I like to think about our impending loss of privacy as two separate issues. The first type is against the will of the victim and is caused by malice and/or negligence on the part of the entity with your data. This is where you trust your data to a company, and they sell that data to a number…
Decide What You Care About, and Map The Incentives
If you’re not paying for it, you’re the product not the customer. I’ve seen variations of this quote many times and I think it’s a crucial point when comparing how good companies are at something. Three areas I care about when considering whether to use a company are: Security Privacy Design And the most common entities I’m comparing…
Apple is the Privacy Platform
The issues of safety and security—and by extension, privacy—provoke visceral emotions in people. Apple has always tried to build an emotional connection between its devices and customers. With its increasing focus on privacy, it’s clear that Apple not only sees privacy as important to maintaining this bond, but as a means of differentiating itself from the competition. For…
Lifecasting: What It Is and How It Will Change Society
Our society is about to change drastically, and not in 20 or 50 years, and not because of cybernetics or nanotechnology. It’s about to change due to lifecasting. Lifecasting in its current form is where people broadcast, usually via a mounted camera at home, a significant portion of their lives. Justin.tv is one of the most successful examples…
Why You Should Encrypt ALL of Your Google Activities [POC]
Everyone loves Google. They want to be everything to everyone, and they’re getting pretty damn good at it. Once you start using their services it gets easier and easier to migrate more of your life to them. But there’s a slight problem. Google, like most other similar services, encrypts login traffic but not your content. So the moment…
Security: Implementing A Secure And Usable Internet Password Scheme
Being an information security consultant I am often asked how to balance the need for online passwords that are both hard to guess and easy to remember. There are a number of solutions out there for dealing with the problem, but the system that I’m about to outline below is an elegant hybrid of simplicity and security. It…
Google’s Inevitable Betrayal
Tons of people all over the Internets are shedding all vestiges of sanity over how much information Google has access to. They’re especially rabid over the fact that Google is now archiving all chats. Many view this as proof that the company is heading down a dark path — a path that will eventually lead to them knowing…
Supporting the EFF
Well, I finally joined the Electronic Freedom Foundation. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and I’m happy to have finally made good on the commitment. I’m of the opinion that one’s right to bitch is directly proportional to how much they are doing to help change things, i.e. those who don’t vote can’t complain about…