All of a sudden, privacy seems to matter. Well, it’s not entirely out of the blue, and we’ll have to wait to see whether anything really changes, but online privacy and safety are generating a lot of headlines these days. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized in a Senate hearing to victims of online abuse. “I’m sorry for everything you have all been through,” he said after a roasting by Missouri’s senior senator. Legislators are considering a stack of bills aimed at stopping online child abuse, though the proposed bills are hardly universally popular and it’s anyone’s guess whether they will a) get passed and b) be effective. Apple has introduced a new virtual reality headset, but critics are skeptical. The Washington Post called it a “privacy mess waiting to happen.” And Amazon, the makers of Ring doorbell cameras, announced it would no longer allow police departments to request camera footage directly from customers. Is it a new era for privacy concerns? Unlikely. Still, nice to see these issues getting some attention in the news.
