Privacy

How Ninja Librarians are Ensuring Patrons’ Electronic Privacy

Librarians in Massachusetts are working to give their patrons a chance to opt-out of pervasive surveillance. Partnering with the ACLU of Massachusetts, area librarians have been teaching and taking workshops on how freedom of speech and the right to privacy are compromised by the surveillance of online and digital communications — and what new privacy-protecting services they can offer patrons to shield them from unwanted spying of their library activity.

Library Patrons Are At Risk

One of the authors of this Boing Boing article, Alison Macrina, is an IT librarian at the Watertown Free Public Library in Massachusetts, a member of Boston’s Radical Reference Collective, and an organizer working to bring privacy rights workshops to libraries throughout the northeast. Librarians know that patrons visit libraries for all kinds of online research needs, and therefore have a unique responsibility in helping keep that information safe. It’s not just researchers who suffer; our collective memory, culture, and future are harmed when writers and researchers stop short of pursuing intellectual inquiry.

In addition to installing a number of privacy-protecting tools on public PCs at the Watertown library, Alison has been teaching patron computer classes about online privacy and organized a series of workshops for Massachusetts librarians to get up to speed on the ins and outs of digital surveillance.

September 16, 2014 by Internet Librarians Libraries Privacy

People Battle to Regain Online Privacy

Internet Users Tap Tech Tools That Protect Them From Prying Eyes
But all of these privacy products come with trade-offs. Blocking social-network posts or contact information from showing up on a Google search might protect people’s privacy, but it could also mean old friends they’d like to hear from might not be able to track them down either. Deleting cookies means people may miss out on some targeted deals or services from companies that rely on the tracking files. Using secret or encrypted messaging services means people are limiting themselves to conversations with other people who use the same services.

March 24, 2014 by Google Internet Privacy

U.S. needs to add student online privacy rules

U.S. needs to add student online privacy rules

As more of our children’s education moves online, there are increased opportunities for abusing the collection of their personal data. Last month, state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) introduced a bill that would help close a loophole in federal regulations — at least in California — in an effort to safeguard personal information of public school students. The potential privacy violations could be significant, and it makes sense for the Legislature to act now.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-school-software-privacy-20140305,0,685322.story

March 6, 2014 by Internet Privacy School Libraries

You don’t want your privacy: Disney and the meat space data race

http://gigaom.com/2014/01/18/you-dont-want-your-privacy-disney-and-the-meat-space-data-race/

We’re all wringing our hands over the NSA, and meanwhile we’re handing our data as fast as we can to other entities for next to nothing. If the NSA were smart, it would buy Candy Crush Saga, change the permissions, and be done with it.

If we’re honest, we give privacy lip service, but we vote with our keypresses and our dollars, and the bands we strap to our wrists.

Expect your future meat space world to feel very much like your cyber space one. The next time your RFID tag lets Mickey know you’ve got diarrhea, maybe the stall door can make suggestions to you: “Customers who got funnel cake diarrhea also bought Maalox.”

[Thanks Elaine!]

February 6, 2014 by Privacy

The Best Essay On Privacy You’ll Read Today

Privacy And Why It Really Matters
https://markopolojarvi.com/privacy.html
“As much as privacy is about one’s ability to control what others know about one, it’s also about protecting the freedom of the modern democratic society.

The processes that make our democratic and free society possible are built on transparent and fair decision-making. If you strip out transparency you end up with totalitarianism. The current practice of harvesting and analysing individual’s private and public data jeopardises the whole system of fair decision-making.”

November 29, 2013 by Privacy

2013 LITA Forum registration open

Registration is available for the 2013 LITA National Forum, “Creation, Collaboration, Community,” held Nov. 7-10, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Louisville, Ky. Visit the LITA Forum Web page to register.

Keynote Sessions anchor the event and include speakers Travis Good, Nate Hill and Emily Gore. On Friday Travis Good, contributing editor for MAKE Magazine, will kick off the Forum with the Opening General Session, “Making Maker Libraries.”Saturday, Nate Hill, assistant director at the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Public Library will present the general session. Emily Gore, director for content at the Digital Public Library of America will close the Forum on Sunday with “The Digital Public Library of America: A Community Effort.”

More than 30 concurrent sessions and a dozen poster sessions will provide a wealth of practical information on a wide range of topics. Two preconference workshops will also be offered.  Starting Thursday afternoon and concluding Friday morning, Rosalyn Metz of Wheaton College will present “Managing Projects: Or, I’m in charge, now what?” The session covers several aspects of project management, including planning, budgeting and implementing. Also spanning Thursday afternoon and Friday morning will be “IT Security for Librarians,” presented by Blake Carver of LISHost. This workshop will give in-depth coverage of ways to stay safe online, how to secure your browser, PC and other devices you and your patrons use every day, in addition to tackling common security myths, passwords and network security, as well as hardware and PC security.

Corporate sponsors of the LITA Forum help to bring programming and networking opportunities to attendees.  LITA welcomes up to twelve corporate sponsors for the National Forum; visit the 2013 LITA Forum Web page for information on sponsorship opportunities.

Registration is limited to 500 in order to preserve the advantages of a small conference. Networking opportunities, one of the small conference advantages, are an important part of the Forum. Take advantage of the Friday evening reception and sponsor showcase, networking dinners, meals and breaks throughout the Forum to get to know LITA leaders, Forum speakers, sponsors, and peers. For more information, visit the LITA Forum Web page.

July 24, 2013 by American Library Association Internet IT Security in Libraries Libraries Privacy Technology

Obscurity: A Better Way to Think About Your Data Than ‘Privacy’

Woodrow Hartzog and Evan Selinger:

Obscurity is the idea that when information is hard to obtain or understand, it is, to some degree, safe. Safety,here, doesn’t mean inaccessible. Competent and determined data hunters armed with the right tools can always find a way to get it. Less committed folks, however, experience great effort as a deterrent.

Online, obscurity is created through a combination of factors. Being invisible to search engines increases obscurity. So does using privacy settings and pseudonyms. Disclosing information in coded ways that only a limited audience will grasp enhances obscurity, too.

January 23, 2013 by Internet Legal Issues Privacy

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