Join the movement to STOP FCC enabling the destruction of net neutrality by giving big cable companies control over what we see and do online. This proposed legislation will reverse hard-won and current provisions and allow widespread throttling, blocking, censorship, and extra fees.
On July 12th, the Internet will come together to stop the 'FCC Net Neutrality Reversers'.
The Ramapo Catskill Library System, just north of New York City @goRCLS has registered - you can add your voices at this link: CLICK HERE TO SAVE NET NEUTRALITY. RCLS has informed Fight for the Future and Battle for the Net about the extent of RCLS Library System fiber optics linked network and its connection to the statewide library organization, the services it provides over the net and the interdependence of the libraries and their users.
The American Library Association (ALA) condemns in the strongest possible language the FCC vote to undermine net neutrality protections and vows to defend open internet. READ THE ALA Press Release HERE.
The repercussions of this proposed REVERSAL of the original concept of an OPEN internet will be seen by future generations as the day we lost ' our internet'. Don't let this happen.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
We are about to have our lives wrested from us and most internet users don't even know it is so dangerous or why this proposed reversal is so nefarious.
From The Guardian: "US House committee is set to vote today on whether to kill privacy rules that would prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from selling users’ web browsing histories and app usage histories to advertisers. Planned protections, proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that would have forced ISPs to get people’s consent before hawking their data – are now at risk."
the article continues...
"The new rules – dubbed the Broadband Consumer Privacy Proposal – would require broadband providers to get permission from subscribers before collecting and selling this data. Currently broadband providers can track users unless individuals opt out. The new rules were due to come into play as early as December 2017.
'Getting these rules was probably the biggest win in consumer privacy in years. If the repeal succeeds it would be pretty bad,' said Jeremy Gillula, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation."
The Guardian article (read the whole article here) ends with cautionary advice that we ignore at our privacy peril - and the 'fix' is clunky.
So how can users protect their browsing history?
You need to encrypt all your internet traffic. Some websites (like the Guardian) are already encrypted – marked out with HTTPS at the beginning of the URL – but ISPs would still be able to see which websites you have visited, just not the individual pages.
To mask all of your browsing behavior you can use a VPN service (which incurs a subscription cost) or try using Tor.
Good luck to us all.
ScrnGrbCred: the Guardian
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
In a press release sent out yesterday the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) announced a resolution adopted on January 24th by the American Library Association (ALA) Council. The resolution prepared by the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) - Resolution on Access to Accurate Information - addresses the "problems of fake news, personalized news-feeds, web search algorithms and the delay of Freedom of Information Act requests."
The Resolution outlines the role of librarians and library workers in helping to raise awareness of these issues and "supports the critical role of librarians and library works in all types of libraries in teaching information literacy skills that enable users to locate information and evaluate its accuracy."
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Pick up a communication device and ask your community's Librarian to source that news you just read on line. You're tax dollars have already paid for the service.
Librarians are uniquely positioned to help every person in America check the source of the information they read on line or ... anywhere!
Librarians must be more proactive and vocal in educating their service area citizens about what Librarians really do and to what they devote their lives.
Communities must be more informed, made aware, reminded, of the pivotal role their local librarian plays in teaching Information Literacy, what it is and now more than ever, why it is an absolutely essential component of a functioning Democracy.
This article from Forbes.com by K. Leetaru, 11Dec.'16, is a good starting point to energize you and your library staff... "...fake news exists because as a society we have failed to teach our citizens data and information literacy... to truly solve the issue of “fake news” we must blend technological assistance with teaching our citizens to be data literate consumers of the world around them."
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Think you don't need to worry about your on-line security because you "have nothing to hide", you are just a 'normal person' who hasn't done anything 'wrong'?
Then, consider this...
"... San Francisco-based Internet Archive ... http://bit.ly/2gVI2wC ... announced a drive to raise $5 million to set up a mirror repository of the entire internet and place it in Canada for safety."
