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

Privacy Concerns Related to Unlocking a Cell Phone

A battle between law enforcement and technology companies continues over issues involved in gaining access to data from cell phone of a San Bernardino shooter ("Relatives of San Bernardino Victims and Tech Giants Lend Voices to Apple-FBI Fight over Locked iPhone," The Washington Post, March 3, 2016). In this case, a judge "directed Apple to write software disabling a feature that erases the phone’s data after 10 incorrect attempts at trying a password." Apple stalled this process with legal tactics, stating that creating such a back door into one of it products would have a major impact on its business.

Review selected hard copy/online library books related to electronic privacy and 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:

• big data
• computer security
• electronic surveillance
• information technology
• intelligence service
• national security
• right of privacy

They Know Everything about You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies Are Destroying Democracy by Robert Scheer with Sara Beladi
Nation, 2015
call number: 323.448 Sch

"The revelation that the federal government has full access to all phone records and the vast trove of presumably private personal data posted on the Internet has brought the threat of a surveillance society to the fore. But the erosion of privacy rights extends far beyond big government. Big business has long played a leading role in the hollowing out of personal freedoms. In this new book, Robert Scheer shows how our most intimate habits, from private correspondence, book pages read, and lists of friends and phone conversations have been seamlessly combined in order to create a detailed map of an individual's social and biological DNA." - publisher's summary

Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World by Bruce Schneier
Norton, 2015
call number: 358.414 Str

"Your cell phone provider tracks your location and knows who is with you. Your online and in-store purchasing patterns are recorded, and reveal if you're unemployed, sick, or pregnant. Your e-mails and texts expose your intimate and casual friends. . . Corporations use surveillance to manipulate not only the news articles and advertisements we each see, but also the prices we're offered. Governments use surveillance to discriminate, censor, and chill free speech, and put people in danger worldwide. And both sides share this information with each other or, even worse, lose it to cyber-criminals in huge data breaches. Much of this is voluntary: we cooperate with corporate surveillance because it promises us convenience, and we submit to government surveillance because it promises us protection. The result is a mass surveillance society of our own making. But have we given up more than we've gained? Security expert Bruce Schneier offers another path, one that values both security and privacy. He shows us what we can do to reform our government surveillance programs and shake up surveillance-based business models, while also providing tips for you to protect your privacy every day." - publisher's summary excerpt

Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection by Jacob Silverman
Harper, 2015
call number: 303.483 Sil

"Social networking has grown into a staple of modern society, but its continued evolution is becoming increasingly detrimental to our lives. Shifts in communication and privacy are affecting us more than we realize or understand. . . . Jacob Silverman calls for social media users to take back ownership of their digital selves from the Silicon Valley corporations who claim to know what's best for them. Integrating politics, sociology, national security, pop culture, and technology, he reveals the surprising conformity at the heart of Internet culture, explaining how social media companies engineer their products to encourage shallow engagement and discourage dissent. Reflecting on the collapsed barriers between our private and public lives, Silverman brings into focus the inner conflict we feel when deciding what to share and what to "like, " and explains how we can take the steps we need to free ourselves from its grip." - publisher's summary excerpt