Top News – Privacy Sandbox beta version unveiled, $9.5m fine against the Economist and more

Australia’s AG Department’s review of the Privacy Act 1988 released Australia’s privacy journey makes progress as the Australian Government released the report of the Attorney General Department’s review of the Privacy Act 1988, also known as “The Act”. The potential reforms cover multiple important areas from targeted advertising to individual privacy rights. Public feedback is expected. Read more

Google’s Privacy Sandbox Beta version rolled out Beta version of the privacy enhancing alternative to tracking cookies, the Privacy Sandbox has been released by Google for Android. An important element of the Sandbox is the ‘Topics API’ wherein the top interests of users are pulled and then compared with a database from the Advertising Bureau as well as Google’s data. Work is under progress to release the Sandbox for Chrome. Read more

China acts to promote user privacy rights A notice highlighting 46 applications and third-party development software kits that violated the Personal Information Protection Law was released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in China, the violations to be remedied before the 15th of February 2023. Read more

$9.5 million fine paid by the Economist for violating user privacy A Michigan class-action lawsuit alleged that the Economist sold subscriber information to third parties without first obtaining the consent of Michigan subscribers. Michigan’s Preservation of Personal Privacy Act was said to have been violated. The newspaper company agreed to pay the fine to resolve the allegations. Read more

ICO publishes tips for children’s game designers UK’s ICO publishes guidance for children’s game developers to ensure that children remained protected in the online gaming world. The guidance includes 7 top tips that include running risk assessments, transparency, parental controls and so forth. Read more