The Committee of European Convention 108 (the "Privacy Convention") has announced the second edition of the Rodotà Award, intended to reward innovative academic research projects to advance data protection. The award honors the memory of Stefano Rodotà, a prominent Italian law professor and candidate for the Italian presidency who championed democratic institutions, human rights, and data protection. The competition is open to researchers from all regions of the world participating in the work of the Committee of Convention 108. Application here. Deadline: 18 December 2019. Competition rules. The prize winner will be announced on Data Protection Day (28 January 2020) and will have the opportunity to present his/her work at the next Plenary session of the Committee of Convention 108 to be held in Strasbourg in July 1-3, 2020. In 2009, Prof. Rodotà received the first EPIC International Champion of Freedom Award.
This week a federal appellate judge pressed the government about the reliability of a Google scanning algorithm that provided the basis for the warrantless search of a private email. EPIC raised concerns about the scanning technique in an amicus brief for the appeals court. In United States v. Wilson, EPIC argued that "because neither Google nor the Government explained how the image matching technique actually works or presented evidence establishing accuracy and reliability, the Government's search was unreasonable." Judge Watford told the government attorney that he "would like to hear your defense of the evidentiary record" because what we have "is this declaration from the Google person," and "I would need far more explanation of how reliable the hash matching technology is before I could validate this search." EPIC filed an amicus brief in a similar case in United States v. Miller. EPIC routinely submits amicus briefs on the privacy implications of new investigative techniques. EPIC has also long promoted algorithmic transparency to ensure accountability for AI-based decision making.
Google has announced that it will no longer describe the type of content on an app or webpage when conducting auctions for ads. Google stated the change was the result of "engagement with data protection authorities" and would help prevent those bidding on ads from linking individual people to sensitive content. The change raised concerns about entrenching Google's dominance over internet advertising and whether the policy change would further diminish advertising revenue for content publishers. Questions also remain as to whether the change is necessary under the GDPR if user IDs are effectively deidentified as Google has claimed. Google's modifications to its Street View data collection failed to halt multiple fines by data protection agencies for legal violations. The company's ad exchange is still under investigation for violations of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. EPIC recently urged lawmakers to unwind bad mergers, including Google's acquisition of YouTube and Nest.