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
IoT linked devices pose real and consequential risks to personal privacy.
Mozilla's mission has consistently been to safeguard our information and privacy in the interconnected on-line world and to educate users so we can make informed choices about what we purchase and use.
Their NOLITA pop-up 'shop' "Glass Room" (201 Mulberry St., NYC, open 'til 14 Dec.] shines a very hands-on light on the murky and intentionally shifting world of data mining, the erosion of personal information and our right to privacy. It may look like an Apple Store from the street but once inside you will learn just how some of the products offered to keep you 'connected' will, in fact, erode your privacy and could, in the wrong hands, take away some of that freedom you seek by joining connected communities.
Give it a look. See what the company who sells you that device sees, knows and can sell about you!
Librarians, especially those who have joined the profession in the Internet Age, understand the importance of being well informed about what personal information devices and applications collect and sell (it's called 'monetization' in the data harvesting industry). However we still meet many people who do not know the risks associated with their apps and devices and how companies collect and share very personal, extremely private information. Kudos to Mozilla for taking this seriously important issue to the streets.
ScrnGrbCred: of disturbing info from article (link above) - fastcodesign.com & Mozilla.org
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
"A bank robber can use the road to get away but we still want to be able to drive on it."
This is Chuck Mc Andrew, IT Librarian at W. Lebanon New Hampshire's Kilton Public Library https://www.leblibrary.com/ talking about one response from a member of his community at a Trustees' meeting.
The Chief Librarian and Board wanted to know how the people of Lebanon thought about using TOR ["The Onion Router- an anonymizing system for Internet traffic"], a search engine that hides the identity of the user, in their library.
This city of just over 13 thousand citizens, nestled in the mountains of the Upper Connecticut River Valley in the South West corner of N.H. is no slouch when it comes to standing up for hard won rights to free thought and speech in this 'Live Free Or Die' state.
Cred: cloudflare.com
A large group of library users turned out to support the library's decision to use TOR. Despite the 'concerns ' expressed directly by local police and the DHS to the library, the people think their right to secure searches on the Internet balance the risks of abuse by the few who use it for criminal purposes.
In America the principles upon which this country were founded are always under scrutiny and constantly at the center of conversations, public and private.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Learn more about the issues involving challenges to collections for your library users in the GLBT community and how to safeguard your GLBT materials during ALA's GLBT Book Month this June.
All info and details about speakers, outcomes and details for payment in this article.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
The constant, buried & insidious corruption of an individual's privacy will be our doom. We rank it right up there with mismanagement of our earth's resources.
It can seem, on days when I stop and contemplate the depth of companies' greed, that there is a substantial reason for despair for the future of both the individual and 'society' that I mark with quotes because the word does not apply in any sense that we recognise from one day to the next.
Be prepared to be alarmed about this article's content.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Let me begin by clarifying something we all seem to have forgotten - or perhaps never knew. The "Patriot Act" is accurately called the following: the US PATRIOTACT which is a cleverly if contorted distillation of the following: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act.
What bent, cynical staffer thought that one up?
To get to the point the correctly referenced U.S.P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act is being amended. Here's the scoop from lifehacker.com. in its entirety, which begins like this:
"You might have heard in the news that “the Patriot Act is expiring.” This isn’t technically true. The Patriot Act, as a whole, is still in effect. There are a lot of parts that are not controversial (or at least, not as controversial) and they will remain in place. However, certain provisions that give the NSA authority to spy on both Americans and foreigners were set to expire. At midnight on Monday, that finally happened. They’re probably going to return, but one thing at a time. Here’s what the provisions in question entail:
Section 215: Bulk metadata collection:
Unidentified roving wiretaps:
Lone wolf warrants:
All of these provisions (as well as many others) have been set to expire multiple times over the last decade, but Congress and the President(s) have ultimately decided to extend the programs repeatedly until now. While some in Congress have tried to prevent reauthorization or tweak the law, all those attempts have failed. This time around, for the first time Congress has allowed the above provisions to expire, which means the opposition is getting somewhere. They’ll likely be back, but with a few key limitations.
