Safer Internet: Who Wants Your Private Data?

Quotes | Summary |
References: General | Companies | Government | Hackers, Trolls, Doxers

Quotes

• The best minds of my generation are thinking about... how to make people click ads. That sucks." ~Jeffrey Hammerbacher
• "Information on the Internet is subject to the same rules and regulations as... conversation at a bar." ~Dr. George Lundberg
• "The big thing I learned is that it's not possible to navigate the modern world... without coming into contact with these companies ['Big 5': Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple]." ~Why We Can't Break Up With Big Tech (about a 6-week elimination experiment)
• Common data breach responses:...
  Lie: 'We take your privacy and security seriously' (just kidding; if we did, our company wouldn't be profitable)
  Deflect: 'All websites constantly experience account takeover attempts' (normal, since everybody has sloppy security)
  Defend/Distract: 'There’s no story here; how about some other topic?' (we'd rather not have to explain our incompetence)
  Deny: 'No further comment' (we have no clue about what to do next)
• "The debate about data security is not about choosing security or choosing privacy... . It is about choosing less security or choosing more security. People who think that the government should have more surveillance powers will often try to frame this debate as a choice between privacy and security. They are wrong." ~Sen. Ron Wyden from his Compact For Privacy & Security In The Digital Age; 3/30/2016
• "I got a call last night during dinner from Verizon asking me... if I was happy with my long-distance surveillance." ~Bill Maher
• "If the government has been monitoring my phone conversations,... by God, they should be paying half of my phone-sex bill." ~David Letterman
• "I signed up for a new calling plan today... the 'NSA Friends and Family' plan. For $100 a month, they listen to all my friends and all my family." ~Jay Leno

Summary

• Does a 'free' service require you to provide personal data or view ads?
• How do social media, advertisers, your ISP/cell provider, "Big Data" to support 'free' content or generate revenue?
• Employers, neighbors, stalkers, a vindictive ex
• Banks, lenders, and insurance companies
• Hackers
• "Big Brother": the government and law enforcement. NSA, GCHQ (UK), FBI, CIA, DOJ, TSA, ...
  -- since 9/11, anything goes for 'war on terror'
• Major copyright holders (RIAA, MPAA)
• [2] Request what companies are storing about you, then perhaps make changes to permissions and settings to minimize what's collected and shared. A few companies that provide such a 'data dump':
• Apple: Privacy (portal); privacy.apple.com > Get a Copy of your Data
• Facebook: My Account > Sign-in & security > Apps with account access; Settings > General > Download a copy of your Facebook data > Download Your Information > View : customize: dates, type/quality of info; Create File; (wait); expand .zip, open index.html in browser
• Google: Takeout: create an archive with your data from Google products

