The Global War over Data Privacy

Data privacy issues are global because the internet itself is global. Actually, it's becoming less so as China builds its own version and the EU implements privacy laws that build a wall around its own citizens. At some time in the fairly near future, it may effectively become three separate versions of the internet. There's more in the Freedom on the Net 2018 report and it's fascinating reading. There's a section on China that is particularly interesting.

The report says straightforwardly that we are losing the battle for data privacy and presents this graphic to illustrate its point. The data breaches it pictures, many of them familiar to us, keep growing in size. Just today Marriott announced that the records of 500 million of its customers all over the world had been breached.

One that may not be familiar is a lesson in what is going on in one democratic nation. Aadhaar is the national identity card of India that contains demographic and biometric data on over 1 billion Indian citizens. It provides identification and access to financial and government services. It has a history of data breaches of various sizes and severity, and it seems that virtually all data has been accessed at one time or another. The Aadhaar system collects a significant amount of biometric data about each subject, something not universally done in the US. Could that be in our future?

If you are interested in the issues surrounding the internet in China, here is an interesting article on Google's controversial development project in China. It comes from a site called Global Voices that publishes articles by writers from many different countries. I recommend the site and their newsletter for interesting reading on many subjects.

Stay Safe!

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Toys That 'Do No Harm' - Holiday Gifts 2018

When my children were growing up we accessed a report on dangerous toys that had mechanical or usage issues that could cause unexpected harm. Now the scene has shifted. The question is, "Do the toys listen in on family conversations or otherwise invade privacy?"

It's an important question and maybe even harder to evaluate than the mechanical issues I was hopeless at. Mozilla is the non-profit developer of the open-source browser Firefox, which many of use in preference to a commercial browser. Their second annual report on connected toys that do not have serious privacy issues is a welcome addition to the 2018 holiday season.

Here's a link to the report. Note that users can include their own ratings to further increase the quality of the recommendations.

Most of us will include some connected electronics products on our gifts lists, so this should be required reading for all!

Stay Safe this holiday season!