Protecting Privacy
The following five references relate to privacy. These references are listed in order, to demonstrate how privacy can be perceived, how it affects us, and how we can empower ourselves to protect our information, as much as possible, through knowledge of what, and how, our information could be, and is being, used.
(1) If you have something to hide, you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.
YouTube: “Google CEO Eric Schmidt on privacy”
“ I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kind of privacy the reality is that search engines including Google do retain this information for some time and it’s important, for example that you we are all subject to the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities.”
— 2009 Google CEO Eric Schmidt
(2) It’s more than keeping secrets. It’s about control of impactful information.
PODCAST: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear”
“People think that privacy is just about keeping secrets. It is about basic control over very important information that can have an impact on whether or not you get credit, or a loan, you might receive, for instance, different pricing on certain things, at the airport, you may be subject to extra screenings and you don’t know if it is random or if you are on some list or what the reason is. Things can happen to you based on your information. You have no idea what data is being used, why and how, and you have very little recourse to do anything about it.”
— George Washington Law Professor Daniel Solove
(3) Who reads privacy statements? [Insert Cricket Sounds Here]
STUDY: “Who Reads The Fine Print Online? Less Than One Person In 1000”
PRIVACY STATEMENTS BY THE NUMBERS
.11 PERCENT OF USERS CLICK ON A LINK TO A SITE’S TERMS OF SERVICE
(THAT IS ONE IN ONE THOUSAND)
.07 PERCENT OF USERS ACTUALLY CLICK ON A TERMS OF SERVICE LINK BEFORE CLICKING “AGREE”
29 SECONDS — THE AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE THOSE THAT CLICK STAY ON THE PAGE TO READ.
— Study by NYU Law Professor Florencia Marotta-Wurgler
(4) How do we gain control? We give and they take.
Where our information goes after the handoff.
ARTICLE: “An AI that reads privacy policies so you don’t have to”
“In about 30 seconds, Polisis [short for “privacy policy analysis”] can read a privacy policy it’s never seen before and extract a readable summary, displayed in a graphic flow chart, of what kind of data a service collects, where that data could be sent, and whether a user can opt out of that collection or sharing. Polisis’ creators have also built a chat interface they call Pribot that’s designed to answer questions about any privacy policy, intended as a sort of privacy-focused paralegal advisor. Together, the researchers hope those tools can unlock the secrets of how tech firms use your data that have long been hidden in plain sight.”
(5) Technology evolution — the changing face of privacy.
ARTICLE: “Apple is sharing your face with apps. That’s a new privacy worry.”
30,000 points — the number of points to make a 3D model of your face on Apple’s iPhoneX
52 unique micro-movements — a read-out from your eyelids, mouth and other features
“Apple’s face tech sets some good precedents — and some bad ones. It won praise for storing the face data it uses to unlock the iPhone X securely on the phone, instead of sending it to its servers over the Internet.”
…
“Less noticed was how the iPhone lets other apps now tap into two eerie views from the so-called TrueDepth camera. There’s a wireframe representation of your face and a live read-out of 52 unique micro-movements in your eyelids, mouth and other features. Apps can store that data on their own computers.”
…
“Apple’s rules say developers can’t sell face data, use it to identify anonymous people or use it for advertising. They’re also required to have privacy policies.”
…
“Facial detection can, of course, be used for good and for bad. Warby Parker, the online glasses purveyor, uses it to fit frames to faces, and a Snapchat demo uses it to virtually paint on your face. Companies have touted face tech as a solution to distracted driving, or a way to detect pain in children who have trouble expressing how they’re feeling.”
