Saturday, July 9, 2022

Engadget RSS Feed

Engadget RSS Feed

Biden executive order on abortion access aims to address privacy issues

Posted: 08 Jul 2022 05:01 PM PDT

The Biden White House took a step toward shoring up some of the privacy issues that have been raised following the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. In a new executive order addressing abortion access and other issues, the White House suggested that it's trying to increase privacy protections for people seeking reproductive healthcare, though it's not clear what policies may change as a result of the action.

The order points to "the potential threat to patient privacy caused by the transfer and sale of sensitive health-related data and by digital surveillance." And it offers some guidance to other agencies, like the FTC, though it stops short of proposing new regulations.

Instead, the order seems to leave much at the discretion of the FTC and the Department of Health and Human Services. For example, it says the chair of the FTC is "is encouraged to consider actions … to protect consumers' privacy when seeking information about and provision of reproductive healthcare services." It also states that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services should "consider actions to educate consumers on how best to protect their health privacy and limit the collection and sharing of their sensitive health-related information."

Biden's executive order comes after privacy advocates and activists have warned that the lack of federal privacy regulations could have dire consequences for people seeking abortions post-Roe. Period tracking apps have gotten outsize attention, but experts say the issue runs far deeper than just one type of app. And while the executive order doesn't touch on issues like data brokers or the vast collection of personal information by tech companies, the issue has gotten the attention of Congress. On the same day as Biden's executive order, a group of Democrats from the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into five data brokers and the companies behind five popular cycle tracking apps.

Elon Musk is officially trying to kill his Twitter takeover

Posted: 08 Jul 2022 02:53 PM PDT

Elon Musk is officially trying to pull the plug on the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. In an SEC filing, Musk's lawyers said the Tesla CEO wishes to terminate the agreement because of "false and misleading representations" made by Twitter.

In a statement, Twitter's Board of Directors said it still "intends to close the transaction" and would take legal action against Musk. "We are committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plan to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement," the board said. "We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."

Twitter and Musk have been squabbling for months over how the company counts the number of bots and fake accounts on the platform. In the letter filed with the SEC, Musk's lawyers state that Twitter has both withheld information and misled Musk about the true numbers.

Twitter has long stated that fake accounts make up less than 5 percent of its total daily users, and it turned over some of its internal "firehose" of data to Musk to bolster those claims. But the additional data hasn't been enough to appease Musk, who has continued to challenge Twitter's official estimates.

In the SEC filing, Musk's lawyers state that "although Twitter has not yet provided complete information to Mr. Musk that would enable him to do a complete and comprehensive review of spam and fake accounts … it appears Twitter is dramatically understating" the number. "Preliminary analysis by Mr. Musk's advisors of the information provided by Twitter to date causes Mr. Musk to strongly believe that the proportion of false and spam accounts included in the reported mDAU count is wildly higher than 5%," they told the SEC, without detailing their evidence. 

A Twitter spokesperson referred to the statement from the company's board of directors saying the company would take legal action to force the deal to close. Earlier on Friday, The Financial Timesreported that Twitter is "willing to go to war" to close the deal, and that CEO Parag Agrawal has been "more aggressive internally."

It's not clear what happens next, but it seems Musk and Twitter are likely headed toward a lengthy legal battle. The news is particularly grim for Twitter, which has already lost billions of dollars off its market cap, halted most of its hiring and laid off nearly 100 employees in an attempt to cut costs as it works toward a deal. A long legal fight is also likely to exacerbate anxiety among Twitter employees who have have already been worried about what their future might hold under a Musk-owned company.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)