[ELECTRON] it's a google world .... but an interesting Electron club...
Alan J Munro
alan at munrobius.com
Wed Mar 3 12:02:32 UTC 2010
Well, dear friends, these last few posts remind us that even if we
disagree about some things, we do have a lot of common ground. That's
good to remember. Really, it's good once in a while to step back and
notice that this electron club is a vibrant, interesting bunch of
people with so much potential. I agree with Bob that we need to do
more off line in the real world of Scott Street. I think a small
social evening should be planned soon!
I would like to propose a workshop evening on Anonymity and Privacy
technologies - I don't know enough by myself but maybe with others we
could share possibilities for anonymity and privacy for our online
selves.
I can think of a few things
o Basics of SSL e.g. for accessing email
o Firefox add-ons for browsing
o 'super' cookies and how to defeat them
o TOR for private surfing
o The coming Internet of Things (RFID, IP6 etc) and threats and
opportunities for privacy (see http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/)
I'd really be keen to hear from anyone who knows about this sort of
thing so that we could produce a workshop which could be a service to
electron club members - expecially those, like me who have a very
patchy knowledge of this kind of thing. Any takers to do a workshop
with me?
alan
On 3 Mar 2010, at 11:32, Bob wrote:
> It is just for these reasons the Common Good Awareness Project was
> created. Knowledge of the commons is a powerful tool for change.
> The history of the development of IT is one of free information and
> knowledge sharing on the information highway that anyone can join?
> Unfortunately most of this knowledge sits on the shelves of
> academics or on esoteric websites - well hidden from the view of
> the general public.
>
> There is so much potential for the dissemination of this knowledge
> at the Electron - is that not what we want to do? There is also so
> much potential to turn this knowledge into intelligent ideas. That
> does entail getting away from this thing you are starring at now,
> now and again, which you probably spend to much time on anyway.
>
> We have new members joining every other week who seem keen to get
> into things - but the club does not just exist out there in
> syberspace, it is at the corner of Scott Street and Suchiehall
> Street. Come and visit sometime - lets use the Electron to re-
> awaken the idea of the Knowledge Commons. One idea anyway?
>
> http://www.citystrolls.com/CGAP/
> http://www.citystrolls.com/CGAP/pages/knowledge.html
>
>
> On 03/03/2010 09:36, Andrew Back wrote:
>> Google are becoming the new Microsoft. I'm seeing quite a few people
>> becoming uneasy with them and starting to move their mail and
>> calendar etc
>> away. As someone pointed out to me the other day, Microsoft were
>> kind of OK
>> around the time of Windows 3.11, when people used things like
>> Wordperfect
>> for word processing, there were lots of other 3rd party apps in
>> use, and
>> free stuff (much of it crappy shareware, granted). And it just
>> started to
>> get bad around Windows 95/98, when they'd eradicated most the
>> competition
>> for apps, and you were locked in to a MS software stack. Same
>> seems to be
>> happening with Google - they want you to use all their online
>> apps. Add to
>> this the concerns raised in the newsletter Simon forwarded and
>> recent issues
>> with Buzz etc.
>>
>> Apple are getting worse, too, with the iPad adopting the locked-down
>> approach taken with the iPhone. What happens to all these shiny
>> iPhones and
>> iPads when Apple decides that your model is out of fashion, and
>> that you
>> need a new one. Can you load leaner, free software on on to it and
>> pass it
>> on to a relative, school or charity etc? Not if Apple have their
>> way. They
>> would rather the device became no use to anybody, and that you
>> were burdened
>> with yet more landfill. Apple used to be cool - but it seems that
>> with a
>> growth in market share they decided that they can start to play
>> fast and
>> loose with their customer's freedoms. I'm also seeing people on
>> the more
>> techy, clued up end moving away from Apple. Hopefully this will
>> continue.
>> Like Google, their products may be shiny and appear refreshing,
>> but they're
>> ultimately as good for you as a diet of McDonalds and Chewits, and
>> the
>> DRM that Apple bakes in is like lard in the digital ecosystem.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>> On (21:39 02/03/10), Simon Yuill wrote:
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>
>>> =================== english ===================
>>> February 2010 Newsletter
>>> Google special edition
>>>
>>> ----------------------
>>> Contents:
>>>
>>> * Google: creepy and evil
>>> * How to protect your privacy online
>>>
>>>
>>> Google: creepy and evil
>>> -----------------------------
>>>
>>> Google's motto of "don't be evil" has been key to the company's
>>> success.
>>> In the year 2000, Google was the only search engine that did not
>>> privilege search results from advertisers, a significant factor in
>>> Google's rapid rise. Maybe Google's new motto should be "don't be
>>> creepy". Recently, CEO Eric Schmidt said Google is "trying not to
>>> cross
>>> what we call the creepy line" when it comes to gathering personal
>>> data [1].
>>>
>>> However, Eric Schmidt wasted no time in crossing the creepy line
>>> when in
>>> December, he told an interviewer that "If you have something that
>>> you
>>> don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the
>>> first
>>> place." In effect, the head of the corporation with the most
>>> surveillance data in the world has just announced that if you are
>>> innocent you should have nothing to hide. As many people have noted,
>>> Schmidt's statement is hypocritical and disturbing [2][3]. His
>>> logic is
>>> nearly identical to the totalitarian assertion that if you want free
>>> speech, maybe you shouldn't be saying anything controversial.
