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Bring virtue to the internet by keeping trackers at bay

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Everybody has heard of the seven deadly sins, right? Tech evangelist Tim O'Reilly -- with whom I remain unrelated -- explains in a December 7, 2017, post on Medium that Pope Gregory created the list of lethal naughties in the year 590. The Pope based his rotten roster on eight groups of human failings compiled a couple of centuries earlier by an Egyptian hermit named Evagrius the Solitary.
 
(I bring this up only because I enjoy typing the name "Evagrius the Solitary.")
 
Did you know there are seven virtues that correspond to each of the sins? They are chastity (lust), temperance (gluttony), generosity (greed), diligence (sloth), patience (wrath), gratitude (envy), and humility (pride). There's not much profit to be made in promoting the seven heavenly virtues. Conversely, O'Reilly writes that entire industries are based on "nudg[ing] us to indulge our failures."
 
Two classic examples of lead-us-into-temptation industries are advertising and politics. The former encourages wasteful spending and consumption; and the latter preys on our fears and prejudices. (O'Reilly also points out the sin-promoting done by financial services, which make obscene profits by "betting against their customers.")
 
In their book Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller write that "phishing-style deception" is used in business, politics, and society to "prey on human cognitive biases," as O'Reilly puts it. In other words, we're all some kind of "phool." The powerful institutions we deal with every day are experts at determining just what kind of phool we are. They've also figured out how to manipulate "our own flawed estimate of our supposedly rational choices."
 
Phacebook: The ultimate phishing scam
 
According to O'Reilly, the 2016 U.S. Presidential election "demonstrated phishing on a grand scale." One good thing about a Presidency that is corrupt to the core is the realization that Facebook in particular and social media in general are addictions. They are designed to hook people into spending as much time and attention as possible using them. You get a little jolt of dopamine each time you like something or post a comment, photo, or timeline update.
 
The same is true for all advertising-based services, so the best way to bring back truth to journalism is to dump the ad-based model and return to subcriptions. That's about as likely to happen as our corrupt political system finding a way to fix itself from the inside out. O'Reilly calls for Facebook to make its manipulating algorithms more virtuous. He also asks application developers to make products that "encourage time well spent."
 
Ain't gonna happen, Tim. Not so long as there's a buck to be made by manipulating us "phools." O'Reilly concludes that if social networks don't clean up their act on their own, the government will step in and do it for them. I don't share my namesake's optimism about this eventuality. Instead, I have gone the route of another tech writer/futurist I admire, Cory Doctorow, who refers to himself in a December 28, 2017, post on Boing Boing as "a Facebook vegan."
 
Doctorow refers to a December 27, 2017, post on Mashable by Foster Kamer, who advocates against people allowing Facebook to filter the internet for them. Instead, go all retro and use your browser. Jump from site to site, like in the old days. Maybe visit some sites that are new to you. You're likely to get a view of the world that's both broader and deeper than your Facebook-induced echo chamber. As a bonus, you'll help publishers wean themselves off their dependence on Facebook clicks for their survival.
 
Deter sites from recording your keystrokes via 'session replay scripts'
 
Speaking of using your browser, if you're on a site and get the feeling someone's looking over your shoulder, it may be more than a feeling. Princeton University researchers Steven Englehardt, Gunes Acar, and Arvind Narayanan write in a November 15, 2017, article on Freedom to Tinker that they have detected scripts on some pages that record and play back all the actions you take during your browsing session. The post is the first in a series entitled No Boundaries.
 
The session recorders collect all keystrokes, including text typed into forms before you submit them. The scripts also record mouse movements, scrolling behavior, and the entire contents of the page. The information is sent to third-party servers without users being aware of it, let alone agreeing to it. As the Princeton researchers report, the data "can't reasonably be expected to be kept anonymous." In fact, some sites allow publishers to link the recordings "to a user's real identity," according to the scientists.
 
Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do to prevent having our browser sessions recorded and shared without our knowledge or permission. At least one of the seven session replay companies the researchers studied was detected on 482 of the sites on Alexa's list of the top 50,000 sites. While some ad-blocking lists managed to block some of the session-recording scripts, none prevented all recording. Also, none of the sites honor the browser's voluntary Do Not Track setting.
 
Third parties gain access to private info saved in password managers
 
In the second installment of the No Boundaries series posted on December 27, 2017, the Princeton researchers demonstrate how third-party scripts tap into the password managers built into browsers. There's nothing new about the technique used by the scripts to collect user IDs, passwords, and other sign-in data saved in the browser. The researchers found that rather than stealing passwords, the scripts are used by many first-party sites to "extract" email addresses to facilitate tracking the user. The authors provide a list of sites from Alexa's top 1 million that embed scripts designed to extract email addresses from browser password managers.
 
The exfiltration can be prevented by publishers, browser makers, and individuals. So why haven't publishers and browser vendors stopped it? According to the researchers, each party puts the responsibility for preventing access to saved login data on the other party. What users can do is install ad blockers and tracking-prevention tools such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Privacy Badger.
 
Sites using browser session recorders could get sued by unsuspecting visitors
 
Casper Sleep and Quicken Loans have been sued for illegal consumer tracking, as Richard Larson reports in a December 28, 2017, article on JD Supra.
 
Brady Cohen is the plaintiff in a New York federal court complaint against mattress company Casper Sleep and tracking vendor NaviStone that alleges a violation of Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Cohen visited the Casper Sleep site many times but never made a purchase. NaviStone's software was used to collect Cohen's keystrokes, mouse clicks, and other electronic communications without Cohen's permission, according to the complaint. The plaintiff asserts that his activities on the site were outside the normal course of business, and that the way the companies collected his personal information is "contrary to the legitimate expectations of webisite visitors."
 
Days after the action was filed against Casper Sleep and NaviStone, a "virtually identical lawsuit" was filed in New Jersey federal court against Quicken Loans and NaviStone. The plaintiff in that case claims his electronic communications were illegally intercepted by the defendants to establish a "detailed profile."
 
Casper Sleep responds that its advertising practices are "standard in the industry," and NaviStone believes a simple discussion with the plaintiffs will be sufficient to "clear up any misunderstandings."
 
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Linkapalooza
 
How low will sites stoop to get your private info?
Dark Patterns are "tricks used in websites and apps that make you buy or sign up for things that you didn't mean to." The people behind the Dark Patterns site want "to spread awareness and to shame companies that use them."
 
You already know about bait and switch, and you may know to watch for hidden costs when you get to the last stages of the checkout process, but did you know that ads are often disguised as content or navigation, or that granting a site permission to access your contacts could lead to all your friends being spammed by the service?
 
Other dishonest internet practices are forced continuity (credit card charges starting automatically at the end of a free trial), misdirection (distracting you from noticing particular items), and "Privacy Zuckering" (being tricked into publicly sharing more private information than you intended to).
 
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Save the planet: Go local. Even with a nut-job President tweeting nuclear threats, hope springs eternal. We know things will get worse before they get better. How much worse is anybody's guess. Yes Magazine's Sarah van Gelder writes in a December 28, 2017, post on Common Dreams that people are waking up to the realization that they must organize to save humanity from itself. According to van Gelder, the re-establishment of our democracy has to begin at the local level.
 
Van Gelder states that "[t]op-down revolutions become corrupt and authoritarian." The grassroots approach lets us "create diverse and democratic economies and widely distributed power." A strong local community "supports emotional and spiritual resilience," according to van Gelder. I would add that when you spend your money at local businesses, the money is more likely to stay in the community.
 
