Facebook Reprimanded for Latest User Privacy Issue

After Facebook "asked new users for their email passwords as part of the sign-up process," the resulting contact list grab has been reversed and the information has not been disseminated to other parties, according to the company ("Facebook Uploaded Email Contacts of 1.5M Users Without Consent," The Guardian (UK), April 18, 2019). The potential problem with this Facebook practice was recognized earlier this month when the company was trying to streamline account registration by capturing email passwords to identify new users.

Review selected hard copy/online library books related to privacy and computer security at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Place Hold" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to request for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more information in the library catalog:

• electronic surveillance
• identity theft
• internet safety
• internet security
• privacy

200+ Ways to Protect Your Privacy: Simple Ways to Prevent Hacks and Protect Your Privacy--On and Offline by Jeni Rogers
Adams Media, 2019
call number: 005.8 Rog

"Discover simple strategies for protecting your personal and confidential information on and offline with this essential and easy-to-understand guide...there are lots of ways you can protect your privacy (or diminish it) that have little or nothing to do with access to the internet. Your home, your photos, your trash can, your kids, your favorite restaurant or store--and even you have the ability to unknowingly reveal your private information to everyone from thieves to busybodies. But you don't need to hire a specialist to keep your information safe--you can do it yourself with these 200+ easy-to-implement tactics" - publisher's summary excerpt

The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America by Sarah E. Igo
Harvard University Press, 2018
call number: 323.44 Igo

"The Known Citizen reveals how privacy became the indispensable language for monitoring the ever-shifting line between our personal and social selves. Igo's sweeping history, from the era of "instantaneous photography" to the age of big data, uncovers the surprising ways that debates over what should be kept out of the public eye have shaped U.S. politics and society. It offers the first wide-angle view of privacy as it has been lived and imagined by modern Americans." - publisher's summary excerpt

Habeas Data: Privacy vs. the Rise of Surveillance Tech by Cyrus Farivar
Melville House, 2018
call number: 342.73 Far

"Until the 21st century, just about all of our activities were private by default, public through effort; today anything that touches digital space has the potential (and likelihood) to remain somewhere online forever. That means all of the technologies that have made our lives easier, faster, better, more efficient have also simultaneously made it easier to keep an eye on our activities. In 10 crucial legal cases, Habeas Data explores the tools of surveillance that exist today, how they work, and what the implications are for the future of privacy." - publisher's summary excerpt