Those limitations came in the form of the USA FREEDOM Act, a bill with an acronym so silly it sounds like Marvel made it up.(my emphasis - they've done it again!) In its current form, the bill makes some important changes to the Patriot Act, but most privacy groups such as the EFF and the ACLU don’t think it’s enough."
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Cory ... is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger — the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net) and the author of many book, most recently IN REAL LIFE, a graphic novel; INFORMATION DOESN’T WANT TO BE FREE, a book about earning a living in the Internet age, and HOMELAND, the award-winning, best-selling sequel to the 2008 YA novel LITTLE BROTHER.
screen shot from NYAM
Cory has the capacity to distill the issues of privacy and human rights to a space in your head that immediately stores it and takes it away for further use. We loved his play in Chicago - "Little Brother"; difficult but necessary information. Without it we will surely lose our way.
He is speaking about INFORMATION DOESN’T WANT TO BE FREE, a business book (he wrote) about creativity in the Internet age (2014).
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
From The Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand on YouTube:
Published on May 3, 2015.
Information is changing the way we live.
Every day brings new demands from government and business for access to your information.
Privacy DOES MATTER.
screen shot from vid
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
All your (electronically) recorded information is up for grabs, making you (and your information) accessible to organizations you’ve never even heard of (and never will!).
Companies and governments realise that your electronic devices - mobile devices, lap tops, home appliances with links to the internet and even implanted biometric devices are "powerful data collection tools."
Are you a victim or a willing participant in sharing of information about your life?
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
4 Million comments on social media to the FCC led to this:
Obama urges FCC support net neutrality, "the internet is an essential part of everyday life." Treat it as "a utility."
Here's the latest post from Democracy Now: (click arrow to play vid)
The FCC "Federal Communications Commission has unveiled what he calls "the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the [agency]." Tom Wheeler backed the regulation of Internet service like a public utility in order to uphold net neutrality, the principle of a free and open Internet. The new rules would prevent Internet service providers like Comcast from blocking access to websites, slowing down content, or providing paid fast lanes for Internet service. It would also extend such protections to Internet service on cell phones and tablets. The proposal comes after the FCC received a record-setting number of public comments — nearly four million, almost all in support of strong protections. President Obama also released public statements in support of Internet protections. The FCC will vote on the plan February 26, ahead of an influx of lobbying by the telecom industry, which has also threatened to sue if the measure passes."
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Here are some detailed findings from 2015 U.S. Internet of Things Privacy Index:
“…research found that 79% of consumers are concerned about the idea of their personal data being collected through smart devices, while 69% believed they should own any such data being collected.
More than 1 in 4 (27%) mentioned concerns about the security or privacy of the data collected as a reason why they did not currently own a smart device.
When asked how concerned they were about specific privacy and security issues that smart devices connected to the internet can lead to, consumers showed strong concerns over the use and control of their personal data
with the highest concern being personal information collected and used in ways they were unaware (87%)
followed by identity theft (86%),
the concern that their device would be infected by malware (86%) and
concern that their location might be revealed without their knowledge (78%).
To address the privacy concerns of the IoT era, TRUSTe held the first Internet of Things Privacy Summit in Silicon Valley last July, which provided a forum for privacy experts, policy makers and innovators around the world to come together and define the privacy needs of the increasingly connected world. In response to the success of the event, TRUSTe will host the 2nd annual IoT Privacy Summit on June 18, 2015 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
We aren't pleased that our warnings to our colleagues, friends and family are proving accurate.
The truth about 'free apps' for your Smart Phone has hit mainstream media and the news isn't pretty.
