Category: Privacy & Security
-
Is There a Future for Net Neutrality after Verizon v. FCC?
In a decision that was widely predicted by those who have been following the case, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has invalidated the FCC’s Open Internet Rules (so-called net neutrality regulations), which imposed non-discrimination and anti-blocking requirements on broadband Internet access providers. The rules were challenged by Verizon as soon as they…
-
The Internet “Access Trap” in Developing Countries
Three of five people in the world still do not have access to the Internet. From the perspective of standard economic models, this is puzzling. The supply of international connectivity has expanded dramatically since 2009, when several submarine fiber cables came online connecting even the poorest countries in Africa to the global Internet. Also, with…
-
Signing Mass Surveillance Declarations and Petitions: Should Academics Take a Stance?
Quite often, especially since the Snowden revelations began, tech policy academics will be approached by NGO’s and colleagues to sign petitions ‘to end mass surveillance’. It’s not always easy to decide whether you want to sign. If you’re an academic, you might want to consider co-signing one initiative launched today.
-
RSA doesn't quite deny undermining customers' crypto
Reuters reported on Saturday that the NSA had secretly paid RSA Data Security $10 million to make a certain flawed algorithm the default in RSA’s BSAFE crypto toolkit, which many companies relied on. RSA issued a vehement but artfully worded quasi-denial. Let’s look at the story, and RSA’s denial.
-
Judge Leon explains why the NSA uses everyone's metadata
There are many interesting things to discuss in Judge Leon’s opinion from yesterday, finding the NSA’s phone metadata program likely unconstitutional. In this post, I’ll focus on an interesting bit of computer science in the judge’s ruling, and I’ll explain why the judge’s computer science argument is actually more powerful than he realized.
-
How to protect yourself against NSA tracking
Jonathan Mayer and I have a new piece in Slate about how the NSA piggybacks on the web tracking activities of advertisers and other services. Essentially, the trackers tag computers and smartphones with unique tracking IDs that are attached to web requests, and the NSA uses those tracking IDs to follow users. I wrote last…
-
The Politics of the EU Court Data Retention Opinion: End to Mass Surveillance?
The Wall Street Journal headlines: “EU Court Opinion: Data Retention Directive Incompatible With Fundamental Rights”. The Opinion is strong, but in fact not yet an outright victory to privacy and civil liberties. The jury is out: the Opinion is a non-binding, but influential advice to the E.U. Court, that will deliver its final judgment come…
-
Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools
As reported today by the New York Times here, we are releasing our research study this morning on “Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools.” Districts across the country are widely and rapidly adopting cloud services to fulfill educational objectives and take advantage of opportunities for cost savings and 24/7 services. Disturbingly, privacy protection for…
-
How to stop spies from piggybacking on commercial Web tracking
Tonight the Washington Post published a story about the NSA’s eavesdropping on the unique tracking cookies used by advertisers and analytics companies to identify their users. By capturing these unique identifiers the NSA was able to re-identify users whom it had seen earlier. In short, the NSA could piggyback on commercial tracking to track users…
-
New Research: Cheating on Exams with Smartwatches
A Belgian university recently banned all watches from exams due to the possibility of smartwatches being used to cheat. Similarly, some standardized tests in the U.S. like the GRE have banned all digital watches. These policies seems prudent, since today’s smartwatches could be used to smuggle in notes or even access websites during the test. However, their potential use…