"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.
1 Comment
Karina Pizano
3/8/2017 07:01:46 pm
This is really interesting, since most people don't read the terms of agreements they don't really know where their information is going or what is happening to it. Having a rating privacy application or website, will be helpful to the people who don't read or just don't understand the lengthy terms of agreement that many of not most applications have. This means that people will be able to know which applications are safe and which ones are not. I think this is a good start to helping people learn how to have privacy and affiliate themselves with applications that are reliable.
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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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