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Journalists need all the help they can get. That's why the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has released the Digital Journalist's Legal Guide, which offers tips for filing Freedom of Information Act requests, gaining access to courts, and determining when the "reporter's privilege" applies to a source or subpoena. Also provided are guides to government overreaching (prior restraint), libel issues, and press credentials/news-scene access.
 
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Putin's "daring aggression" masks his weakness. Is Russia's president a "manipulative genuis" as many Americans believe, or are both Putin and his country "aging, declining," as Julia Ioffe claims in the January/February 2018 edition of the Atlantic? Skepticism about the former is epitomized by one Russian citizen Ioffe quotes as saying, “You’re telling me that everything in Russia works as poorly as it does, except our hackers?"
 
Ioffe presents Putin as holding "deep resentments" toward the west that he wishes to avenge, related in large part to the disclosure of his tremendous personal wealth as part of the release of the Panama Papers in 2016. She concludes that now Putin personifies Russia, and each exists only because of the other. As soon as Putin goes -- most likely in 2024 -- Russia collapses.
 
But look on the bright side. I don't know what that bright side is, but when it shows up, we can all look at it.

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The tweet of the year came early. "Can I share a secret? Your life is enriched and much happier when you root for other people, when you genuinely want good things for them. That's all."--Louise Patterson Stan
 
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I'm rooting for all of you to have a rip-roaring seven days, and a rootin'-tootin' new year to boot. See you next Weekly!
 
