Privacy News and Views for March 30

April 22, 2020 March 30, 2018 By Eric Stroshane

Featured

Americans’ complicated feelings about social media in an era of privacy concerns | Pew Fact Tank

Government Surveillance

The Next Cold War Is Here, and It’s All About Data | Wired

U.S. to Seek Social Media Details From All Visa Applicants | Bloomberg

A Needle In A Legal Haystack Could Sink A Major Supreme Court Privacy Case | National Public Radio

Location, Location, Location: Why Data Privacy In The Cloud May Never Be The Same | Above the Law

Corporate Surveillance

How Much Data Collection Is Too Much? Inside the Murky World of Predictive Analytics | Adweek

Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you | The Guardian

Facebook, longtime friend of data brokers, becomes their stiffest competition | The Washington Post

Facebook will (soon) yank third-party ad data in the name of privacy | Ars Technica

Why do people hand over so much data to tech companies? It’s not easy to say ‘no’ | Los Angeles Times

Facebook/Cambridge Analytica

Facebook Introduces Central Page for Privacy and Security Settings | The New York Times

It’s Time to Make Our Privacy Tools Easier to Find | Facebook
Facebook Announces Changes to Privacy Settings in Response to Cambridge Analytica | Public Knowledge
Zuckerberg’s Just Doing What He’d Have Been Forced to Do | Bloomberg

Lawsuits Against Facebook Over Data Privacy Issues Are Piling Up | The Street

Mark Zuckerberg has decided to testify before Congress | CNN

What lies beneath: The things Facebook knows go beyond user data | Ars Technica

Facebook Isn’t Just Violating Our Privacy | The New York Times

The U.S. Government is finally scrambling to regulate Facebook | The Intercept

People Are Losing Trust in Facebook. Here’s Why They’re Staying On It Anyway. | Slate

Facebook Is Making Big Changes to Its Relationship With Data Brokers | Fortune

Cambridge Analytica and a Moral Reckoning in Silicon Valley | The New Yorker

Attorney General Shapiro Leads Bipartisan Coalition of State AGs in Demanding Answers from Facebook | Press Release

Privacy Self-Defense

Want to Purge Your Social Media Timelines? Can You Spare a Few Hours? | The New York Times

What to look for in your Facebook data – and how to find it | Wired

Apple Revamps Privacy Controls to Comply With New European Law | Bloomberg

Apple to roll out new privacy features to comply with EU rules | C|Net

Encryption

Breaking the Encryption Stalemate: New Research on Secure Third-Party Access | Lawfare

FBI sought iPhone order before exhausting options: U.S. inspector general | Reuters

DOJ renews push to require access to encrypted devices | Endgadget

State Department Seemingly Buys $15,000 iPhone Cracking Tech GrayKey | Motherboard

The web will soon be a little safer with the approval of this new security standard | TechCrunch

Libraries and Privacy

(Useful for Libraries, Too!)Here’s What a Company’s Data Breach Game Plan Looks Like | NextGov

Biometrics

Fans Are the Target of Madison Square Garden’s New Facial-Recognition Technology | The Nation

Yes, Cops Are Now Opening iPhones With Dead People’s Fingerprints | Forbes

Law and Regulation

Silicon Valley’s Regulatory Exceptionalism Comes to an End | Lawfare

Oregon Governor Signs Data Breach Law | Government Technology

How Europe’s new privacy rule is reshaping the internet | The Verge

Cookies and the GDPR – Compliance involves Consent | Hashed Out

You’re Not Ready for GDPR. Is It Time to Panic? | Folio
The EU regulation is coming May 25th, so we went to an expert for some last-minute advice.

This Week in Data Breaches

Under Armour Says 150 Million MyFitnessPal Accounts Hacked | Bloomberg

Filed Under: News and Updates

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.