonable. If N.D.C.C. §§39-20-1 and 39-08-01 are upheld, the Court will send a message that states can circumvent the Fourth Amendment with legislation that admittedly achieves worthy policy objectives, yet does so at the expense of core constitutional protections. In Riley, the Court’s decision recognized this fact, and implicit in its holding was the admonition that the objective of serving the public good, such as by deterring drunk driving, must not be achieved through procedures that make the public less free and the Constitution less relevant.

Remembering and Forgetting – Protecting Privacy Rights in the Digital Age

This article interrogates the nature and scope of the right to erasure through the lens of the CJEU’s decision in Google Spain/Google Inc v AEPD/González. It examines the reasoning adopted by the Advocate-General and the CJEU in this case as a means of assessing the interpretative techniques used by lawyers and decision-makers to resolve the normative conflicts that arise in privacy/expression disputes. It harnesses Koskenniemi’s work on the structure of legal argumentation for the purpose of analysing rights reasoning in the context of EU Data Protection law. And it explores the significance of the symbiotic relationship between privacy rights and expression rights with a view to providing the basis for achieving meaningful normative co-ordination in concrete cases.

Does the Regulation of Medical Research in the Netherlands Adequately Protect Privacy Rights After Death?

There is a growing interest in scientific research using data and bodily material for medical purposes. In 2007 and 2011, results were published of studies on the genetic properties of the DNA of a deceased person. This case raises the question whether a deceased is entitled to legal protection, more specifically privacy protection in scientific research in the Netherlands. This article outlines the Dutch legal framework for scientific research involving historical data and bodily material as well as bodily material and parts of the deceased. These considerations do indicate that further legislation will be required, specifically with respect to the proper use of bodily material of the deceased and subsequent publication of the results.

Does the Regulation of Medical Scientific Research in Belgium Adequately Protect Privacy Rights after Death?

Health-related data and human bodily material continue to exist and can also be obtained after death. They are of great value for medical scientific research. However, a fair balance has to be struck by the legislator between protecting the privacy of the data subject/donor and taking into account the specific needs of scientific research. After all, the death of a person should not entail that this conflict of interest ceases to exist and that only the interests of scientific research are taken into account. Therefore, this article analyses whether the Belgian legislator was able to strike this fair balance and thus whether a proper regulatory framework for post-mortem medical scientific research exists in Belgium.

Coercing Privacy and Moderate Paternalism: Allen on <I>Unpopular Privacy</I>

My hope is that by challenging two of the central claims of Unpopular Privacy, Professor Allen will be encouraged to expand or further clarify her views. First, I will critique Allen’s definition of privacy as being overly broad. On my view, including forced seclusion or isolation along with rights to control access to and uses of locations and information within the category of “privacy” is a mistake. Similarly, to describe legal protections for keeping doctor and patient confidences as coercing, rather than protecting privacy rights, seems a stretch. Second, I will challenge Allen’s justification for moderate paternalism. Our government may indeed be treating us like children in a variety of ways, but such policies are unjustified and create or sustain the very weaknesses they are supposed to ameliorate.

United States v. Flores-Lopez: Protecting Privacy Rights in Cell Phone Searches Incident to Arrest

United States v. Flores-Lopez: Protecting Privacy Rights in Cell Phone Searches Incident to Arrest

Social feature-based enterprise email classification without examining email contents

Without imposing restrictions, many enterprises find nonwork-related contents consuming network resources. Business communication over emails thus incurs undesired delays and inflicts damages to businesses, explaining why many enterprises are concerned with the competition to use email services. Obviously, enterprises should prioritize business emails over personal ones in their email service. Therefore, previous works present content-based classification methods to categorize enterprise emails into business or personal correspondence. Accuracy of these methods is largely determined by their ability to survey as much information as possible. However, in addition to decreasing the performance of these methods, monitoring the details of email contents may violate privacy rights that are under legal protection, requiring a careful balance of accurately classifying enterprise emails and protecting privacy rights. The proposed email classification method is thus based on social features rather than a survey of emails contents. Social-based metrics are also designed to characterize emails as social features; the obtained features are treated as an input of machine learning-based classifiers for email classification. Experimental results demonstrate the high accuracy of the proposed method in classifying emails. In contrast with other content-based methods that examine email contents, the emphasis on social features in the proposed method is a promising alternative for solving similar email classification problems.

SIG 17 Perspectives Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011

SIG 17 Perspectives Vol. 1, No. 1, May 2011