No ‘time out’ for privacy.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-protection/the-ccpa-ripple-effect-in-the-enterprise-how-to-prepare/

The CCPA Ripple Effect in the Enterprise: How to Prepare

… The CCPA states that a consumer has the right to sue if their data is leaked during a breach and it is found that the company did not “implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information.” This means that a data breach will not only result in a loss of consumer trust, it will come with heavy financial consequences. As it stands, the typical costs of a cyberattack (which includes IT response, forensics and recovery, insurance and notification) already averages around $1.67 million. Now companies need to be prepared for the additional financial burden of litigation and settlement payouts.

… The biggest mistake companies can make at this juncture would be to assume there is a lot of time before regulations like CCPA affect the enterprise realm. The advent of CCPA is an indication of a shift in the tide of government regulation as a whole. When GDPR was created, one of the key objectives was to fix the fragmented regulation landscape caused by different national laws in the EU, in order to provide legal clarity for both individuals and businesses. Similarly, the US will soon find its way to a regulation that is unified and absolute across all industries. This may, in fact, happen sooner than expected as state-level laws are already being called into question for effectiveness and enforceability.

Depressing.

https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Coronavirus-the-role-of-AI-in-the-war-against-epidemics-and-pandemics

Coronavirus: The role of AI in the ‘war’ against epidemics and pandemics

… In a 2015 TED Talk titled The next outbreak? We’re not ready. Bill Gates used computer models to predict that a pathogen as virulent as the 1918 Spanish flu would kill 33 million people worldwide in just nine months. Gates laments that governments regularly conduct war simulations to test their preparedness, “war games”, but not pandemic simulations, “germ games”.

Perspective. We should have seen this coming.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/02/consumers-spent-record-23-4-billion-on-apps-in-q1-2020-thanks-to-being-stuck-indoors/

Consumers spent record $23.4 billion on apps in Q1 2020, thanks to being stuck indoors

Time spent in mobile apps has been surging, as people stuck at home due to the coronavirus outbreak have been turning to apps to do their shopping, manage their finances, find new exercises, work from home and stay entertained. According to new data from App Annie, released today, Q1 2020 was the largest-ever quarter in terms of consumer spend on apps. In addition, the average weekly time spent in apps and games worldwide was up 20% year-over-year in the quarter, based on an analysis of Android devices.