Education & Numérique

Librarians have long understood that to provide access to knowledge it is crucial to protect their patrons' privacy. Books can provide information that is deeply unpopular. As a result, local communities and governments sometimes try to ban the most objectionable ones. Librarians rightly see it as their duty to preserve access to books, especially banned ones. In the US this defense of expression is an integral part of our First Amendment rights.

"AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document, gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data.

The company targeted by the intelligence agencies, Gemalto, is a multinational firm incorporated in the Netherlands that makes the chips used in mobile phones and next-generation credit cards.  (...)"

Users are increasingly turning to services that claim to be secure from the prying eyes of the NSA and law enforcement. In this article, we take a look at some of the privacy-focused email and cloud storage services that have either sprung up or gained popularity in the wake of what's popularly been referred to as the Summer of Snowden. Secure Email and Cloud Alternatives to Gmail and Dropbox.

A security research reported the bug in iCloud's security to Apple back in March.

Dan Geer's Black Hat 2014 talk Cybersecurity as Realpolitik (also available as text) is thoughtful, smart, vital, and cuts through -- then ties together -- strands of security, liability, governance, privacy, and fairness, and is a veritable manifesto for a better world.

"Freedom of speech online could get a big boost

The anonymous Internet is small. Too small, if you ask many activists, and it may need to grow 10, or even 50, times its current size, if its going to continue to support free speech around an increasingly digital world.

Tor, the largest anonymizing network ever built, fundamentally relies on just 2,000 volunteer routers to relay 99 percent of its encrypted data around the globe (...)"

Security bugs like Heartbleed make it abundantly clear that your logins and passwords are not safe. But what if you could use the Web for common tasks like uploading photos and videos or chatting with friends, all without signing up for an account? Guarding your privacy is important. There are obvious benefits to having logged…

"You are being watched on the Internet – but if you use Mozilla Firefox, some of its great add-ons can help protect your privacy and security on the Web. Now, be warned that none of these are going to be completely foolproof. In fact, there's is no completely safe way to use the Internet. But for most regular users, the protection that these extensions and tools offer will be enough as safeguards..."

EFF has released its newest report charting which companies promise to uphold best practices in privacy and transparency. The report analyzes the published policies of 24 major technology companies, including Facebook, Google, Twitter, and ISPs like AT&T and Comcast. While we've released this report for four years, this year we made the criteria more challenging to reflect the higher standards we've come to expect from technology companies.

In this year's Who Has Your Back, nine companies earned stars in every category available to them: Adobe, Apple, CREDO, Dropbox, Sonic, Wickr, Wikimedia, Wordpress.com, and Yahoo. Three companies scored especially poorly: AT&T, Verizon, and WhatsApp.

"Internet surveillance has been a hot topic in recent years—we’ve talked about it extensively here at MakeUseOf, it’s been brought up on major news outlets daily, and we’ve seen a slew of new apps, extensions, and products aimed at helping you retain your privacy online.

This article is meant to be as comprehensive a resource as possible on avoiding Internet surveillance. We’ll talk about why Internet surveillance is such a big deal, who’s behind it, whether or not you can completely avoid it, and a wide range of tools that will make you harder to track, identify, and spy on..."

"The problem with encrypting data is that sooner or later, you have to decrypt it. Keep your cloud files cryptographically scrambled using a secret key that only you possess, and it’s likely no hacker will have the codebreaking resources necessary to crack them. But as soon as you want to actually do something with those files—anything from editing a word document or querying a database of financial data—you have to unlock the data and leave it vulnerable. Homomorphic encryption, a still-mostly-theoretical advancement in the science of keeping secrets, could change that (...)"

Tips, Tools and How-tos for Safer Online Communications

EFF announce the relaunch of Surveillance Self-Defense, their guide to defending yourself and your friends from digital surveillance by using encryption tools and developing appropriate privacy and security practices. These resources are intended to inspire better-informed conversations and decision-making about digital security and privacy. The site is available today in English, Arabic, and Spanish, with more languages coming soon.

According to Edward Snowden, people who care about their privacy should stay away from popular consumer Internet services like Dropbox, Facebook, and Google...

With 500 attendees and some big names from the data privacy and human rights fields, the Don't Spy on Us Day of Action was a fascinating afternoon of discussion, debate, and practical advice on how to keep our personal data private from snooping governments. I learned a lot, and I've condensed the most important parts…

"When governments are after your personal data, which online services will stand up and defend it? In our fourth annual Who Has Your Back report, we look at companies' public policies and practices, so that privacy-conscious consumers can make an informed decision about who to trust with their most sensitive data..."

We live within our web browsers. You're reading this article in a web browser. You probably check your email in a web browser. I order my groceries in a web browser. I buy books in a web browser. Web browsers are pretty important. But we never really think about them within the context of security…