Dennis

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        • Excuse me while I duck and cover, March 1, 2018
        • We're running out of words, February 7, 2018
        • Help fight information pollution, January 31, 2018
        • Privacy infographic-palooza, January 24, 2018
        • Another great reason to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., January 17, 2018
        • Bye-bye, Fourth Amendment: Spy agencies feed tips to law enforcement, January 10, 2018
        • Bring virtue to the internet by keeping trackers at bay, January 3, 2018
        • Could artificial intelligence give the tech industry a heart and save us from capitalism run amok? December 21, 2017
        • Your email use is being tracked, and not just by marketers and spammers, December 13, 2017
        • Time to let others do the talking, December 6, 2017
        • Our front-row seat for the crashing and burning of the internet, November 29, 2017
        • Your location location location means money money money for trackers, November 16, 2017
        • YouTube: Unsafe for all ages, November 8, 2017
        • Birthday wishes, November 2, 2017
        • That Weekly when everything was pretty good, or at least not so bad, October 25, 2017
        • Addiction by design: Don't let tech products run your life, October 19, 2017
        • Essential internet privacy tips, 2017 edition
        • Unreported news story: 'Algorithmic takeover' of journalism, September 27, 2017
        • The door slams shut on the open internet, September 22, 2017
        • The best response to the Equifax breach: Don't deal with Equifax, September 13, 2017
        • In business and government, the bullies are calling the shots, September 6, 2017
        • There's no stopping tech giants' surveillance for profit, August 30, 2017
        • How to deter 'fingerprint' trackers from identifying your computers and devices, August 23, 2017
        • That was the week that was, 2017 revival, August 16, 2017
        • Find the internet security level that's right for your needs, August 9, 2017
        • Internet Media 101: The bigger the lie, the greater the profit, August 3, 2017
        • Cyber-crimestoppers: How individuals and companies help nab internet crooks, July 26, 2017
        • A free press: The antidote to authoritarianism, July 19, 2017
        • A novel concept: Let consumers decide which personal data to share with trackers, July 12, 2017
        • We're in the midst of the third American Civil War, and democracy is losing, July 5, 2017
        • Keep online trackers at bay without breaking a sweat, June 28, 2017
        • Pleas for civility meet with... incivility, but that's okay, June 21, 2017
        • The price we pay for unbridled digital surveillance, June 14, 2017
        • Privacy protections may form the basis of antitrust actions against internet giants, June 7, 2017
        • Privacy tips for the most vulnerable: Children and seniors, May 31, 2017
        • Applying Fourth Amendment search protections to data in the cloud, May 24, 2017
        • Just when you thought you couldn't be tracked any closer..., May 17, 2017
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        • The internet: Destroyer of truth, justice, and the American Way, April 26, 2017
        • The death and ultimate rebirth of the public internet, April 19, 2017
        • An internet dinosaur spits in extinction's eye, April 12, 2017
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        • Let big data benefit consumers, not marketers, March 22, 2017t
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        • The great online-advertising swindle, May 3, 2016
        • Modern news media: Too big not to fail? April 26, 2016
        • Internet Confidential: How to establish a privacy right on the public Internet, April 20, 2016
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        • FCC to regulate ISP data collection, but Google, Facebook off the hook, April 6, 2016
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      • Privacy Weeklies >
        • The Weeklies >
          • Excuse me while I duck and cover, March 1, 2018
          • We're running out of words, February 7, 2018
          • Help fight information pollution, January 31, 2018
          • Another great reason to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., January 17, 2018
          • Bye-bye, Fourth Amendment: Spy agencies feed tips to law enforcement, January 10, 2018
          • Bring virtue to the internet by keeping trackers at bay, January 3, 2018
          • Time to let others do the talking, December 6, 2017
          • Our front-row seat for the crashing and burning of the internet, November 29, 2017
          • YouTube: Unsafe for all ages, November 8, 2017
          • Birthday wishes, November 2, 2017
          • That Weekly when everything was pretty good, or at least not so bad, October 25, 2017
          • Unreported news story: 'Algorithmic takeover' of journalism, September 27, 2017
          • The door slams shut on the open internet, September 22, 2017
          • In business and government, the bullies are calling the shots, September 6, 2017
          • There's no stopping tech giants' surveillance for profit, August 30, 2017
          • That was the week that was, 2017 revival, August 16, 2017
          • Internet Media 101: The bigger the lie, the greater the profit, August 3, 2017
          • Cyber-crimestoppers: How individuals and companies help nab internet crooks, July 26, 2017
          • A free press: The antidote to authoritarianism, July 19, 2017
          • We're in the midst of the third American Civil War, and democracy is losing, July 5, 2017
          • Pleas for civility meet with... incivility, but that's okay, June 21, 2017
          • The price we pay for unbridled digital surveillance, June 14, 2017
          • Privacy protections may form the basis of antitrust actions against internet giants, June 7, 2017
          • Applying Fourth Amendment search protections to data in the cloud, May 24, 2017
          • Just when you thought you couldn't be tracked any closer..., May 17, 2017
          • Facebook addiction turns users into marketing guinea pigs, May 10, 2017
          • America: A tale of two countries, May 3, 2017
          • The internet: Destroyer of truth, justice, and the American Way, April 26, 2017
          • The death and ultimate rebirth of the public internet, April 19, 2017
          • An internet dinosaur spits in extinction's eye, April 12, 2017
          • Trust Busters 2.0: Dismantling modern monopolies, April 5, 2017
          • Gig economy changes what it means to be an 'employee,' March 8, 2017
          • Privacy: There's just no percentage in it, March 1, 2017
          • The Rough Beast's lies indicate his intentions - Just like the Nazis, December 6, 2016
          • Government phone searches: Return of the 'general warrant', November 29, 2016
          • You can't hide from facial-recognition systems - Or can you? November 16, 2016
          • No consent needed for ISPs to scan email and create ad-targeting profiles of non-customers, August 30, 2016
          • Supreme Court throws 'fruit of the poisonous tree' doctrine under the bus, August 16, 2016
          • Silly questions: Who 'owns' video captured by police? And is Facebook really 'privacy-enhancing'? August 2, 2016
          • It's official: No expectation of privacy on the internet, June 28, 2016
          • How to wrest control of our government away from corporations, June 21, 2016
          • The fight against privacy smashers continues, June 14, 2016
          • Publishers are losing the battle against their ad-blocking visitors - so what's next? May 31, 2016
          • Tech companies resist government attempts to broaden definition of 'personal information', May 25, 2016
          • Privacy threats on parade, May 17, 2016
          • Government goes dark as private lives are exposed, May 10, 2016
          • The great online-advertising swindle, May 3, 2016
          • Modern news media: Too big not to fail? April 26, 2016
          • Internet Confidential: How to establish a privacy right on the public Internet, April 20, 2016
          • The new browser wars: Thou shalt not block our ads and trackers, April 13, 2016
          • FCC to regulate ISP data collection, but Google, Facebook off the hook, April 6, 2016
          • How we lose ourselves in private data collection, March 15, 2016
          • People tracking is about to get even creepier, March 8, 2016
          • Silicon Valley's long-standing connections to the U.S. government, March 2, 2016
          • How to build the future of work, February 24, 2016
          • Why it's a bad idea to trust private companies with the job of protecting our rights, February 16, 2016
          • Your Internet life is an open book: The dark side of online-ad profiling, February 9, 2016
          • Why don't Americans care as much about their privacy as Europeans do? February 2, 2016
          • 'Hey, gang, let's put on a government!', January 5, 2016
          • The appropriate response to living in a surveillance state: Ignore it, December 22, 2015 >
            • Legal shorts for December 22, 2015
          • Re-reinterpreting our constitutional right to bear arms, December 10, 2015
          • How open data can help save the world, December 2, 2015
          • Fair use stages a comeback: New protections against copyright abuse, November 10, 2015 >
            • Welcome to the Age of 'Existential Despair', November 10, 2015
          • Do we have a right to know what they know about us?, October 20, 2015
          • Legal shorts, September 29, 2015
          • Campaign 2016: Where's the love? September 15, 2015 >
            • Legal shorts, September 15, 2015
          • Reclaiming our government starts with universal Internet access, August 25, 2015
          • Upon further review, times three, August 4, 2015 >
            • Shorts for August 4, 2015
          • The connection between poverty, hunger, and obesity, July 14, 2015 >
            • Shorts for July 14, 2015