Information is being harvested from mobile phones... information and money, out of bank accounts, all approved automatically because users are giving permission to access bank accounts and credit cards. We'd like to say that these people are victims and unsuspecting but more accurately one would have to say that they are willingly ignorant of warnings that have been common knowledge in a large chunk of web-time.
This willingness to guard our private information on our home computers whilst completely pretending that security isn't an issue on our mobile phones is inexplicable and perhaps lays somewhere in the area of cognitive dissidence.
Whatever the reasons, we have to sit up and take note. Our information is being mixed up with that of our places of business, compromising our and our employers' privacy, this information is a commodity. It is used legally (because we give them permission) by the app developers and of course, illegally by those people who will always be with us, stealing whatever and whenever, to make money at all costs.
We are particularly interested in the reports that parents are finally paying attention to privacy now that charges are arriving on their credit card bills from 'purchases' made by their children when they downloaded apps. If only we could understand more about about privacy because it IS an issue and not just because it hits us in the bank account.
Here's one of the links in the CSM article that is worth a look if you haven't the time to read the whole article now.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Today more than 300 committed citizens of the world are working to help you control your private and personal information. They are all global Ambassadors for PRIVACY by DESIGN. (PbD)
The "PbD framework" for the "unanimously (adopted)... resolution by International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in Jerusalem at their annual conference in 2010 ensures that privacy is embedded into new technologies and business practices, right from the outset – as an 'essential component of fundamental privacy protection'.”
screen shot
Privacy by Design is a concept that was developed by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Dr. Ann Cavoukian, back in the 90’s, to address the ever-growing and systemic effects of Information and Communication Technologies, and of large–scale networked data systems.
"At the time, (when PbD was started) the notion of embedding privacy into the design of technology was far less popular – taking a strong regulatory stance was the preferred course of action. Since then, things have changed considerably and the Privacy by Design approach is now enjoying widespread popularity.
Privacy by Design advances the view that the future of privacy cannot be assured solely by compliance with legislation and regulatory frameworks; rather, privacy assurance must ideally become an organization’s default mode of operation.
Initially, deploying Privacy–Enhancing Technologies (PETs) was seen as the solution. Today, we understand that a more substantial approach is required – extending the use of PETs to taking a positive–sum, not a zero-sum, approach."
Privacy by Design does not wait for privacy risks to materialize, nor does it offer remedies for resolving privacy infractions once they have occurred – it aims to prevent them from occurring. In short, Privacy by Design comes before-the-fact, not after.
PdD (ensures that) privacy and gaining personal control over one’s information and, for organizations, gaining a sustainable competitive advantage — may be accomplished by practicing the 7 Foundational Principles.
Proactive not Reactive; Preventative not Remedial
Privacy as the Default Setting
Privacy Embedded into Design
Full Functionality – Positive-Sum, not Zero-Sum
End-to-End Security – Full Lifecycle Protection
Visibility and Transparency – Keep it Open
Respect for User Privacy – Keep it User-Centric
We are honoured and proud to announce that with Robert's acceptance at PbD,PLAN22 has just become a member Ambassador.
screen shot-Twitter
PbD keeps up to date with international Privacy Precedents.
"Increasingly, courts in Canada and the U.S. are deciding vital issues related to law enforcement, technology, and our right to privacy. In an effort to counter any impression that privacy is somehow dead or dying in this area, we will be pointing you to the latest privacy-protective decisions that caught our eye. You are invited to actively participate. Please submit any judicial decisions you see to [email protected] to be considered for the site."
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
"Canadians have the right to be anonymous on the internet, and police must obtain a warrant to uncover their identities, Canada's top court has ruled.
The landmark decision from the Supreme Court Friday bars internet service providers from disclosing the names, addresses and phone numbers of their customers to law enforcement officials voluntarily in response to a simple request — something ISPs have been doing hundreds of thousands of times a year."