References

• {TCYOP-4: 18-28; TCYOP-3: 16-28}: Advertisers; Your ISP; The Google Problem; Data Brokers; Local Villains; Doxxers; Hackers; Big Media; Big Money; Big Data; Big Brother; Privacy Policies
• sections: Refs: Companies; Government; Hackers, Trolls, Doxers
• topics: banks, China, darkpatterns, doxing, EU, GDPR, police, Russia, Snowden, spyware, surveillance, Terms of Service, Wyden
• companies/organizations: Adobe, Apple, Ashley Madison, ATT, Carnival, CIA, Comcast, DEA, Disney, EFF, Evernote, Facebook, FBI, FCC, Google, Microsoft, NSA, Radio Shack, Target, TSA, Uber, Verizon
• Wikipedia: Internet privacy; Anonymity
• Wikipedia: International Data Privacy Day: Jan 28th
• Wikipedia: Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF; international non-profit digital rights group
• Wikipedia: doxing: researching and broadcasting personally identifiable information about an individual
• Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Privacy Topics
• [3] PrivacyTools.io Privacy? I don't have anything to hide; Global Mass Surveillance -- The Fourteen Eyes; VPN providers with extra layers of privacy; What is a warrant canary? Browser Fingerprint -- Is your browser configuration unique? WebRTC IP Leak Test -- Is your IP address leaking? Excellent Firefox Privacy Addons; Privacy-Conscious Email Providers; Email Clients / Alternatives; Privacy Respecting Search Engines; Encrypted Instant Messenger; Video & Voice Messenger; Encrypted Cloud Storage Services; Secure File Sync Software; Password Manager Software; File Encryption Software; Self-contained Networks; Decentralized Social Networks; Domain Name System (DNS); Productivity Tools; PC Operating Systems; Live CD Operating Systems; Mobile Operating Systems; Open Source Router Firmware
• Why you need a fake online identity
  any time you give out your email address, you’re running a risk; MW; 4/24/2024
• The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases Hank Asher; NYT; 9/22/2023
• How Mobile Phones Became a Privacy Battleground—and How to Protect Yourself NYT; 9/29/2022
• AI's 6 Worst-Case Scenarios
  1. When Fiction Defines Our Reality: deepfakes;
  2. A Dangerous Race to the Bottom: speed over safety, testing, or human oversight;
  3. The End of Privacy and Free Will: surveillance and tracking;
  4. A Human Skinner Box: engagement-based algorithms;
  5. The Tyranny of AI Design: biased perspectives and data;
  6. Fear of AI Robs Humanity of Its Benefits: over regulation;
  IEEE; 1/3/2022
• The State of Consumer Data Privacy Laws in the US (And Why It Matters)
  US: no singular law that covers the privacy of all types of data.
  Instead, it has a mix of laws that go by acronyms like HIPAA, FCRA, FERPA, GLBA, ECPA, COPPA, and VPPA;
  state: only three states have comprehensive data privacy laws (CA, CO, VA);
  NYT; 9/6/2021
• The Illusion of Privacy Is Getting Harder to Sell NYT; 8/19/2021
• The Assault on Our Privacy Is Being Conducted in Private NYT; 7/13/2021
• A Case Against the Peeping Tom Theory of Privacy Wired; 2/15/2021
• He Created the Web. Now He’s Out to Remake the Digital World. pods vs. silos; Tim Berners-Lee wants to put people in control of their personal data. He has technology and a start-up pursuing that goal; NYT; 1/10/2021
• Just Collect Less Data, Period. NYT; 7/15/2020

Companies

• Apple Security Research
  security reports, real-time status updates, report issues, etc.
• The Uber Hack Exposes More Than Failed Data Security NYT; 9/26/2022
• How Americans Woke Up to the Reality of Digital Life in 2022 NYT; 8/23/2022
• You Can Finally Get Your Personal Information Off Google LH; 4/29/2022
• Google Plans Privacy Changes, but Promises to Not Be Disruptive NYT; 2/16/2022
• New Apple Guide Offers Personal Safety Advice TB; 1/31/2022
• Big Data May Not Know Your Name. But It Knows Everything Else
  "anonymity" is an abstraction; Wired; 12/19/2021
• Marketers are reacting to privacy laws and Big Tech policy changes with quizzes and other events to collect their own customer info and build detailed profiles WSJ; 12/2/2021
• You Are the Object of a Secret Extraction Operation
  democracy; tragedy of the "un-commons"; NYT; 11/12/2021
• The Battle for Digital Privacy Is Reshaping the Internet NYT; 9/16/2021
• What the Privacy Battle Upending the Internet Means for You
  more random ads online, higher prices and subscriptions galore; NYT; 9/16/2021
• Google's Privacy Backpedal Shows Why It's So Hard Not to Be Evil NYT; 6/14/2021
• How to see what Google knows about you, and delete it PC; 4/19/2021
• Apple’s C.E.O. Is Making Very Different Choices From Mark Zuckerberg Kara Swisher interview; NYT; 4/5/2021
• Apple is a leader in privacy, but there's still work to be done with the App Store, email, and more MW; 3/3/2021
• A new browser extension blocks any websites that use Google, Facebook, Microsoft, or Amazon it more or less renders the modern web unusable -- and that's the point; Verge; 2/24/2021
• What We Learned From Apple's New Privacy Labels requiring that app makers list the data they collect reveals a lot about what some apps do with our info but creates confusion about others; NYT; 1/27/2021
• Device and Data Access when Personal Safety is At Risk
  Update your software
  Restoring your device to factory settings
  Protect your device
  Protect your Apple ID
  If you don't recognize a sign-in location
  Check privacy settings
  Using the Find My app
  Sharing your location
  Sharing with iCloud
  Shared Albums in Photos
  Shared Calendars
  Sharing your Activity with Apple Watch
  Delete unknown third-party apps
  Delete unknown configuration profiles
  If you use Family Sharing
  Phishing and fraudulent requests to share info
  Checklist: If you want to see if anyone else has access to your device or accounts
  Checklist: If you want to stop sharing with someone whom you previously shared with
  Checklist: If you want to make sure no one else can see your location
  .pdf; Apple; 12/18/2020
• Google Is Tracking Everything You Do With Its 'Smart' Features -- Here's How to Make That Stop MF; 12/4/2020
• Barnes and Noble confirms it was hacked, says some users' personal information may have been stolen some customers were unable to download purchased e-books; Reg; 10/15/2020
• The Lesson We’re Learning From TikTok? It’s All About Our Data we should minimize how much we share with all of our favorite and not-so-favorite apps; NYT; 9/14/2020
• It Doesn't Matter Who Owns TikTok data flow among intermediaries; Giz; 8/6/2020
• Sen. Ron Wyden helped create the Big Tech industry. Now he wants to hold it accountable. the Senate’s biggest privacy hawk talks about Section 230 and sending Mark Zuckerberg to prison; Vox; 8/5/2020
• I Tried to Live Without the Tech Giants. It Was Impossible. Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft; NYT; 7/31/2020
• One Of The World's Largest Web Tracking Companies Leaks Tons Of Personal Info From An Unsecured Server TD; 6/22/2020
• How Most Of The Anti-Internet Crew Misread The News That The NY Times Is Getting Rid Of 3rd Party Advertisers like Facebook and Google, it's collecting data on its users, and then using that data to sell access to advertisers -- segmented markets, not selling data exactly; TD; 5/20/2020