          • A long-overdue turning of the political tide, July 7, 2015
          • Obamacare: A misstep in the right direction, July 7, 2015
          • Obamacare decision imposes limits on executive power, June 30, 2015
          • It's time to get serious about prosecuting Internet threats, June 23, 2015
          • Worst. Supreme. Court. Ever. June 16, 2015
          • Five indications that we are currently between regimes, June 9, 2015
          • Legal shorts, June 2, 2015
          • Legal shorts, May 12, 2015
          • Legal shorts, May 5, 2015
          • Legal shorts, April 28, 2015
          • More examples of judges clueless about technology... and one that gets it, April 21, 2015
          • Legal shorts: April 7, 2015
          • Legal shorts, March 31, 2015
          • Legal shorts: March 24, 2015
          • Privacy, Inc.: Welcome to the personal-information marketplace, March 3, 2015
          • Legal shorts: February 24, 2015
          • What would George Washington think of his country now? February 16, 2015 >
            • Lobbyists thrive by building relationships with lawmakers, February 17, 2015
            • On the fast track to American fascism, February 17, 2015
            • The one Senator who's speaking truth to power, February 17, 2015
            • Fight terrorism by fighting its source: Corruption, February 17, 2015
            • Anonymous users: Your ISP may ID you on demand -- and not even tell you, February 17, 2015
          • Legal shorts: February 10, 2015
          • What's the best way to fix the broken U.S. political system? February 3, 2015
          • The battle against data thieves heats up, January 20, 2015
          • 'The Interview' and 'I Can't Breathe': Connecting the dots, December 29, 2014
          • Cyberwar? Fuhgeddabouddit! There are plenty more serious threats to fret over, December 16, 2014
          • Trading privacy for the public good, November 18, 2014
          • Deregulating the legal profession: Only a matter of time, October 6, 2014
          • Internet companies' transparency reports indicate trademark abuse is on the rise, September 25, 2014
          • Google patent infringement: The proof's in the Post-its?, August 25, 2014
          • Most data breaches are the result of weak or stolen credentials, August 18, 2014
          • The best government money -- lots and lots of money -- can buy, August 11, 2014
          • Have 'money addicts' taken over our political system?, August 11, 2014 >
            • Part 2: Money and political power, August 11, 2014
            • Part 3: A contrived distinction between 'venal' and 'systematic' corruption, August 11, 2014
            • Part 4: Fear of political corruption trumps government economic regulation, August 11, 2014
            • Part 5: Investment-oriented political contributions boost the bottom line, August 11, 2014
            • Part 6: Case study: Corporate political corruption, 19th-century style, August 11, 2014
          • Corporate ownership of the U.S. political process, August 11, 2014 >
            • Part 2: Party perpetuation trumps service to the constituency, August 11, 2014
            • Part 3: Party loyalty trumps independent thought, August 11, 2014
            • Part 4: The roots of corporate 'personhood,' August 11, 2014
            • Part 5: Is political corruption actually on the rise? Who knows?, August 11, 2014
          • It all depends on who's doing the surveilling -- and why, July 28, 2014
          • Be careful what you comment -- it might get you sued, July 19, 2014
          • Supreme Court: You can patent software, but only if it's 'transformative,' June 21, 2014
          • Privacy Manifesto
        • Privacy Tips >
          • Privacy infographic-palooza, January 24, 2018 >
            • Data Collection on Consumers infographic
            • How Companies Identify People
            • PayPal Data Sharing
            • Data Collection Guidelines for Businesses
            • What Does It Mean to Be a Success?
          • Could artificial intelligence give the tech industry a heart and save us from capitalism run amok? December 21, 2017
          • Your email use is being tracked, and not just by marketers and spammers, December 13, 2017
          • Your location location location means money money money for trackers, November 16, 2017
          • Addiction by design: Don't let tech products run your life, October 19, 2017
          • Essential internet privacy tips, 2017 edition
          • The best response to the Equifax breach: Don't deal with Equifax, September 13, 2017
          • How to deter 'fingerprint' trackers from identifying your computers and devices, August 23, 2017
          • Find the internet security level that's right for your needs, August 9, 2017
          • A novel concept: Let consumers decide which personal data to share with trackers, July 12, 2017
          • Keep online trackers at bay without breaking a sweat, June 28, 2017
          • Privacy tips for the most vulnerable: Children and seniors, May 31, 2017
          • Simple, free ways to lock down your private data, March 29, 2017
          • Let big data benefit consumers, not marketers, March 22, 2017t
          • Practical security preparations for the worst-case scenario, December 13, 2016
          • Before the deluge: Spend your attention wisely, November 23, 2016
          • The 'consumer boycott' of web advertising is gaining momentum, November 8, 2016
          • Encryption: It's not just for banking anymore, November 1, 2016
          • A call to action: Stop the surveillance - by web services, apps, October 25, 2016
          • Web ad networks are malware authors' best friends, October 18, 2016
          • Privacy is becoming fashionable - Yippee! October 11, 2016
          • How do we bridge the growing media and political divides? October 4, 2016 >
            • Pew Center Research chart: Political bias of news organizations
          • Safety essentials: 10-step security revisited, 11 years later
          • Simple ways to limit the private information you surrender on the web, September 20, 2016
          • Top 10 reasons why people hate listicles - and yes, this is a joke headline, September 13, 2016
          • Why internet voting is a terrible idea, September 6, 2016
          • The web is broken - Guess who's trying to fix it? August 23, 2016
          • Dragging the online trackers - kicking and screaming - into the light of day, August 9, 2016
          • Five questions, no answers, March 29, 2016
          • How to fix the Internet: Ratchet down the anonymity, lose the ads, March 23, 2016
          • 2016: The first social-media election, March 2, 2016
          • The end is near for passwords (not really), February 24, 2016
          • New fronts open in the battle against privacy-invading online ads, January 26, 2016
          • Fifteen ways to stay safe on the Internet, January 19, 2016
          • Prepare for the inevitable theft of your personal information, January 13, 2016
          • Separating the bitcoin hype from the blockchain substance, December 17, 2015 >
            • Shorts for December 17, 2015: Trump's legal ineptitude, and eight ways the world is getting better
          • Consumers may be ready to pay for an ad-free, tracking-free Internet, November 18, 2015
          • Get ready for the Attention Economy, November 4, 2015
          • Tech shorts, October 27, 2015
          • How to find a reliable network speed test, May 2, 2014
          • Facial recognition ushers in the Age of Surveillance, October 13, 2015 >
            • Tech Short for October 13, 2015: ID by face + social profile
          • Fantasy sports gambling finally gets scrutinized, October 6, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, October 6, 2015
          • Google, Android, ads, and a tech titan's revenge, September 29, 2015
          • How to fix problems caused by Apple's flaky iTunes updates, September 23, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, September 22, 2015
          • Tech shorts, September 15, 2015
          • Three simple ways to improve your privacy, September 8, 2015
          • Use your free Google Voice number to make and receive phone calls, September 1, 2015
          • Coming soon: A more trustworthy form of encryption, July 28, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, July 28, 2015
          • Protect yourself while browsing by enabling click to play, July 21, 2015 >
            • Tech short, July 21, 2015: Computers now tie emotions to facial expressions
          • Everyday Windows 10 users become beta testers for the Enterprise Edition, June 30, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, June 30, 2015
          • Tech shorts, June 16, 2015
          • The five-minute Facebook security checkup, June 2, 2015
          • When ads attack: Web ad networks battle the blockers, May 26, 2015
          • Flying the furious skies: How to stay sane on a commercial flight, May 19, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, May 19, 2015
          • Online shopping tips: Put differential pricing to work for you, May 12, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, May 12, 2015
          • We're sitting on a big-data gold mine, May 5, 2015
          • The case against web encryption, Title II designation for ISPs, April 28, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, April 28, 2015
          • Tech shorts, April 21, 2015
          • Should all web traffic be encrypted? April 14, 2015 >
            • Anonymous Internet Map, April 14, 2015
          • More reasons why you need to block web ads, April 7, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts: April 7, 2015
          • Web 3.0 returns control of personal information to users, March 31, 2015
          • Passwords are about to get some much-needed assistance -- from your body, March 24, 2015
          • An unexpected visit from the Karma Police, March 17, 2015
          • Three views of the future that are certain to curl your hair, March 10, 2015
          • The tricks of the malware trade: Don't take the bait! February 24, 2015
