"Consumer Reports, a major source for gadget and appliance reviews in the U.S., plans to start rating products on data security and privacy..." Consumer Reports announced that they will now be rating products on data security and privacy. This is huge, and super important. Privacy has always been a huge issue but as the new president has settled in, security, and our privacy rights are becoming more apparent that we don't have any. Consumer Reports said "The goal is to help consumers understand which digital products do the most to protect their privacy and security, and give them the most control over their personal data.." To develop the standards, the publication collaborated with three digital consumer protection groups including one led by a well-known cybersecurity expert Peiter "Mudge" Zatko. Zatko is the director at the Cyber Independent Testing Lab, a nonprofit that has come up with a rating system to test software for security problems. "You cannot tell people everything's on fire, and then not have anything positive for consumers to do," Zatko said in a statement. Consumer Reports has already made its testing standard available on GitHub, and it's looking for feedback. The publication is also hoping that industry vendors will use the standard when developing new tech products. Although Consumer Reports didn't give a date, it will "eventually" use the new standards to test and rate products. In doing so, the publication can expose which vendors are failing to protect their consumers, and the information can help inform the public about the products they should buy.
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2/13/2017 0 Comments Blog #4"FTC Files Privacy Concern Suit over Hi-Tech Doll..." Thanks to a built-in microphone and Bluetooth connection, the My Friend Cayla doll can talk with a child – answer questions, tell stories, and be a "real friend." The 18-inch tall doll won the Gadget of the Year award at the 2014 London Toy Fair. But German regulators see this doll as a threat to child safety. On Friday, the country’s Federal Network Agency banned the device and urged parents to disable it, stating that it was an unacceptable threat to children’s privacy. Basically, children can ask the doll questions and it will search for an answer, uniquely combining traditional a toy with the future of consumer information technology. But once you get passed that initial excitement over what this toy can actually do you might also start to have concerns over what this doll might be able to do without you knowing. This is certainly the case with the My Friend Cayla doll as the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a complaint that the doll could pose a potential privacy risk after the Norwegian Consumer Council announced that the doll’s wireless connection might actually be vulnerable to hackers. This is important, of course, as kid’s products need to adhere to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 1998. In the FTC Complaint Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Claire T. Gartland argues, “With the growing Internet of Things, American consumers face unprecedented levels of surveillance in their most private spaces, and young children are uniquely vulnerable to these invasive practices.” She goes on to say, “The FTC has an obligation here to step in and safeguard the privacy of young children against toys that spy and companies that exploit their very voices for corporate gain.” Effectively, the My Friend Cayla doll works similar to the Amazon Echo or the Apple iPhone’s voice features. More ear than brain, the microphone function simply takes in audio data and sends it to the main server for the actual crunching of the numbers, so to speak, in order to provide an answer. It sounds simple enough (and children are already learning to use the iPhone, for example, to answer questions from the web) so what is the big deal? Well, consumer watchdog groups suspect that there is a bit more to these innocent audio files than search query entries. For example, Stanford University Center for Internet and Society’s director of privacy, Albert Gidari, notes, “The cost of the device is not the ultimate revenue for these companies. Advertising and personal information are what’s at the end of the rainbow for them.” In Cayla’s case, then, these groups exert that the audio files she records get put in a database maintained by Nuance Communications, a technology partner of Genesis Toys. This company also, conveniently, develops voice-recognition programs for the military and domestic law enforcement
Sources 1 2/12/2017 0 Comments Blog #3"These companies would have free rein and track our data..." New Rules Intended to Protect Your Online Privacy Are Already Under Threat
In our always-connected world of mass amount data, consumer privacy continues to be a topic that is talked about a lot in Washington and across the country. Internet users want/deserve to know that our sensitive and private information is safe and secure, regardless of which company, app, service, or public institution handles that information. The Obama Administration unveiled a “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” as part of a comprehensive plan to protect individual privacy rights and give users more control over how their information is handled. This initiative seeks to protect all Americans from having their information misused by giving users new legal and technical tools to safeguard their privacy. This plan will guide efforts to protect privacy and assure continued innovation in the Internet economy by providing flexible implementation mechanisms to ensure privacy rules keep up with ever-changing technologies. As a world leader in the Internet marketplace, the Administration believes the United States has a special responsibility to develop privacy practices that meet global standards and establish effective online consumer protection. This area of overwhelming feeling of knowing that your data is being monitored, internet users should have a right to know data is being collected, and where its being used. But with the new white house administration these rights that we currently have could be under fire...With Trump now in the white house and congressional republicans this leaves our privacy at risk. This is particularly concerning given the growing range of devices we connect on our bodies and in our homes to the internet. Recent research has shown that even when these devices are encrypted, it is relatively easy to infer our behavior inside our homes based on traffic patterns and data flow. Some argue that the FCC’s rules are unfair to internet service providers because platforms and websites are not under the same rules. The FTC is prepared to step in to stop unfair tracking. Every consumer visit billions of different destinations on the internet through a multitude of devices, and broadband providers potentially have access to all of the data, and for broadband providers to control the data speed, or where our data is stored and sold is not for them to choose. Consumer protection is very serious, and our livelihood should not be sold to the highest bidder. There is to much at stake for the consumer to have this data controlled by our internet providers. Sources 1 2 3 4 |
Author: Jenn schopferHi my name is Jenn, I'm a Senior at CSUMB. Studying Communication Design with an emphasis in Web Design. And this is my blog! Enjoy! Archives
March 2017
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