A privacy investigation reveals that 5 million people’s images were collected at malls across Canada; People open up about the loneliness that comes with working from home, and U.S. federal agencies warn of data-scrambling extortion attempts against the U.S. healthcare system.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Friday, October 30, and I’m your host Alex Coop.
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OPC: Cadillac Fairview collected 5 million shoppers’ images without proper consent
A disturbing report from the federal privacy commissioner released Thursday revealed that Cadillac Fairview, a parent company of malls across the country, broke federal and provincial privacy laws by embedding cameras inside digital information kiosks at 12 shopping malls across Canada, and captured users’ images without their consent. According to the report, the facial recognition software installed in the organization’s “wayfinding” directories was used in Canadian malls for a brief testing period in 2017 and then was in-use between May and July of 2018. Cadillac Fairview says it didn’t store any of the data themselves, but according to the commissioner’s report, they weren’t aware a third-party firm was storing the images. According to the report, the technology was used in directories at 11 different locations across Canada.
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While most are generally content with the remote work situation, there’s one problem that hundreds of LinkedIn users are discussing this week: We’re lonely. Extroverts, leaders and those who genuinely enjoy their coworkers are facing serious challenges, exacerbated by the fact that social lives have also been brought to a standstill by the pandemic. Experts on the platform have already chimed in, suggesting people follow the example set by gig workers, who take the time to build connections to people, routines, a sense of purpose and a workspace. [LinkedIn]
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And lastly, Reuters is reporting that Federal agencies are warning that cybercriminals are unleashing a wave of data-scrambling extortion attempts against the U.S. healthcare system. The ransomware attacks are designed to lock up hospital information systems, which could hurt patient care just as nationwide cases of COVID-19 are spiking. It wasn’t that long ago when a ransomware attack against a hospital in Germany led to the death of a patient.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. I’m Baneet Braich, thanks for listening