Mastercard will go ahead and launch its new biometric checkout programme despite privacy concerns. The system, in which payments can be made ‘with a smile or a wave’, is claimed to cut queues and provide more security than a standard card payment, but lawyers point out that, while passwords can be changed, a smile can’t, and the fraud risks from biometric hacking are considerable. There are also concerns about how the data could be used in the future.
The UK’s Data Reform Bill will only modestly diverge from current GDPR rules, say tech lawyers. The bill will remove ‘GDPR’s prescriptive requirements’ about managing data risks, but ‘have the same high data protection standards’. New regulations will also mean that users don’t have to opt in to allowing cookies on websites they visit, removing the loathed ‘cookie pop-up’. Some campaigners have described the proposals as ‘irresponsible’.
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