Government

• see Anonymity: Censorship
• Wikipedia: Search and seizure; 4th Amendment; Searches incident to a lawful arrest phone, computer
• Wikipedia: Third party doctrine US legal theory that holds that people who voluntarily give information to third parties -- such as banks, phone companies, internet service providers (ISPs), and e-mail servers -- have "no reasonable expectation of privacy." A lack of privacy protection allows the United States government to obtain information from third parties without a legal warrant and without otherwise complying with the Fourth Amendment prohibition against search and seizure without probable cause and a judicial search warrant.
• Wikipedia: Surveillance; 2013 mass surveillance disclosures; backdoors
• Timeline of NSA Domestic Spying EFF; 1791-2015
• Keeping Up with the Snoops: series latest surveillance news
• #1 12/10/2013; #2: The 4th Amendment Strikes Back 1/6/2014
• #3: A New Hope 1/30/2014; #4: When the Going Gets Weird 3/13/2014
• #5: A Roundup of Roundups 6/12/2014; #6: A Game of Chairs 8/6/2014
• #7: Too Many Snoops 11/21/2014; #8: Snoop Harder 2/26/2015
• #9: Junk in the PRISM Trunk 4/17/2015; #10 5/8/2015
• #11 backronyms: 'USA PATRIOT' Act = 'Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act;' 'USA FREEDOM' Act = 'Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection and Online Monitoring Act'; 6/4/2015
• A look at efforts by 50+ countries to control the data produced by their citizens, governments, and businesses
  driven by privacy concerns, economics, and more; NYT; 5/23/2022
• The Top Ten Mistakes Senators Made During Today's EARN IT Markup TD; 2/10/2022
• China Is Winning the Big Data War NYT; 11/30/2021
• Apple will alert users exposed to state-sponsored spyware attacks ApIn; 11/25/2021
• Apple Sues Israeli Spyware Maker, Seeking to Block Its Access to iPhones NYT; 11/23/2021
• I Was Hacked. The Spyware Used Against Me Makes Us All Vulnerable. NYT; 10/24/2021
• How the United States Lost to Hackers NYT; 2/6/2021
• How your digital trails wind up in the hands of the police Phone calls. Web searches. Location tracks. Smart speaker requests; Ars; 12/29/2020
• CBP Refuses to Tell Congress How it is Tracking Americans Without a Warrant U.S. Customs and Border Protection is buying location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on peoples’ phones; MB; 10/23/2020
• What are geofence warrants? TNW; 9/5/2020
• CBP Now Has a Massive Searchable Database for Devices Seized at the Border the US border agency will be able to sift through data extracted from travelers' laptops and cellphones for up to 75 years; MB; 8/24/2020
• Masked arsonist might've gotten away with it if she hadn't left Etsy review woman who burned two police cars IDed by tattoo and Etsy review of her T-shirt; Ars; 6/18/2020
• Your Phone Is a Goldmine of Hidden Data for Cops. Here's How to Fight Back Giz; 6/2/2020
• The Best Apps for Safer Protesting Mobile Justice, Signal, Scanner Radio/Broadcastify, Private Video Recorder, Citizen, Nextdoor, The Photo Investigator/Photo Exif Editor, a good VPN, First Aid, Authy and 1Password; LH; 6/2/2020
• How to Protest Without Sacrificing Your Digital Privacy "clean" phone, or no phone; encrypted messaging apps; disable biometrics; scrub faces; disable location services; MB; 6/1/2020
• You Need This iPhone Shortcut if You're Protesting
  Send a text message to one of your contacts, providing your street, latitude, and longitude, along with the message that you're being arrested;
  Turn on your iPhone's rear camera and start taking a video;
  Save the video to your iPhone when you're done with your recording;
  Send said video to your aforementioned contact; LH; 6/1/2020
• The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It Clearview AI (facial recognition); NYT; 1/18/2020

