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Tag: customer data

  • China Cracking Down on Exporting Customer Data Internationally

    China Cracking Down on Exporting Customer Data Internationally

    China is cracking down on exporting customer data internationally, requiring that companies get the government’s permission first.

    China has been cracking down on its tech companies in recent months. The video game industry has been particularly hard hit, with Beijing limiting how many hours per week kids can play games.

    According to the AP, in its latest efforts Beijing is restricting how much data companies can collect about their customers.

    A separate law that takes effect Monday establishes security standards, prohibits companies from disclosing information without customer permission and tells them to limit how much they collect. Unlike data protection laws in Western countries, the Chinese rules say nothing about limiting government or ruling Communist Party access to personal information.

    Companies will also have to report what and how much customer information they plan to transfer internationally, as well as what security measures have been implemented to protect the data. Regulators will decide within a week of a report whether to accept and approve it, or whether to launch their own review. If the regulators decide to initiate a review, the process can take up to 60 days.

    The new regulations could put Chinese companies at a major disadvantage when competing globally.

  • Amazon Will Start Paying Customers For Data On Non-Amazon Purchases

    Amazon Will Start Paying Customers For Data On Non-Amazon Purchases

    Amazon has launched Amazon Shopper Panel, a program that will pay users for information on their non-Amazon purchases.

    In addition to sales, one of the biggest benefits Amazon gains is access to customer and purchasing data. For purchases made outside Amazon, however, the company is largely in the dark.

    To address that, Amazon has unveiled Amazon Shopper Panel. The program “is an opt-in, invitation-only program where participants can earn monthly rewards by sharing receipts from purchases made outside of Amazon.com and by completing short surveys.”

    The company emphases its commitment to privacy, promising that Amazon only receives information that panelist explicitly share, and that panelists can stop at any time. In addition, panelist have the option to delete any previous receipts, and Amazon automatically deletes sensitive information, such as prescription receipts.

    At this time the program is only available to a limited number of users, but those interested can join a waitlist to be informed when it becomes more widely available.

  • Target Breach – Worse Than Initially Thought

    Target Breach – Worse Than Initially Thought

    The initial security and credit card breach of the 40 million people who shopped at Target just after Thanksgiving has nearly doubled.

    When the breach happened, credit and debit card holders were told that the cyber criminals did not get personal information, but just credit and debit card numbers, which they quickly duplicated into phony cards and began selling all over the globe.

    Those numbers and the subsequent data that was stolen is one of the largest security breaches of retail data, and those numbers have increased tenfold. The data violation at Target stores has now been estimated to affect some 70 million customers.

    In addition to the number of customers affected came new information that was released Friday, that those criminals also obtained the personal information of customers, including names, phone numbers, email and mailing addresses from an estimated 70 million customers who could have shopped at stores outside of the original time frame of Nov. 27 to mid-December.

    Now we learn that the data theft has gone beyond Target, as credit card companies and banks have begun issuing warnings about potential fraud to all of their customers, and is sending out new cards and account numbers as a precautionary measure. Some banks have limited cash withdrawals.

    Banks, as well as customers, are monitoring the accounts regularly, and the Secret Service and the Justice Department have opened an investigation.

    “This will impact many Target business partners — Visa, MasterCard and the host of banks and credit agencies that now have to keep an eye on the 110 million customers now vulnerable to identity theft,” said Hemu Nigam, founder of SSP Blue, a security and privacy consulting firm. “It affects more than Target customers. It affects mortgage lenders and car sales. It affects the entire economic infrastructure.”

    The company apologized again on Friday for the ever increasing problems in relation to this security breach.

    “I know that it is frustrating for our guests to learn that this information was taken, and we are truly sorry they are having to endure this,” Gregg W. Steinhafel, Target’s chief executive, said in a statement.

    Tips on what to do if you have been affected can be found at the Target website.

    Image via YouTube