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Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

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Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#51

Post by hackuser »

antr wrote: post #8
justcommenting wrote: post #2

I've also noticed the quality of DuckDuckGo search results has been steadily improving, especially over the past year. I would encourage anyone who tried it and went back to another search engine to consider giving DuckDuckGo another shot--you may be pleasantly surprised!

I just read Gabriel's post, and I pretty much agree (and do) with what he says. Due to these shared believes I've been using DDG quite a bit, I even deleted the Google search app from my phone, and instead been using DDG's iOS app as my default mobile search engine. However, every time I use DDG it hurts a bit. The quality of the results are very far behind from that of Google's. I many times end up doing a Google se…

> many times end up doing a Google search in incognito mode because DDG just doesn't cut it

The sample is only searches where DDG fails; inevitably, every other search engine will provide better results.

(That doesn't mean DDG is better or worse than Google; it only means that this methodology doesn't provide infromation on that topic.)

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#52

Post by pikzen »

lnanek2 wrote: post #27

Honestly, I kind of prefer the new AT&T solution where they charge you ~$30 more to do nothing with your data. If paranoid people want this, then by all means, let them pay for it.

>paranoid

Is it really paranoïa when this is already the case ?

Google's entire business is based around getting your data and selling it to advertisers. More and more startups and companies offer a "free" service in exchange for your personal data which they sell back. Hekl, half of HN probably already works in a startup whose business model is exactly that.

You have absolutely no say in how your data gets used. You also have no guarantee that AT&T actually respect your choice. Sorry for not being OK with my personal information getting passed through fifty servers around the world for various advertising companies.

In the case of AT&T it's even worse because they have a monopoly on the medium: you don't get to choose where your data passes through when calling someone. At least Internet allows people to run µMatrix, RequestPolicy and others, limiting the amount that gets sent through.

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#53

Post by pikzen »

hackuser wrote: post #42
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #18

And there are indeed a few solutions that actually grant you partial relief from the pains of online tracking. First, switch your search engine, email and other major services where your personal information is heavily tracked to good private alternatives. Second, add EFF’s HTTPS Everywhere plugin to your browser, which will encrypt web site connections where possible. Third, add EFF’s Privacy Badger plugin to your b…

Try RequestPolicy. It blocks all requests to domains other than the host's, unless you whitelist them. It comes with optional whitelists you can use for popular sites. On one hand, it's cumbersome, requiring you to whitelist some requests and reload when you visit a new webpage (most sites require a CDN at least). On the other, it's easy to use and good security.

Additionally, try RequestPolicyContinued[0] because the original RequestPolicy dev has stopped maintaining it.

[0] http://requestpolicycontinued.github.io

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#54

Post by oconnore »

j2kun wrote: post #15

There is a possibility to share statistical analysis of data privately. This is the subfield of computer science known as differential privacy, and I bet companies just looking for trend data (not specific targeting) would be able to benefit from user data without compromising user privacy. In other words, there are good and bad ways to use user data, some of the good ones are provably private, and we shouldn't rule…

That's all fine, but there is zero evidence that any company is doing that.

Furthermore, even if a company was using differential privacy to anonymize data between the collection and the processing step, there is no way to prove that the data is being handled appropriately before and during the collection step. Also, there is no way for a company to prove that they continue to handle data appropriately over time.

These tools are super useful for releasing data sets to the public from a trusted source (such as a healthcare provider assisting researchers by releasing cancer data), but that's not what we're talking about here.

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#55

Post by j2kun »

cheatsheet wrote: post #41
j2kun wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/74339/dwork_tamc.pdf They define the mathematical guarantees on privacy, which are computational guarantees against a polynomial-time adversary trying to distinguish between the analyses of two databases that differ in a single record. I.e., nobody can reasonably tell whether your information is included in the analysis.

I am not particularly looking for a debate today; but this seems to be a disagreement of terms when using the word "provable". Just because a polynomial time algorithm can not be constructed to distinguish a single record does not mean private information can not be derived. I still would prefer a choice in the matter - a required small check box that says "record my data" or "do not record my data" XOR "erase my dat…

They define what they mean by the word private, and then prove their mechanisms satisfy that definition. It's not a disagreement about the word "provable," it's that you don't agree that their definition of privacy is a good definition of privacy. That's fine, but your reason seems suspicious. If they could determine any information about you, then such an algorithm would fail if your data were not collected in the first place. Being able to derive private information implies the ability to distinguish.

And I misspoke about polynomial time adversaries. Reading closer it looks like an information theoretic guarantee.

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#56

Post by linkregister »

TruthWillFree wrote: post #31

The fight for privacy has to start at universities. At Georgia Tech, the faculty are routinely involved in unwarranted surveillance and testing out their fundamentally flawed ideas to sell off to the national security apparatus. Such tests I would classify as being human experimentation with a critical need for more transparency with the public. Without a broad education that contains humanities, arts, and ethics we…

What kind of surveillance is going on there? What kind of experiments are happening there?

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#57

Post by j2kun »

oconnore wrote: post #54
j2kun wrote: post #15

There is a possibility to share statistical analysis of data privately. This is the subfield of computer science known as differential privacy, and I bet companies just looking for trend data (not specific targeting) would be able to benefit from user data without compromising user privacy. In other words, there are good and bad ways to use user data, some of the good ones are provably private, and we shouldn't rule…

That's all fine, but there is zero evidence that any company is doing that. Furthermore, even if a company was using differential privacy to anonymize data between the collection and the processing step, there is no way to prove that the data is being handled appropriately before and during the collection step. Also, there is no way for a company to prove that they continue to handle data appropriately over time. The…

It is a new field, I admit, but it shows there's a false dichotomy between privacy and stopping all data collection and analysis.

LeapYear Innovations [1] looks like they have some clients who care about differential privacy. [2]

[1]: http://www.leapyearinnovations.com/

[2]: http://www.leapyearinnovations.com/shroudbase

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#58

Post by Aoyagi »

justcommenting wrote: post #2

I've also noticed the quality of DuckDuckGo search results has been steadily improving, especially over the past year. I would encourage anyone who tried it and went back to another search engine to consider giving DuckDuckGo another shot--you may be pleasantly surprised!

Actually, I've noticed that DGG is way overdoing guessing. More often than not I get results that are only similar to the search query in some way instead of actually what I'm looking for. This has been getting worse over time for me.

Re: Privacy is at a crossroads. Choose wisely

#60

Post by rhino369 »

pikzen wrote: post #52
lnanek2 wrote: post #27

Honestly, I kind of prefer the new AT&T solution where they charge you ~$30 more to do nothing with your data. If paranoid people want this, then by all means, let them pay for it.

>paranoid Is it really paranoïa when this is already the case ? Google's entire business is based around getting your data and selling it to advertisers. More and more startups and companies offer a "free" service in exchange for your personal data which they sell back. Hekl, half of HN probably already works in a startup whose business model is exactly that. You have absolutely no say in how your data gets used. You…

The paranoia is the fear that the data about you will actually cause you a non-trivial harm.
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