          • How to ruin your life in 140 characters or fewer, February 17, 2015
          • Browse better with these three essential freebies (plus one valuable cheapie), February 10, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts: February 10, 2015
          • Why you should care about your loss of privacy, January 27, 2015
          • How to combat hate and harassment on the Internet, January 13, 2015
          • Beat ransomware by saving your files to the cloud, January 6, 2015
          • Five fantastic Web freebies, December 9, 2014
          • How Google, Facebook, and Twitter make billions by offering 'free' services, December 2, 2014
          • Telephone tech-support scams are on the rise, November 24, 2014
          • Tor breach shows there's no such thing as Internet anonymity, November 11, 2014 >
            • Hackers owned Home Depot's networks for five months, November 11, 2014
            • Another call for a nationwide breach-notification law, November 11, 2014
          • Comcast battles Netflix, and everybody loses, November 4, 2014
          • Sexting has become part of growing up (gulp!), October 28, 2014
          • Quick, simple fixes for everyday tech glitches, October 21, 2014
          • Battle of the behemoths: Facebook ad network takes on Google, October 14, 2014
          • Instant access to all your recent files, October 6, 2014
          • iPhone's new Medical ID feature could save your life, September 29, 2014
          • Now you can really lock your phone, September 22, 2014
          • Facebook auto-play videos eat up mobile data allotments, September 15, 2014
          • Three free browser add-ons protect against cyber-crime, September 9, 2014
          • Control which iPhone apps are allowed to stay 'active' when they're off, August 25, 2014
          • The best browser you're probably not using, August 4, 2014
          • Never pay for software again (almost), July 14, 2014 >
            • Best free alternatives to top-selling software, July 11, 2011
          • The pros and cons of cloud computing, July 14, 2014 >
            • Three approaches to free encrypted online storage, June 23, 2009
            • Future-proof your data archive, December 30, 2010
            • Ten simple, common-sense security tips, October 9, 2012
          • Browser security settings you gotta change, June 24, 2014 >
            • Beef up Chrome's security, June 24, 2014
            • Batten down the hatches in Firefox, June 24, 2014
            • Enable Internet Explorer's privacy and security features, June 24, 2014
          • Online advertising dangers, June 10, 2014 >
            • U.S. Senate: Self-regulation of online ad networks isn't working, June 10, 2014
            • Free browser extensions give ads the boot, June 10, 2014
            • Claim a property interest in your personal information, June 10, 2014
            • A micropayment alternative to privacy-sucking ads, June 10, 2014
          • Great people make great sites, May 30, 2014
          • Three free privacy add-ons for Firefox and Chrome, May 20, 2014 >
            • Three essential security add-ons for Firefox, Chrome, and IE, May 7, 2013 >
              • How to improve security in Firefox, Chrome, and IE, May 6, 2013
            • Disable third-party cookies in IE, Firefox, and Google Chrome, March 14, 2011 >
              • Add 'do not track' to Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, December 7, 2010
              • Five great Firefox privacy add-ons, July 14, 2010
          • Remove metadata from Office files, PDFs, and images, May 16, 2014
          • Make folders private in Windows 8.1, May 9, 2014 >
            • Enable Vista's hidden administrator, and password-protect its XP equivalent, February 13, 2008
            • How to secure your PC in 10 easy steps, November 15, 2011 >
              • Three approaches to free encrypted online storage, June 23, 2009
              • Amazon Cloud Drive and Box.net go toe-to-toe, April 5, 2011
              • Free VPN service helps keep public Wi-Fi safe, February 14, 2011
              • How to prevent identity theft, September 13, 2011
            • Free utility finds unwanted programs uninstallers miss, February 24, 2014
          • Malware authors target Android phones, May 13, 2014
          • Secure your Facebook account in six easy steps, September 23, 2013
          • How to find the positive in negative comments, April 30, 2014
          • The 'I hate passwords' guide, April 29, 2014
          • Protect your device from malicious ads, April 10, 2014
          • Five ways to save a Web page, September 26, 2011
          • Five essential Windows 8.1 time-saving tweaks, February 3, 2014
          • Best free sites for learning how to write code, December 12, 2013
        • Software Intellectual Property Protections, August 16, 2014 >
          • Introduction: It's a Software World
          • 1. Trademark >
            • a. Registration
            • b. Trademark requirements
            • c. Lanham Act: 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051-1053 and 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) (a.k.a. § 43(a)) >
              • 1. Distinguish from patent protection
              • 2. Distinguish from copyright protection
              • 3. Trademark-infringement elements >
                • A. Confusion
                • B. Designation of origin
                • C. Famous and distinctive
            • d. Infringement criteria
          • 2. Trade Secrets >
            • a. Uniform Trade Secrets Act
            • b. Software protected by trade secrets
            • c. Limitations on trade-secret protections >
              • 1. Secret and valuable
              • 2. Described with particularity
              • 3. Software trade secrets and patents: Conflicting or complementary?
          • 3. Copyright >
            • a. History of software copyright statute
            • b. Assembling the pieces of the software-copyright jigsaw puzzle >
              • 1. Two types of source code: Declaring and implementing
              • 2. Originality requirement
              • 3. Merger doctrine
              • 4. Abstraction-filtration-comparison test
              • 5. Short phrases
              • 6. Scenes a faire doctrine
              • 7. Structure, sequence, and organization of the Java APIs
              • 8. Interoperability as it relates to copyrightability
              • 9. Fair use
              • 10. Copyright protections vs. patent protections for software
          • 4. Patent >
            • a. U.S. Constitution Article 1 § 8 >
              • 1. In terms of patent law, software is special
              • 2. Software innovations are clearly patentable
            • b. 35 U.S. Code § 101 >
              • 1. Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International: Procedural history
              • 2. Test for patentability of abstract ideas: Implicit exception to exclusion
            • c. 35 U.S. Code § 102 - Conditions for patentability; novelty, prior art >
              • 1. Section 102(a)'s "known or used" determination (prior art)
              • 2. Section 102(b)'s "on sale" and "disclosure" determinations
              • 3. Section 102(g)'s "abandoned, suppressed, or concealed" determination
            • d. 35 U.S. Code § 103 Conditions for patentability: non-obvious subject matter
            • e. 35 U.S. Code § 112: Specification >
              • 1. Claim construction
              • 2. Doctrine of equivalents and rule of prosecution history estoppel
          • Conclusion
          • Table of Cases
        • Reclaim your personal information
  • Cloud Computing
    • Five tips for protecting cloud data from internal threats
    • What does the future hold for DBAs?
    • Busted: 10 Big Data Myths Exploded
    • Is the cloud ready for speech APIs?
    • From machine learning to super clouds: Competing visions of cloud 2.0
    • Two great reasons for making your cloud data location aware
    • The most common cloud migration mistakes
    • How to prepare for the next cloud outage
    • The new shadow IT: Custom applications in the cloud
    • Drawbacks of running containers on bare-metal servers
    • How to reduce latency in public clouds
    • Mastering the art of container management
    • Hybrid Clouds: Here to stay, or stop-gaps to enterprise cloud?
    • How zero-trust security makes VMs more efficient
    • Ultimate virtualization: The end of infrastructure
    • 21 best orchestration tools for MSPs
    • Cloud governance: The key to effectively scaling your cloud
    • Update or rewrite? A cloud-application perspective
    • New views into cloud application performance
    • Multicloud vs. hybrid cloud
  • The Stories So Far....
  • About
  • workersedge
    • The Weekly >
      • The Weeklies >
        • Excuse me while I duck and cover, March 1, 2018
        • We're running out of words, February 7, 2018
        • Help fight information pollution, January 31, 2018
        • Privacy infographic-palooza, January 24, 2018
        • Another great reason to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., January 17, 2018
        • Bye-bye, Fourth Amendment: Spy agencies feed tips to law enforcement, January 10, 2018
        • Bring virtue to the internet by keeping trackers at bay, January 3, 2018
        • Could artificial intelligence give the tech industry a heart and save us from capitalism run amok? December 21, 2017
        • Your email use is being tracked, and not just by marketers and spammers, December 13, 2017
        • Time to let others do the talking, December 6, 2017
        • Our front-row seat for the crashing and burning of the internet, November 29, 2017
        • Your location location location means money money money for trackers, November 16, 2017
        • YouTube: Unsafe for all ages, November 8, 2017
        • Birthday wishes, November 2, 2017
        • That Weekly when everything was pretty good, or at least not so bad, October 25, 2017
        • Addiction by design: Don't let tech products run your life, October 19, 2017
        • Essential internet privacy tips, 2017 edition
