Privacy News for December 13th

April 22, 2020 December 13, 2019 By Eric Stroshane 1 Comment

Government Surveillance

NSA Phone Surveillance Program Faces an End as Parties Come Together | The Wall Street Journal

ACLU Sues Homeland Security over ‘Stingray’ Cell Phone Surveillance | TechCrunch

Republicans Condemn FBI’s Use of Surveillance Powers they Long Supported | The Wall Street Journal

We Just Got a Rare Look at National Security Surveillance. It was Ugly. | The New York Times

Inspector General Report Renews Scrutiny of FBI Surveillance Practices | The Wall Street Journal

Special Report: White House Veterans Helped Gulf Monarchy Build Secret Surveillance Unit | U.S. News & World Report

The US, like China, has About One Surveillance Camera for Every Four People, Says Report | The Verge

‘Social Credit Score’: China set to Roll out ‘Orwellian’ Mass Surveillance Tool | The Washington Times

Maryland Uses Surveillance, Data to Track Drivers, Traffic | Washington Times

Everyday Surveillance

Behind the One-Way Mirror: A Deep Dive into the Technology of Corporate Surveillance | EFF

Ring’s Hidden Data Let Us Map Amazon’s Sprawling Home Surveillance Network | Gizmodo

Meet the Scholar who Diagnosed ‘Surveillance Capitalism’ | Snopes (Associated Press)

Students’ and Minors’ Privacy

FTC Urged to Step Up Enforcement of Children’s Privacy Rules | MediaPost

A Few Tweaks and School Facial Recognition will be Approved | Governing

TikTok Settles Class Action over Child Privacy One Day After it’s Filed | Naked Security

Toys “R” Us is Back–Now with More Surveillance! | Wired

Biometric Privacy

How China Cornered the Facial Recognition Surveillance Market | Los Angeles Times

Encryption

Facebook and Barr Escalate Standoff over Encrypted Messages | The New York Times

Encryption Backdoors Won’t Stop Crime but Will Hurt U.S. Tech | Bloomberg

Senate Judiciary Committee Wants Everyone to Know it’s Concerned about Encryption | EFF

Apple Used the DMCA to Take Down a Tweet Containing an iPhone Encryption Key | Vice

Scientists Crack Longest, Most Complex Encryption Key: It Took a Total Computing Time of 35 Million Hours | Popular Mechanics

This Week in Data Breaches and Leaks

Trump Reportedly Uses Unsecured Phone Lines. Cybersecurity Experts Explain why those are ‘So Easy to Hack it’s Scary.’ | Business Insider

Ransomware at Colorado IT Provider Affects 100+ Dental Offices | Krebs on Security

Cybersecurity Insiders say Big Companies use NDAs to Hide Data Breaches, Potentially Avoiding Millions of Dollars in Fines | Business Insider

Desjardins Says Data Breach also Affects 1.8-Million Credit-Card Accounts | Montreal Gazette

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Guidelines for Private Online Searching & Browsing Julie Oborny
There are few options for searching without being tracked. To search anonymously from home requires tech-savvy and money. This is something many people do not have. Libraries should help any user access information anonymously. Guidelines A group of library privacy experts created the following guidelines. Use them to bolster your efforts. Starting a Computer or Wi-Fi Session Offer Guest User Options: Allow users to log in to public computers and Wi-Fi without using their personal library card. This can be facilitated through the use of guest passes. Do not require identification or keep logs of users who check out a guest pass or sign in as a guest. Avoid Paper Sign-up Sheets: Do NOT have paper sign-up sheets for the computers. If there is no other option, practice the following: Staff should always be in control of these paper sign-up sheets Only require the minimum amount of data needed for reserving a computer. Shred paper sheets at the end of the day. Filtering Software No Logging: Filtering software should not log user activity. Ensure and verify that this is not happening on filtered computers. Guest Passes: If disabling logging is not possible, offer a guest pass at no charge. Age Data: Do not capture proof of age when removing filters. Just verify. Erasing Computer Sessions Public Computers: Set public computers to load a fresh computer image after each user session. Software example: Deep Freeze. End sessions automatically if the user forgets to log out at the end of a session. Circulated/Loaned Devices: Reset or reimage borrowed devices at point of check-in. Examples of devices: laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices. Session Logs: Do not store logs of users’ computer or Wi-Fi sessions for longer than 24 hours. Delete computer reservation and Wi-Fi session logs that contain personal information. Include this practice as a closing activity. Do not collect information about user activity during a public computer or Wi-Fi session. Activity examples: applications used and web browser activity. Printers: Clear the print queue for the print management system daily. Physical Protections Physical Space: Arrange the physical library space for privacy. People should be able to use personal technology without observation. If security cameras are required inside the buildings, optimize for privacy. Check to make sure they are not pointed toward screens or other places where they may record library use. Privacy Screens: Provide easily accessible privacy screens. These screens should be available for any user who needs one. If possible, install privacy screens on all public computers. Shredding: Shred print-outs left at the printer. Provide access to shredders for users. Browsers & Search Tools Default Search: Set DuckDuckGo as the default search for all browsers. Default Browsers: Set the default browser on computers to Brave or Firefox. Anonymous Search with Tor: Install the Tor browser on all public access computers. Provide guides for users about how to use Tor for anonymous searching. Training For Users Guides: Provide guides to users who wish to remain anonymous online. Examples: Personal Accounts: Do not log in to any personal accounts during the entire session. Examples: Google Amazon Facebook Learning Management Systems Private vs. Public: Treat school or work cloud-document services as public record. Don’t use these services to keep track of sensitive information. Search Tools: Use a privacy-focused search engine, such as DuckDuckGo. Mobile Browsers: Download privacy-focused browsers on mobile devices. Examples: Firefox Focus Brave Tor DuckDuckGo Tech Help: Assist users in installing encrypted messaging apps, such as Signal. Programs: Device Settings: Teach users how to turn off the following on their devices: Personalized advertising or ad tracking (iOS and Android) Location sharing Unused and unnecessary app permissions VPNs: Teach users about virtual private networks (VPNs): How to pick one. Refer to https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/choosing-vpn-thats-right-you How to install one. This depends on the VPN. How to use one. This depends on the VPN. Attendance: Allow people to attend these training programs anonymously. Alternatives: Provide digital and physical resources for those who are unable or unwilling to attend in person. Example: https://sec.eff.org/ For Staff New Hires: Include privacy training as part of new-hire onboarding. Ongoing: Have regular privacy training for library workers. State Laws: Review state laws on confidentiality of library use data. Do this with all library workers. Communication: Share updates on changes in privacy issues. Do this especially for state and national laws.
Data Privacy Week – January 24-28, 2022 Stacy Tomaszewski
This year, the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA) has expanded its Data Privacy Day to a week! Data Privacy Day started in 2008 as a North American complement to Data Protection Day in Europe. The purpose of Data Privacy Week is to help “spread awareness about online privacy and [educate] citizens on how to manage their personal information and keep it secure” and to “ [encourage] businesses to respect data and be more transparent about how they collect and use customer data.”
Book review of ‘Cyber Privacy: Who Has Your Data and Why You Should Care’ Virginia Dressler
“Data, I’ve found, is becoming like the weather; it’s something that almost anyone can talk about.” Cyber Privacy by April Falcon Doss is a timely title on so many key issues around data privacy in the online world– And Doss is well-positioned to write on this topic, with her thirteen years working at the NSA and later working in a private sector practice focusing on cyber-security and privacy issues. I found this title to be a thoughtful and well-written perspective, primarily centered on the U.S.