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Rules & Regs  / Trends
Instagram addresses incoming GDPR with new personal data disclosures
Tamara Davison Posted On April 12, 2018


In the run-up to the launch of European GDPR legislation on May 25th, a number of companies have begun to announce changes to their policy and securities, resulting in a number of email notifications regarding what to expect. This comes amidst mounting pressure facing the technology sphere to disclose any former hacks and data breaches before GDPR comes into action. According to reports by the Guardian, the maximum fine for a breach has been upped to 20 million Euros from May and will be changed based on the date of disclosure, revealing it is in the interest of the companies to disclose any security leaks earlier rather than later. The new law will also enhance user’s rights to delete or deny specific pieces of personal information and the right to view what has been stored on you.

Yesterday photo sharing and social media platform Instagram announced plans to allow its users to download all the personal data that is held by the site. The news suggests that it will also allow users to download all their former picture uploads, videos and even messages in the first move by the company to address the increasingly potent theme of data protection in technology. Though the company is yet to confirm the specific date that the newly advertised ‘data portability tool’ will be available on its platform but it has been suggested by TechCrunch that it could hope to coincide with the legislation in lines with the regulations. As with all companies that address a global audience further afield than Europe, it remains unclear whether the regulations and usability of the new data tool will vary for people in differing countries.

Launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and initially developed as a space for sharing polaroid-style pictures, the company was quickly acquired by Facebook in 2012. Under the wing of the technology giant, it was reported at the time that the platform had over 80 million users across the world. From there the platform introduced a number of new features such as the Instagram story, new photo filters and new video features – heavily rivalling Snapchat. Reportedly allowing for over 95 billion photos and videos to be shared across the world daily, the scope of the new announcement to provide users with a copy of their data is not surprising, especially in the current climate of data analysis.

At the same time as the announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg concluded two days of questions from American Congressional committees yesterday. Although the Instagram platform has its own group of developers, sales and leadership teams, it still comes under the umbrella organisation that is overseen by Facebook. Yet although Facebook has already provided the ability to download user data, it seems like the Instagram sister site has been lagging behind on disclosing similar details. So far it is also unclear whether the new data tool will also disclose any details relating to advertising, categories or whether a form of cookies and tags are also linked to profiles. Although a step in the right direction for Instagram, the personal disclosure has the potential to reveal some interesting data collection – one can only wonder whether this would add fuel to fire.


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Rules & Regs  / Trends
Criminal charges for Uber after European Court ruling
Tamara Davison Posted On April 10, 2018


The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has just ruled against the transport platform Uber for running an illegal company in France two years ago. As a result, France’s decision to impose fines on the company for illegal mishandlings was justified by the courts, adding to a succession of fraudulent and, sometimes questionable, actions by Uber.

The case relates to a dispute between the company and Uber that came to a head in 2016. It was during that time that a French court imposed a $900,000 fine on the company for ‘running an illegal and unsafe transport service’ alongside unlicensed drivers. According to Fortune, the court argued that Uber had broken the ‘Thevenoud Law (2014)’ which states that chauffeured online services must use a base rather than find customers on the road – this focused pressure on UberPop, a service that uses regular people rather than professional drivers.  Uber counter argued the fine on a technicality whereby EU countries are expected to notify the European Commission of new laws that affect digital services, which France failed to do.

Launched in March 2009, the story behind Uber and its ascent to worldwide status hasn’t been an smooth journey. It  began with Travis Kalanick establishing an application called UberCab in San Francisco. By December 2011, known by then only as Uber, the company began to expand from its home turf and look abroad to France before further European countries. It was in 2014 that Uber was valued at over $3.76 billion as it launched UberRush, UberPool and UberCargo and eventually UberEats. Then came the lawsuits, the competitive apps and countries imposing legislation which mean the platform could no longer operate.  In 2017 the company was taken over by Dara Khosrowshahi, however this unravelled but more stories of previous bribery, theft and questions surrounding pricing was set to face a series of investigations by U.S officials and hinder the company further. All of this was happening whilst the general public around the world benefited from safer, efficient travel options with the app, at just a fraction of the cost of normal taxis.  

However this was set to change quite rapidly too. Hungary, Taiwan, Denmark and Austin (Texas) were just some of the places to ban Uber from functioning within their respective areas. Their reasons vary, from legislation requiring taxi meters to fingerprint identification (neither of which Uber requires from its drivers) but the fate of the app remains undeterred in most restricted countries as a result of popular demand. London’s announcement to ban the app was met with vast challenge from users and drivers who claimed 40,000 jobs would be lost as a result. The thought of having to flag down a real taxi and pay with real cash apparently seemed all but too otherworldly for some Londoners. However the announcement also chimed with reports that Uber has in fact covered up a hack of 57 million users by paying off the hackers behind it.

It’s not really groundbreaking to imply such a global company is somehow playing dirty, but for the likes of Uber who tried to use a rape victim’s medical records to cast doubt on the Indian Uber trial, the inner workings of this company are all too much. The company has a long history of avoiding rules and skirting around regulations. And given a recent crash in Arizona by one of Uber’s driverless cars which killed a pedestrian, we still seem to be waiting on a wholesale improvement of company operating standards.

The most recent ruling by the European court sees Uber being addressed as a transport company rather than a digital service, revealing a weak point where related technology giants are not immune to traditional laws. According to reports, the company’s CEO recognises that ‘it is appropriate to regulate services such as Uber and so we will continue the dialogue with cities across Europe’, however it remains to be seen if that is any sort of benefit in justifying all of their decisions in recent years.