        • Unreported news story: 'Algorithmic takeover' of journalism, September 27, 2017
        • The door slams shut on the open internet, September 22, 2017
        • The best response to the Equifax breach: Don't deal with Equifax, September 13, 2017
        • In business and government, the bullies are calling the shots, September 6, 2017
        • There's no stopping tech giants' surveillance for profit, August 30, 2017
        • How to deter 'fingerprint' trackers from identifying your computers and devices, August 23, 2017
        • That was the week that was, 2017 revival, August 16, 2017
        • Find the internet security level that's right for your needs, August 9, 2017
        • Internet Media 101: The bigger the lie, the greater the profit, August 3, 2017
        • Cyber-crimestoppers: How individuals and companies help nab internet crooks, July 26, 2017
        • A free press: The antidote to authoritarianism, July 19, 2017
        • A novel concept: Let consumers decide which personal data to share with trackers, July 12, 2017
        • We're in the midst of the third American Civil War, and democracy is losing, July 5, 2017
        • Keep online trackers at bay without breaking a sweat, June 28, 2017
        • Pleas for civility meet with... incivility, but that's okay, June 21, 2017
        • The price we pay for unbridled digital surveillance, June 14, 2017
        • Privacy protections may form the basis of antitrust actions against internet giants, June 7, 2017
        • Privacy tips for the most vulnerable: Children and seniors, May 31, 2017
        • Applying Fourth Amendment search protections to data in the cloud, May 24, 2017
        • Just when you thought you couldn't be tracked any closer..., May 17, 2017
        • Facebook addiction turns users into marketing guinea pigs, May 10, 2017
        • America: A tale of two countries, May 3, 2017
        • The internet: Destroyer of truth, justice, and the American Way, April 26, 2017
        • The death and ultimate rebirth of the public internet, April 19, 2017
        • An internet dinosaur spits in extinction's eye, April 12, 2017
        • Trust Busters 2.0: Dismantling modern monopolies, April 5, 2017
        • Simple, free ways to lock down your private data, March 29, 2017
        • Let big data benefit consumers, not marketers, March 22, 2017t
        • Gig economy changes what it means to be an 'employee,' March 8, 2017
        • Privacy: There's just no percentage in it, March 1, 2017
        • Practical security preparations for the worst-case scenario, December 13, 2016
        • The Rough Beast's lies indicate his intentions - Just like the Nazis, December 6, 2016
        • Government phone searches: Return of the 'general warrant', November 29, 2016
        • Before the deluge: Spend your attention wisely, November 23, 2016
        • You can't hide from facial-recognition systems - Or can you? November 16, 2016
        • The 'consumer boycott' of web advertising is gaining momentum, November 8, 2016
        • Encryption: It's not just for banking anymore, November 1, 2016
        • A call to action: Stop the surveillance - by web services, apps, October 25, 2016
        • Web ad networks are malware authors' best friends, October 18, 2016
        • Privacy is becoming fashionable - Yippee! October 11, 2016
        • How do we bridge the growing media and political divides? October 4, 2016
        • Safety essentials: 10-step security revisited, 11 years later
        • Simple ways to limit the private information you surrender on the web, September 20, 2016
        • Top 10 reasons why people hate listicles - and yes, this is a joke headline, September 13, 2016
        • Why internet voting is a terrible idea, September 6, 2016
        • No consent needed for ISPs to scan email and create ad-targeting profiles of non-customers, August 30, 2016
        • The web is broken - Guess who's trying to fix it? August 23, 2016
        • Supreme Court throws 'fruit of the poisonous tree' doctrine under the bus, August 16, 2016
        • Dragging the online trackers - kicking and screaming - into the light of day, August 9, 2016
        • Silly questions: Who 'owns' video captured by police? And is Facebook really 'privacy-enhancing'? August 2, 2016
        • It's official: No expectation of privacy on the internet, June 28, 2016
        • How to wrest control of our government away from corporations, June 21, 2016
        • The fight against privacy smashers continues, June 14, 2016
        • Publishers are losing the battle against their ad-blocking visitors - so what's next? May 31, 2016
        • Tech companies resist government attempts to broaden definition of 'personal information', May 25, 2016
        • Privacy threats on parade, May 17, 2016
        • Government goes dark as private lives are exposed, May 10, 2016
        • The great online-advertising swindle, May 3, 2016
        • Modern news media: Too big not to fail? April 26, 2016
        • Internet Confidential: How to establish a privacy right on the public Internet, April 20, 2016
        • The new browser wars: Thou shalt not block our ads and trackers, April 13, 2016
        • FCC to regulate ISP data collection, but Google, Facebook off the hook, April 6, 2016
        • Five questions, no answers, March 29, 2016
        • How to fix the Internet: Ratchet down the anonymity, lose the ads, March 23, 2016
        • How we lose ourselves in private data collection, March 15, 2016
        • People tracking is about to get even creepier, March 8, 2016
        • Silicon Valley's long-standing connections to the U.S. government, March 2, 2016
        • 2016: The first social-media election, March 2, 2016
        • How to build the future of work, February 24, 2016
        • Why it's a bad idea to trust private companies with the job of protecting our rights, February 16, 2016
        • Your Internet life is an open book: The dark side of online-ad profiling, February 9, 2016
        • Why don't Americans care as much about their privacy as Europeans do? February 2, 2016
        • New fronts open in the battle against privacy-invading online ads, January 26, 2016
        • Fifteen ways to stay safe on the Internet, January 19, 2016
        • Prepare for the inevitable theft of your personal information, January 13, 2016
        • 'Hey, gang, let's put on a government!', January 5, 2016
        • The appropriate response to living in a surveillance state: Ignore it, December 22, 2015 >
          • Legal shorts for December 22, 2015
        • Separating the bitcoin hype from the blockchain substance, December 17, 2015 >
          • Shorts for December 17, 2015: Trump's legal ineptitude, and eight ways the world is getting better
        • Re-reinterpreting our constitutional right to bear arms, December 10, 2015
        • How open data can help save the world, December 2, 2015
        • Consumers may be ready to pay for an ad-free, tracking-free Internet, November 18, 2015
        • Fair use stages a comeback: New protections against copyright abuse, November 10, 2015
        • Welcome to the Age of 'Existential Despair', November 10, 2015
        • Get ready for the Attention Economy, November 4, 2015
        • O'Jitterys Catch a Movie, October 27, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, October 27, 2015
        • Do we have a right to know what they know about us?, October 20, 2015
        • Facial recognition ushers in the Age of Surveillance, October 13, 2015 >
          • Tech Short, October 13, 2015: ID by face + social profile
          • Legal Short, October 13, 2015: GOP mega-donor sues Mother Jones, loses, sort of
        • Fantasy sports gambling finally gets scrutinized, October 6, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, October 6, 2015
        • Google, Android, ads, and a tech titan's revenge, September 29, 2015 >
          • Legal shorts, September 29, 2015
        • How to fix problems caused by Apple's flaky iTunes updates, September 23, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, September 22, 2015
        • Campaign 2016: Where's the love? September 15, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, September 15, 2015
          • Legal shorts, September 15, 2015
        • Three simple ways to improve your privacy, September 8, 2015
        • Use your free Google Voice number to make and receive phone calls, September 1, 2015
        • Reclaiming our government starts with universal Internet access, August 25, 2015
        • Upon further review, times three, August 4, 2015 >
          • Shorts for August 4, 2015
        • Coming soon: A more trustworthy form of encryption, July 28, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, July 28, 2015
        • Protect yourself while browsing by enabling click to play, July 21, 2015 >
          • Tech short, July 21, 2015: Computers now tie emotions to facial expressions
        • The connection between poverty, hunger, and obesity, July 14, 2015 >
          • Shorts for July 14, 2015
        • A long-overdue turning of the political tide, July 7, 2015
        • Obamacare: A misstep in the right direction, July 7, 2015
        • Everyday Windows 10 users become beta testers for the Enterprise Edition, June 30, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, June 30, 2015
        • Obamacare decision imposes limits on executive power, June 30, 2015
        • It's time to get serious about prosecuting Internet threats, June 23, 2015
        • Worst. Supreme. Court. Ever. June 16, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, June 16, 2015
        • Five indications that we are currently between regimes, June 9, 2015
        • The five-minute Facebook security checkup, June 2, 2015 >
          • Legal shorts, June 2, 2015
        • When ads attack: Web ad networks battle the blockers, May 26, 2015
        • Flying the furious skies: How to stay sane on a commercial flight, May 19, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, May 19, 2015
        • Online shopping tips: Put differential pricing to work for you, May 12, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, May 12, 2015
