I was on Al Jazeera’s “The Stream” today discussing online privacy, the problems with notice, and the type of harms we experience with our data out there. This is probably one of the longer live TV appearances I’ve done but fortunately it turned out OK.
(And yes, the irony of being on a talk show about privacy when the host repeatedly encourages the audience to ‘Like’ her Facebook page is not lost on me 🙂 )
The Stream
June 27, 2013 by
Computers Freedom and Privacy Conference
June 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Washington DC | June 25, 2013
My panel focused on PRISM. We discussed what the program might look like based on publicly available information as well as whether the intelligence gained through the program is worth the risk to American’s privacy.
You can watch the day’s events here. PRISM Panel begins around 2:10:00.
Intercepting Skype?
June 24, 2013 by
I recently came across what looks to be a ‘pitch deck’ by a company claiming it can provide (and has patents on) the Legal Interception of Skype communications. They claim they’re currently ‘Deployed within US government and overseas in telecom infrastructure supporting 30+ million people’.
I tried looking for the two patents they reference but came up empty although I’m told JCJ is a pseudonym for this Canadian/American company and that it’s possible that they’ve opted to hide their patents.
Anyone have thoughts on whether this is real/vaporware and which ‘8 person company’ this could be? [Read more…]
PRISM: Solving for X
June 14, 2013 by
Figure 1: PRISM
I thought it would be a fun exercise to describe PRISM based on information publicly available through the press, private companies, and the DNI. Specifically, how would this system look if we took all the statements made at face value? This might be a stretch, but it seems like a worthwhile exercise — not unlike a multivariate equation when one or more of the variables are unknown.
While PRISM is potentially the least troubling with respect to its legality and the type/volume of information of the 4 programs we’ve learned about, it is also the most technically puzzling. There have been many theories on the architecture of PRISM and I’ve been inundated with requests to help press/advocates understand it — so here goes. [Read more…]
Privacy Law Scholars Conference
June 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Berkeley, CA | June 6 – 7, 2013
I presented a paper I co-authored with Kevin Bankston on the cost of surveillance. Our research provides data on the decreasing cost to the government of surveilling its citizens as a result of new technology. We looked at the hourly cost of various methods of location surveillance to provide a mathematical foundation for a discussion on fourth amendment rights.
MobileScope’s Been Acquired
June 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I am excited to announce that MobileScope has been acquired by Evidon.
I co-developed MobileScope with David Campbell and Aldo Cortesi so that individuals could see and control the data their smartphones were sharing. It was a labor of love, and this sale will make MobileScope available to a broader audience. You can follow the developments here at http://www.evidon.com/mobilescope or more about the sale here.
I’ll still be continuing my life as an independent researcher/consultant but am super excited that there’s a developing market for privacy technologies.
Security and Human Behavior
June 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Los Angeles, CA | June 3-4, 2013
I was a participant in Bruce Schneier’s annual Security and Human Behavior conference. I was part of a privacy discussion with Alessandro Acquisti, Chris Palow of Facebook, Esther Dyson and Chris Soghoian from ACLU and talked about information asymmetries, the use of personal information and price discrimination. There are live blogging notes from the conference here and here.
Ashkan Soltani 