Hackers, Trolls, Doxers

• see also: Browsing: Dark Web/Deep Net
• Wikipedia: doxing practice of researching and broadcasting personally identifiable information about an individual
• Wikipedia: swatting act of tricking an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into dispatching an emergency response based on the false report of an ongoing critical incident
• Is cybersecurity an unsolvable problem? book: Fancy Bear Goes Phishing; Ars; 5/27/2023
• This Is Why I Teach My Law Students How to Hack NYT; 5/23/2023
• The Underground History of Russia's Most Ingenious FSB Hacker Group: Turla Wired; 5/20/2023
• 10 of the Best (and Worst) Hacker Movies Giz; 7/10/2022
• Hackers Gaining Power of Subpoena Via Fake "Emergency Data Requests"
  via police email accounts; 3/29/2022
• Who is LAPSUS$, the Big, Bad Cybercrime Gang Hacking Tech's Biggest Companies? Giz; 3/26/2022
• The Slander Industry NYT; 4/24/2021
• The Incredible Rise of North Korea's Hacking Army
  the country's cyber forces have raked in billions of dollars for the regime by pulling off schemes ranging from A.T.M. heists to cryptocurrency thefts; NYkr; 4/19/2021
• Credit Card Hacking Forum Gets Hacked, Exposing 300,000 Hackers' Accounts Carding Mafia; Vice; 3/26/2021
• Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside NYT; 7/17/2020
• Iranian Spies Accidentally Leaked Videos of Themselves Hacking Wired; 7/16/2020
• Over 15 billion credentials in circulation on hacker forums BC; 7/9/2020
• Russian Criminal Group Finds New Target: Americans Working at Home EvilCorp; NYT; 6/26/2020
• A Guide to Pandemic Scams, and What Not to Fall For Fake Websites; Scam Calls; Email and Text Messages; Network Security; NYT; 5/13/2020
• Domestic Abusers Can Control Your Devices. Here's How to Fight Back. NYT; 4/6/2020
• How International Fraud Rings Operate and Target Older Americans AARP; 4/2/2020
• Someone Tried to Hack My Phone. Technology Researchers Accused Saudi Arabia. NYT; 1/30/2020
• WeLeakInfo gets pwned by FBI; Dutch, N. Irish police arrest alleged breach brokers site aggregated 12 billion usernames and passwords from over 10,000 breaches; Ars; 1/20/2020
• Hacker leaks passwords for more than 500,000 servers, routers, and IoT devices ZD; 1/19/2020