Monthly Archives: May 2019

The Nest smart home, as it was known, has completely ended. Nest joined Google’s stable of hardware last year, and this month Google has fully taken over and rebranded to Google Nest.

Google have stated their privacy commitments to users and have promised to explain how personal data and captured footage will be used. However, the recent announcement this month has raised concerns. Bloomberg recently reported that thousands of Amazon employees listen to voice recordings captured in Echo speakers. Also, it has been found that not only do smart home devices save voice recordings, but also the transcripts and these cannot be deleted. Furthermore, Facebook and Google were both found to still track users even after they deactivated their accounts or turned off location services. Google have now improved this function allowing users to delete their location history.

Google will offer users of Nest the option to migrate to Google accounts. Despite this being an ‘option’, Google has warned that users who do not migrate would risk losing access to new features they may offer in the future, making this more of a necessity. If you already have a Google account for other Google products, you can migrate your Nest account to that. New users will automatically be given a new Google account.

It has also been announced that ‘Works with Nest’, the original Nest developer program, will be discontinued on August 31, 2019. This will prevent third party integrations, including the popular IFTTT app, and only ‘Work with Google Assistant’ development will be possible.

Google has stressed transparency and protection around its data collection practices, and that it will give users more options to review and delete data as and when necessary. However, previous experience has warranted concerns for data safety. This has been demonstrated by Facebook’s misuse of data during the takeover of Whatsapp and is highlighted by the fact that activity on Nest will be used to personalise your experience everywhere else on Google, which is clearly not the most robust privacy control.

Microsoft have announced that the latest Windows 10 update is soon to be ready (end of May 2019). This is potentially the most significant update that has been released for Windows 10, as it gives control of updates to users, however, it comes with a catch.

Microsoft has announced that users will need up to twice as much free storage on their PCs to receive the Windows 10 “1903” update. The new minimum is 32 GB, double the previous 16 GB stipulation for 32-bit Windows 10 and almost 40% more for the 64-bit editions. For older PCs this could be problematic and it may mean users will need to free up space or make changes to cater for this.

This upgrade was said to give users more detailed control over Windows 10 updates, however, in reality not much more control is in fact given. Users of all Windows 10 versions will essentially only be able to decide when updates are installed by downloading immediately or delaying the update for just over a month.

Although even this simple option could be seen as an improvement due to the previous problems with updates. In October 2018, some users reported that their personal data was deleted and in November 2018, that Windows chose to downgrade itself– due to faulty Windows updates being rolled out.Thus having control to pause or delay could be beneficial to protect against future update bugs.

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Samsung have cancelled upcoming orders for the Galaxy Fold. Samsung is asking customers if they want to keep their orders, and if not confirmed by May 31st, their orders will be cancelled.

Ifixit’s review of the Fold stated the vulnerabilities of the design. After two days, Samsung requested that this was removed from the Ifixit website. However, since, Samsung have confirmed they are addressing these problems and have not confirmed a release date for the Galaxy Fold.

Ifixit wrote this review after honest use of the device which exposed the delicacy of the OLED screens. Samsung is the world’s leading manufacturer of OLED displays; these screens are heralded for their brilliance in colour and flexibility. However, they are extremely sensitive, specifically to particles such as oxygen or moisture, which can lead to defects. The Galaxy Fold (which exposes the screen through physical gaps in the design) is prone to debris and potential failure. The pre-installed screen protectors were also a big failure. Many users were reported to have removed the pre-installed screen protectors, unaware that these should not be removed (as you normally can with screen protectors). The removal of these led to complete device failure.

Due to these faults, Samsung have notified customers that they are yet to set a release date. Customers have been given the option to cancel their orders or confirm they want to wait. Their announcement also states that pre-orders are still guaranteed to get the Galaxy Fold as soon as it is released, but that customers won’t be charged until the smartphone is actually shipped.

Facebook has been involved in an investigation with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding their privacy policies for over a year. It is reported that Facebook expect to pay as much as $5bn in fines to the FTC.

The inquiry assessed the data practices which Cambridge Analytica used to obtain user data via Facebook, and whether this violated the company’s 2011 agreement with the FTC. It has been recorded that Facebook has paid in $3bn legal expenses in connection to the inquiry with the FTC. Despite all this, the first quarter financial reports show that Facebook had a continued growth revenue.

There have been many negative accusations towards Facebook and their use of data. To name a few, there was international outcry after social media companies failed to stop the broadcasting of the terrorist shooting in Christchurch, criticism over anti-vaccine misinformation, and a questionable market research app which paid people to receive all of their data.

Facebook has demonstrated bad practices with user data, which seem to continue. The question is what action Facebook is taking to prevent future cases such as this. The expected fine is much larger than the fine against Google of $22.5m in 2012. This could set a standard for the market and have an impact on the ways advertisers use their platforms, however, this isn’t a significant fine to Facebook. In as little as one hour of after-hours trading (after signalling its impending $3 billion to $5 billion fine), Facebook’s market capitalisation increased by $40 billion.

Facebook won’t be damaged by this fine, it appears they are too big to be moderated in this way, other methods should be considered to incite action from Facebook and other social media companies.

It is well understood that email signatures should include certain legal information, but what exactly? Below we clarify what’s required in your signature to be compliant as well as the legal viability of disclaimers. Please note that the following applies in the UK only, other territories may have different rules and regulations.

Under the Companies Act 2006, private or public limited businesses are required to include in all email correspondence the following details:

• registered company name,
• registration number,
• country of registration,
• and registered office address.

A common practice is to append disclaimers to emails, which can include :

• Confidentiality statement — to state the email is to be read by the intended recipient(s) only, and that sharing its contents outside of the recipient(s) is forbidden.
• Security statement — to transfer liability to the recipient(s) to check for viruses, which can protect against the company being held responsible for damage caused by unintended viruses/malicious files.
• Employee liability statement — to disclaim liability for employees’ personal opinions in a professional context; a safety measure against the company being held responsible for personal viewpoints given unwarranted or inappropriately.

The real question is, what is the legal validity of these disclaimers? UK law does not hold email disclaimers as a legal requirement. However, they can be a beneficial measure to include. Within the UK, if a message is expressly or implicitly confidential, a recipient cannot disclose its contents or use it for a purpose unintended by the sender.

Therefore email disclaimers are not an obligation in the UK, but including such information on confidentiality and expectations of responsibility of the corresponding parties can prove admissible in the event of legal action.

So, in conclusion, don’t forget to include your legal company information in your signature. And you can add disclaimers if you feel it’s better to be safe than sorry.

 
Please note that this information does not constitute legal advice or legal opinions. You should not act or rely on it without first seeking the advice of a legal professional.