          • Legal shorts, May 12, 2015
        • We're sitting on a big-data gold mine, May 5, 2015 >
          • Legal shorts, May 5, 2015
        • The case against web encryption, Title II designation for ISPs, April 28, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, April 28, 2015
          • Legal shorts, April 28, 2015
        • More examples of judges clueless about technology... and one that gets it, April 21, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts, April 21, 2015
        • Should all web traffic be encrypted? April 14, 2015 >
          • Anonymous Internet Map, April 14, 2015
        • More reasons why you need to block web ads, April 7, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts: April 7, 2015
          • Legal shorts: April 7, 2015
        • Web 3.0 returns control of personal information to users, March 31, 2015
        • Passwords are about to get some much-needed assistance -- from your body, March 24, 2015
        • An unexpected visit from the Karma Police, March 17, 2015
        • Three views of the future that are certain to curl your hair, March 10, 2015
        • Privacy, Inc.: Welcome to the personal-information marketplace, March 3, 2015
        • The tricks of the malware trade: Don't take the bait! February 24, 2015
        • How to ruin your life in 140 characters or fewer, February 17, 2015
        • Browse better with these three essential freebies (plus one valuable cheapie), February 10, 2015 >
          • Tech shorts: February 10, 2015
        • What's the best way to fix the broken U.S. political system? February 3, 2015
        • Why you should care about your loss of privacy, January 27, 2015
        • The battle against data thieves heats up, January 20, 2015
        • How to combat hate and harassment on the Internet, January 13, 2015
        • Beat ransomware by saving your files to the cloud, January 6, 2015
        • 'The Interview' and 'I Can't Breathe': Connecting the dots, December 29, 2014
        • Cyberwar? Fuhgeddabouddit! There are plenty more serious threats to fret over, December 16, 2014
        • Five fantastic Web freebies, December 9, 2014
        • How Google, Facebook, and Twitter make billions by offering 'free' services, December 2, 2014
        • Telephone tech-support scams are on the rise, November 24, 2014
        • Trading privacy for the public good, November 18, 2014
        • Tor breach shows there's no such thing as Internet anonymity, November 11, 2014 >
          • Hackers owned Home Depot's networks for five months, November 11, 2014
          • Another call for a nationwide breach-notification law, November 11, 2014
        • Comcast battles Netflix, and everybody loses, November 4, 2014
        • Sexting has become part of growing up (gulp!), October 28, 2014
        • Quick, simple fixes for everyday tech glitches, October 21, 2014
        • Battle of the behemoths: Facebook ad network takes on Google, October 14, 2014
        • Instant access to all your recent files, October 6, 2014
        • iPhone's new Medical ID feature could save your life, September 29, 2014
        • Now you can really lock your phone, September 22, 2014
        • Facebook auto-play videos eat up mobile data allotments, September 15, 2014
        • Three free browser add-ons protect against cyber-crime, September 9, 2014
        • Manslaughter conviction expunged after worker dies in baling machine, August 25, 2014 >
          • Google patent infringement: The proof's in the Post-its?, August 25, 2014
          • Control which iPhone apps are allowed to stay 'active' when they're off, August 25, 2014
          • Weekly What? August 25, 2014 >
            • No more 'Like' gates to view content, get rewards, August 25, 2014
            • FTC goes after a company that lost customer data, company cries 'Foul!', August 25, 2014
            • A mobile phone company releases customer data -- and it's a good thing, August 25, 2014
            • Clickless approvals don't qualify as 'reasonable notice' for terms of service, August 25, 2014
            • Baby steps closer to authentication that doesn't rely on passwords, August 25, 2014
        • Most data breaches are the result of weak or stolen credentials, August 18, 2014
        • The best government money -- lots and lots of money -- can buy, August 11, 2014
        • The best browser you're probably not using, August 4, 2014
        • It all depends on who's doing the surveilling -- and why, July 28, 2014
        • Be careful what you comment -- it might get you sued, July 19, 2014
        • Never pay for software again (almost) Plus: The pros and cons of cloud computing, July 14, 2014
        • Mind that download! Free phone apps deliver malware, July 7, 2014
        • How to build the future of work, February 24, 2016
        • The end is near for passwords (not really), February 24, 2016
        • Facebook's latest shenanigans, July 1, 2014
      • Privacy Weeklies >
        • The Weeklies >
          • Excuse me while I duck and cover, March 1, 2018
          • We're running out of words, February 7, 2018
          • Help fight information pollution, January 31, 2018
          • Another great reason to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., January 17, 2018
          • Bye-bye, Fourth Amendment: Spy agencies feed tips to law enforcement, January 10, 2018
          • Bring virtue to the internet by keeping trackers at bay, January 3, 2018
          • Time to let others do the talking, December 6, 2017
          • Our front-row seat for the crashing and burning of the internet, November 29, 2017
          • YouTube: Unsafe for all ages, November 8, 2017
          • Birthday wishes, November 2, 2017
          • That Weekly when everything was pretty good, or at least not so bad, October 25, 2017
          • Unreported news story: 'Algorithmic takeover' of journalism, September 27, 2017
          • The door slams shut on the open internet, September 22, 2017
          • In business and government, the bullies are calling the shots, September 6, 2017
          • There's no stopping tech giants' surveillance for profit, August 30, 2017
          • That was the week that was, 2017 revival, August 16, 2017
          • Internet Media 101: The bigger the lie, the greater the profit, August 3, 2017
          • Cyber-crimestoppers: How individuals and companies help nab internet crooks, July 26, 2017
          • A free press: The antidote to authoritarianism, July 19, 2017
          • We're in the midst of the third American Civil War, and democracy is losing, July 5, 2017
          • Pleas for civility meet with... incivility, but that's okay, June 21, 2017
          • The price we pay for unbridled digital surveillance, June 14, 2017
          • Privacy protections may form the basis of antitrust actions against internet giants, June 7, 2017
          • Applying Fourth Amendment search protections to data in the cloud, May 24, 2017
          • Just when you thought you couldn't be tracked any closer..., May 17, 2017
          • Facebook addiction turns users into marketing guinea pigs, May 10, 2017
          • America: A tale of two countries, May 3, 2017
          • The internet: Destroyer of truth, justice, and the American Way, April 26, 2017
          • The death and ultimate rebirth of the public internet, April 19, 2017
          • An internet dinosaur spits in extinction's eye, April 12, 2017
          • Trust Busters 2.0: Dismantling modern monopolies, April 5, 2017
          • Gig economy changes what it means to be an 'employee,' March 8, 2017
          • Privacy: There's just no percentage in it, March 1, 2017
          • The Rough Beast's lies indicate his intentions - Just like the Nazis, December 6, 2016
          • Government phone searches: Return of the 'general warrant', November 29, 2016
          • You can't hide from facial-recognition systems - Or can you? November 16, 2016
          • No consent needed for ISPs to scan email and create ad-targeting profiles of non-customers, August 30, 2016
          • Supreme Court throws 'fruit of the poisonous tree' doctrine under the bus, August 16, 2016
          • Silly questions: Who 'owns' video captured by police? And is Facebook really 'privacy-enhancing'? August 2, 2016
          • It's official: No expectation of privacy on the internet, June 28, 2016
          • How to wrest control of our government away from corporations, June 21, 2016
          • The fight against privacy smashers continues, June 14, 2016
          • Publishers are losing the battle against their ad-blocking visitors - so what's next? May 31, 2016
          • Tech companies resist government attempts to broaden definition of 'personal information', May 25, 2016
          • Privacy threats on parade, May 17, 2016
          • Government goes dark as private lives are exposed, May 10, 2016
          • The great online-advertising swindle, May 3, 2016
          • Modern news media: Too big not to fail? April 26, 2016
          • Internet Confidential: How to establish a privacy right on the public Internet, April 20, 2016
          • The new browser wars: Thou shalt not block our ads and trackers, April 13, 2016
          • FCC to regulate ISP data collection, but Google, Facebook off the hook, April 6, 2016
          • How we lose ourselves in private data collection, March 15, 2016
          • People tracking is about to get even creepier, March 8, 2016
          • Silicon Valley's long-standing connections to the U.S. government, March 2, 2016
          • How to build the future of work, February 24, 2016
          • Why it's a bad idea to trust private companies with the job of protecting our rights, February 16, 2016
          • Your Internet life is an open book: The dark side of online-ad profiling, February 9, 2016
          • Why don't Americans care as much about their privacy as Europeans do? February 2, 2016
          • 'Hey, gang, let's put on a government!', January 5, 2016
          • The appropriate response to living in a surveillance state: Ignore it, December 22, 2015 >
            • Legal shorts for December 22, 2015