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
When Gabriel Weinberg launched a search engine in 2008, plenty of people thought he was insane. How could DuckDuckGo, a tiny, Philadelphia-based startup, go up against Google? One way, he wagered, was by respecting user privacy. Six years later, we're living in the post-Snowden era, and the idea doesn't seem so crazy.
In fact, DuckDuckGo is exploding
In 2008, launching a search engine seemed like a crazy idea. Here's how Gabriel Weinberg proved the critics wrong.
But things didn't start out that way. Weinberg, who says he has "always been a privacy-minded person," wasn't particularly concerned with search privacy issues when he first started building the service. In fact, he knew very little about the matter at all. Then early users started asking questions.
When you do a search from DuckDuckGo's website or one of its mobile apps, it doesn't know who you are. There are no user accounts. Your IP address isn't logged by default. The site doesn't use search cookies to keep track of what you do over time or where else you go online. It doesn't save your search history. When you click on a link in DuckDuckGo's results, those websites won't see which search terms you used. The company even has its own Tor exit relay, allowing Tor users to search DuckDuckGo with less of a performance lag.
Simply put, they're hardcore about privacy.
Like any company with a mostly remote team, DuckDuckGo experiments with all the latest online collaboration tools.
Skype. Yammer. HipChat. Asana. "We've tried everything that we know of," says Pappis.
Lately, they've been toying with Sqwiggle, an online collaboration tool that uses persistent video and periodic screenshots to let coworkers see each other--or know who's away from their desk."
We are early users of The Duck, won't leave home without it. Give it a try, you'll be pleased (and secure) that you did.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Here are the main tips you should be aware of and practice in your day to day life on line in public places and while using Wi-Fi:
Delete your browsing history
Log out
Do not enable "remember me" on a public computer
Look for the 's". https:// and shttp:// sites make sure your information is secure. An http:// site is NOT secure.
Do not conduct personal transactions that request personal and sensitive information (bank account numbers; home address; SIN etc.) on Wi-Fi hotspots or public computers.
If you have any doubt about your ability to guard your privacy on line anywhere and in your library - ask your Librarian!
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
We need to know and show clearly and simply what the privacy policies are on sites we design and visit. McLean's Magazine's Jesse Brown reports on a system of icons that can simplify and our understanding of a site's privacy policies.
This site develped by students at Yale will allow youto generate code to place ICONS on your site to alert vistors about your privacy policies. Take a look.
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
Topic: Open and Accessible Governments. Soon we we will be able to both request information and pay for it on line.
As reported in the Winnepeg Free Press this morning, Canadian Delegates join others from 53 countries in Brasilia on April 17-18 at the Open Government Partnership. They will spell out commitments on making government more open and accountable.
One of the more important pieces of the proposal is a "new directive on open government that will provide guidance to 106 federal departments and agencies on maximizing the availability of online information;".
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
"Facebook collects....(and) it records a user’s online usage patterns, including the browser they use,the user's IP address and how long they spend logged into the site."
They are not alone in doing this. And neither are you, any more, ever. "Once you connect to the digital ether, whether via a computer, smartphone or tablet, your ostensible private information becomes public and prime for commercialization."
The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning earlier in February over apparent violations of children’s privacy rights involving the operating systems of the Apple iPhone and iPad as well as Google’s Android and their respective apps developers. Its report, "Mobile Apps for Kids," examined 8,000 mobile apps designed for children and found that parents couldn’t safeguard the personal information the app maker collected.
credit: David Rosen for Alternet
Photos: Shutterstock
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
This scares me to the core. Makes me wish I'd never seen Blade Runner.
I've seen the future in my mind and now it's here - taking our photos, accessing our very personal information.
Entries to libraries, city hall, town squares, the street where you walk; your face is worth a lot of money.
Do you know about the research being done to develop tracking facial recognition software? Do you know how it will be used and by whom? Do you care? You better!
We help you achieve the library you need.
Architectural programming / Presentations and Workshops / Strategic Planning help / Guidance and Coaching / Architectural Consultants
