Month: December 2019

Citation: Privacy International: Amazon’s contract with the NHS raises data privacy concerns

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Privacy International (“PI”) has scrutinized Amazon’s contact with the Department of Health to harvest data for Alexa services.  The contract started from 14 December 2018 and will be in effect till 15 October 2024.

The contract covers Amazon using the data of the NHS website and integrating it with Alexa, allowing Alexa to better respond to medical questions. This permits Alexa to better respond to a range of medical questions with the vetted information available from the NHS website. Readers should note that the arrangement DOES NOT SHARE THIRD-PARTY HEALTHCARE DATA. The focus is permitting Alexa to access the NHS website’s publically available data to enhance its response to heathcare questions. Patient data, as far as we know, was not part of the agreement.

PI then goes on to scrutinize the contract in detail giving an overview of the key terms and conditions. The article also covers the commercial vs public interest issues arising from the redaction of parts of the contract, raising matters of transparency in government contracting.

The sharing of data under this agreement permits Alexa to use data gathered from the NHS website. This is for informational purposes as the site is typically a first port of call for those concerned about symptoms. By integrating this data Amazon helps Alexa enhance its service offering. It has notably been said, by the Guardian, that such accessibility was granted free of charge.

 

Citation: Security Boulevard: On the Convergence of Data Privacy and Data Security: Part 1

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Security Boulevard has a great piece unpacking the terminology behind privacy. Including- what is meant by data privacy as opposed to data protection? What is the significance of this?

The terminology used around privacy has been changing as fast as the privacy landscape has. In this context it is important to keep ahead of the language used to formulate and express privacy ideas. Security Boulevard does just that in its recent post.

It’s definition typically focuses on the zonal nature of privacy. Thus the fact that it can be lost, breached or reformulated.

Suneet Sharma launches the Law and Games (“LaG”) Blog

The Privacy Perspective1 Comment

As of 26 November 2019 TPP’s Founder Suneet Sharma has launched the Law and Games Blog. This blog is focused on content creators and their legal rights.

The move comes following Suneet taking up the position of Legal Executice at game developer and publisher Sega. We hope you will find it informative.

Suneet will continue to run TPP and post weekly privacy oriented content.