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Rules & Regs  / Startups
Skyscanner, Interreail and the future of European travel
Tamara Davison Posted On April 10, 2018


SkyScanner recently announced that it would be opening up its platform to facilitate the purchase of train tickets for its UK customers. For anyone that has ever endured trying to buy a somewhat cheap train ticket through Virgin, or the abundance of other British train websites for that matter, this might sound like music to their ears. What’s more, though only accessible for iPhone users for the moment, the company plans to extend the access to android users soon and eventually to an international audience, according to Techcrunch.

The thinking behind the news is targeted at overcoming the hurdle facing UK airports that normally finds them located in the middle of nowhere, to the extent that if you wish to skirt around airport parking or taxi fares it will usually require a bus to a train, to probably another train before you even reach the long queues through airport security. By streamlining the process, Skyscanner appeals to an even broader British audience and establishes itself as a key contender in travel booking as a whole. In time this means that alongside those flight tickets to Amsterdam for thirty pounds, there might even be a train ticket from Gatwick to Manchester for somewhere along the same price.

There is another reality that comes into question regarding the ease of EU travel in the coming future. A whole other Pandora’s box of uncertainty, so to speak.

It’s just a matter of time before Brexit steps out of the peripheries of parliamentary ‘debates’ and into the reality of everyday British life. Whilst 20,000 European teenagers who, upon turning eighteen will receive a free Interrail pass allowing for free travel between EU Member countries, this will also signal an important time for technology companies that market specifically to travel.

The reality stretches further than what the head of the European Tour Operators’ Association (ETOA) suggested whilst speaking to UK Parliament. He exclaimed, ‘we are starting to see a borderless market in Europe for travel, and the UK will be left out’. Of course it’s true that it will most likely be business as usual in Europe whilst cheap flight operators such as Monarch, Easy Jet and RyanAir address the reality of new restrictions, and thus more expensive, less frequent flight routes. But does this also signal a gap in the market, or at least a window for new technology companies to step up to the mark of travel alternatives?

Well Czech startup Kiwi.com might be on the right lines at least. The Brno-based startup brings together over 700 airlines into a user-friendly search engine where travellers can compare and purchase tickets. The website possesses a unique selling point known as ‘Virtual Interlining’ which means that connecting flights, often with competing airlines, can then also be purchased with one click. As a result, the startup helps to pioneer new flight routes across the world. The company is now annually turning over €700 Million, so they must be doing something right.

Regardless of what updates face Europe, the desire to travel on the cheap is looking to always remain quite a universal one regardless of newly imposed borders and fees. Now is the call to capitalise on that.


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In Depth  / Rules & Regs  / Trends
Facebook introducing GDPR is a big win for European tech
Ben Allen Posted On April 9, 2018

gdpr

Initially Facebook was simply ready to roll out GDPR for its European territories, but then the Camrbidge Analytica revelations were injected into the jugular of public discourse. Facebook were initially reticent to view GDPR as a solution to its data woes, but one gets the impression this response was a knee-jerk reaction to the thought of regulation. A couple of days later – perhaps once someone at Facebook had read the GDPR – Mark Zuckerberg announced that they would offer GDPR as an customer option across the globe. Zuckerberg stipulated that implementing the regulation globally might clash in certain places with some local laws, so it wouldn’t be perfect everywhere. Off the back of his comment consumer groups have requested that the social media giant implements the rules as the global default.

GDPR focuses on a few key areas :

Big rules:

  1. The legislation applies to anyone operating in the EU, so companies cannot consider themselves exempt on the basis of the location of their HQ.
  2. Failure to comply will result in a fine of up to 4% of annual global turnover or $20 million, whichever is greater.
  3. Consent must be must be clear, easily accessible, distinguishable from other matters and easily withdrawn.

User rights:

  1. All users have the right to be made aware of a data breach within 72 hours of the company having first become aware of the breach.
  2. All users have the right to demand a free electronic copy of all data held on them, where it’s being held and for what purpose.
  3. All users have the right to be forgotten. At the drop of a hat, companies holding data on someone will have to delete it all upon a simple request.
  4. All users have the right to a portable version of their data should they wish to switch services without losing anything previously stored, in order to promote competition.
  5. All companies must design their systems as secure and in keeping with GDPR from the ground up, rather than add on security measures later. Part of this means adhering to data minimalisation principles, so the only data captured and processed is that which is absolutely necessary to the task at hand.
  6. All companies must employ an EU data protection office.

This regulation is broad and nothing like it exists anywhere else in the world. It was initially something interesting the Europeans were doing, who had a different take on business regulation to the US, for example. But since GDPR has become a core part of the discussion in the Zuckermath of the Cambridge Analytica stories, it has taken on new height and significance. Given the gridlock US Congress is so famous for, it’s unlikely that such broad and sweeping regulation could be passed through the US political system. As it stands the Europeans are leading the charge on how to regulate tech, and how to navigate the treacherous waters of personal data and privacy.

It would be entirely unsurprising if Google and Twitter were to also take up the regulation at some point over the next year or so. in 2010 then Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Google’s goal was to “get right up to the creepy line and not cross it” but – leaving aside how creepy that sentence is in and of itself – and as we’ve seen of late, knowing where that line is is very difficult. Rather than getting bogged down in the difficulties of regulating privacy and data, the EU have now provided the world the first example of how to tackle something everyone else thought was too tricky.

Part of the reason Facebook are devoid of excuses or reasonable explanations is specifically because an understanding of how to deal with people’s personal data already existed. The Russia election interference and Cambridge Analytica incidents were probably too esoteric to have predicted outright, but a simple and ethical approach to how people’s data should be used would have granted Facebook access to thinking already being thunk in Europe. And the kind of thinking already perfectly obvious to the late Steve Jobs…


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