>>>
>>> Eric Schmidt's comments are particularly troublesome in light of
>>> Google's recent changes in policy. In March of 2009, Google
>>> reversed its
>>> long held policy against behavioral surveillance [4]. Now, Google
>>> tracks
>>> the behavior of internet users in order to serve people more
>>> precisely
>>> targeted advertising. In February of 2010, the Washington Post
>>> revealed
>>> that Google again reversed existing policy by forging an information
>>> sharing partnership with the NSA (the super secretive electronic
>>> spying
>>> arm of the US government) in order to combat "cyberattacks" [5].
>>>
>>> In both cases, we are told not to worry because Google will only be
>>> sharing data that has been anonymized (i.e. personally identifying
>>> information is removed). But there is plenty of cause for alarm.
>>> Recent
>>> research has shown how social media sites leak large amounts of
>>> personal
>>> information to their advertising partners [6] and how exceptionally
>>> difficult it is to create a dataset that cannot be de-anonymized
>>> [7][8][9].
>>>
>>> In fact, the US defense department has a new initiative based
>>> exactly on
>>> this principle [10]. Called 'Digital DNA', the goal is to develop a
>>> digital fingerprint database much like the databases of DNA
>>> stored by
>>> many national governments. The goal is precisely to identify
>>> particular
>>> individuals from data commonly thought to be anonymous--the tiny
>>> traces
>>> of digital footprints we leave behind whenever we use a computer.
>>>
>>> Despite all this, Google continues to assure its users that there is
>>> nothing to worry about. After all, if you have a lot of time on your
>>> hands, you can use the Google dashboard to adjust a complex array of
>>> privacy "self-care" settings. The problem is, the dashboard only
>>> applies
>>> to data directly tied to a Google account and it ignores all the
>>> many
>>> ways Google retains indirect and easily de-anonymized data on
>>> you. For
>>> example, it does not let you remove the location data Google
>>> keeps on
>>> you every time you send an email to a gmail user.
>>>
>>> Google wants our trust. We are asked to put faith in the wizard
>>> behind
>>> the curtain who controls the largest assemblage of data the world
>>> has
>>> ever known. Google's new motto is clear: "don't be so evil that
>>> people
>>> start to notice." We are starting to notice.
>>>
>>>
>>> How to protect your privacy online
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Working on this issue is really a social problem, not an individual
>>> problem. Asking individuals to spend a lot of time practicing
>>> 'privacy
>>> hygiene' is both impractical and politically dubious. Creating
>>> privacy
>>> online, in our opinion, should be done communally by supporting
>>> alternatives.
>>>
>>> However, there are some things which we recommend that are mostly
>>> 'install and forget' measures, and don't require ongoing or tedious
>>> maintenance.
>>>
>>> If you use Firefox, a web browser we recommend
>>> (http://help.riseup.net/mail/#use_firefox), you can install various
>>> extensions to use when browsing. Firefox is free software, and
>>> community
>>> members have written software to add new features, and anybody can
>>> download these extensions (see https://addons.mozilla.org/ for more
>>> information about Firefox extensions.)
>>>
>>> Here are some Firefox extensions that we recommend:
>>>
>>> * GoogleSharing (https://we.riseup.net/help/googlesharing)
>>> * Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) (http://
>>> taco.dubfire.net/)
>>> * Adblock Plus (http://adblockplus.org/en/)
>>>
>>> You can also do web searches at https://ssl.scroogle.org/ - add this
>>> to your search engine menu by adding
>>> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12506
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>> [1] "Google trying not to cross 'the creepy line'"
>>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10392435-265.html
>>>
>>> [2] "Google CEO Eric Schmidt Dismisses the Importance of Privacy"
>>> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/Google-ceo-eric-schmidt-
>>> dismisses-privacy
>>>
>>> [3] "My Reaction to Eric Schmidt"
>>> http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/12/my_reaction_to.html
>>>
>>> [4] "Privacy Groups Rip Google's Targeted Advertising Plan"
>>> http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/161086/
>>> privacy_groups_rip_googles_targeted_advertising_plan.html
>>>
>>> [5] "Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks"
>>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/
>>> AR2010020304057.html
>>>
>>> [6] "Social networks make it easy for 3rd parties to identify you"
>>> http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/09/which-user-clicked-
>>> on-viagra-ads-ask-myspace-and-facebook.ars
>>>
>>> [7] Mielik??inen, Taneli. 2004 "Privacy Problems with Anonymized
>>> Transaction Databases".
>>> http://www.springerlink.com/content/rukljup9muhtrpcu/
>>>
>>> [8] Shmatikov, Vitaly and Arvind Narayanan. 2008. "Robust
>>> De-anonymization of Large Sparse Datasets (How To Break Anonymity
>>> of the
>>> Netflix Prize Dataset)".
>>> http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/shmat_oak08netflix.pdf
>>>
>>> [9] Shmatikov, Vitaly and Arvind Narayanan. 2009. "De-Anonymizing
>>> Social
>>> Networks". http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/shmat_oak09.pdf
>>>
>>> [10]"Pentagon Searches for ???Digital DNA??? to Identify Hackers"
>>> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/pentagon-searches-for-
>>> digital-dna-to-identify-hackers/
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
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>
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