          • Re-reinterpreting our constitutional right to bear arms, December 10, 2015
          • How open data can help save the world, December 2, 2015
          • Fair use stages a comeback: New protections against copyright abuse, November 10, 2015 >
            • Welcome to the Age of 'Existential Despair', November 10, 2015
          • Do we have a right to know what they know about us?, October 20, 2015
          • Legal shorts, September 29, 2015
          • Campaign 2016: Where's the love? September 15, 2015 >
            • Legal shorts, September 15, 2015
          • Reclaiming our government starts with universal Internet access, August 25, 2015
          • Upon further review, times three, August 4, 2015 >
            • Shorts for August 4, 2015
          • The connection between poverty, hunger, and obesity, July 14, 2015 >
            • Shorts for July 14, 2015
          • A long-overdue turning of the political tide, July 7, 2015
          • Obamacare: A misstep in the right direction, July 7, 2015
          • Obamacare decision imposes limits on executive power, June 30, 2015
          • It's time to get serious about prosecuting Internet threats, June 23, 2015
          • Worst. Supreme. Court. Ever. June 16, 2015
          • Five indications that we are currently between regimes, June 9, 2015
          • Legal shorts, June 2, 2015
          • Legal shorts, May 12, 2015
          • Legal shorts, May 5, 2015
          • Legal shorts, April 28, 2015
          • More examples of judges clueless about technology... and one that gets it, April 21, 2015
          • Legal shorts: April 7, 2015
          • Legal shorts, March 31, 2015
          • Legal shorts: March 24, 2015
          • Privacy, Inc.: Welcome to the personal-information marketplace, March 3, 2015
          • Legal shorts: February 24, 2015
          • What would George Washington think of his country now? February 16, 2015 >
            • Lobbyists thrive by building relationships with lawmakers, February 17, 2015
            • On the fast track to American fascism, February 17, 2015
            • The one Senator who's speaking truth to power, February 17, 2015
            • Fight terrorism by fighting its source: Corruption, February 17, 2015
            • Anonymous users: Your ISP may ID you on demand -- and not even tell you, February 17, 2015
          • Legal shorts: February 10, 2015
          • What's the best way to fix the broken U.S. political system? February 3, 2015
          • The battle against data thieves heats up, January 20, 2015
          • 'The Interview' and 'I Can't Breathe': Connecting the dots, December 29, 2014
          • Cyberwar? Fuhgeddabouddit! There are plenty more serious threats to fret over, December 16, 2014
          • Trading privacy for the public good, November 18, 2014
          • Deregulating the legal profession: Only a matter of time, October 6, 2014
          • Internet companies' transparency reports indicate trademark abuse is on the rise, September 25, 2014
          • Google patent infringement: The proof's in the Post-its?, August 25, 2014
          • Most data breaches are the result of weak or stolen credentials, August 18, 2014
          • The best government money -- lots and lots of money -- can buy, August 11, 2014
          • Have 'money addicts' taken over our political system?, August 11, 2014 >
            • Part 2: Money and political power, August 11, 2014
            • Part 3: A contrived distinction between 'venal' and 'systematic' corruption, August 11, 2014
            • Part 4: Fear of political corruption trumps government economic regulation, August 11, 2014
            • Part 5: Investment-oriented political contributions boost the bottom line, August 11, 2014
            • Part 6: Case study: Corporate political corruption, 19th-century style, August 11, 2014
          • Corporate ownership of the U.S. political process, August 11, 2014 >
            • Part 2: Party perpetuation trumps service to the constituency, August 11, 2014
            • Part 3: Party loyalty trumps independent thought, August 11, 2014
            • Part 4: The roots of corporate 'personhood,' August 11, 2014
            • Part 5: Is political corruption actually on the rise? Who knows?, August 11, 2014
          • It all depends on who's doing the surveilling -- and why, July 28, 2014
          • Be careful what you comment -- it might get you sued, July 19, 2014
          • Supreme Court: You can patent software, but only if it's 'transformative,' June 21, 2014
          • Privacy Manifesto
        • Privacy Tips >
          • Privacy infographic-palooza, January 24, 2018 >
            • Data Collection on Consumers infographic
            • How Companies Identify People
            • PayPal Data Sharing
            • Data Collection Guidelines for Businesses
            • What Does It Mean to Be a Success?
          • Could artificial intelligence give the tech industry a heart and save us from capitalism run amok? December 21, 2017
          • Your email use is being tracked, and not just by marketers and spammers, December 13, 2017
          • Your location location location means money money money for trackers, November 16, 2017
          • Addiction by design: Don't let tech products run your life, October 19, 2017
          • Essential internet privacy tips, 2017 edition
          • The best response to the Equifax breach: Don't deal with Equifax, September 13, 2017
          • How to deter 'fingerprint' trackers from identifying your computers and devices, August 23, 2017
          • Find the internet security level that's right for your needs, August 9, 2017
          • A novel concept: Let consumers decide which personal data to share with trackers, July 12, 2017
          • Keep online trackers at bay without breaking a sweat, June 28, 2017
          • Privacy tips for the most vulnerable: Children and seniors, May 31, 2017
          • Simple, free ways to lock down your private data, March 29, 2017
          • Let big data benefit consumers, not marketers, March 22, 2017t
          • Practical security preparations for the worst-case scenario, December 13, 2016
          • Before the deluge: Spend your attention wisely, November 23, 2016
          • The 'consumer boycott' of web advertising is gaining momentum, November 8, 2016
          • Encryption: It's not just for banking anymore, November 1, 2016
          • A call to action: Stop the surveillance - by web services, apps, October 25, 2016
          • Web ad networks are malware authors' best friends, October 18, 2016
          • Privacy is becoming fashionable - Yippee! October 11, 2016
          • How do we bridge the growing media and political divides? October 4, 2016 >
            • Pew Center Research chart: Political bias of news organizations
          • Safety essentials: 10-step security revisited, 11 years later
          • Simple ways to limit the private information you surrender on the web, September 20, 2016
          • Top 10 reasons why people hate listicles - and yes, this is a joke headline, September 13, 2016
          • Why internet voting is a terrible idea, September 6, 2016
          • The web is broken - Guess who's trying to fix it? August 23, 2016
          • Dragging the online trackers - kicking and screaming - into the light of day, August 9, 2016
          • Five questions, no answers, March 29, 2016
          • How to fix the Internet: Ratchet down the anonymity, lose the ads, March 23, 2016
          • 2016: The first social-media election, March 2, 2016
          • The end is near for passwords (not really), February 24, 2016
          • New fronts open in the battle against privacy-invading online ads, January 26, 2016
          • Fifteen ways to stay safe on the Internet, January 19, 2016
          • Prepare for the inevitable theft of your personal information, January 13, 2016
          • Separating the bitcoin hype from the blockchain substance, December 17, 2015 >
            • Shorts for December 17, 2015: Trump's legal ineptitude, and eight ways the world is getting better
          • Consumers may be ready to pay for an ad-free, tracking-free Internet, November 18, 2015
          • Get ready for the Attention Economy, November 4, 2015
          • Tech shorts, October 27, 2015
          • How to find a reliable network speed test, May 2, 2014
          • Facial recognition ushers in the Age of Surveillance, October 13, 2015 >
            • Tech Short for October 13, 2015: ID by face + social profile
          • Fantasy sports gambling finally gets scrutinized, October 6, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, October 6, 2015
          • Google, Android, ads, and a tech titan's revenge, September 29, 2015
          • How to fix problems caused by Apple's flaky iTunes updates, September 23, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, September 22, 2015
          • Tech shorts, September 15, 2015
          • Three simple ways to improve your privacy, September 8, 2015
          • Use your free Google Voice number to make and receive phone calls, September 1, 2015
          • Coming soon: A more trustworthy form of encryption, July 28, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, July 28, 2015
          • Protect yourself while browsing by enabling click to play, July 21, 2015 >
            • Tech short, July 21, 2015: Computers now tie emotions to facial expressions
          • Everyday Windows 10 users become beta testers for the Enterprise Edition, June 30, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, June 30, 2015
          • Tech shorts, June 16, 2015
          • The five-minute Facebook security checkup, June 2, 2015
          • When ads attack: Web ad networks battle the blockers, May 26, 2015
          • Flying the furious skies: How to stay sane on a commercial flight, May 19, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, May 19, 2015
          • Online shopping tips: Put differential pricing to work for you, May 12, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, May 12, 2015
          • We're sitting on a big-data gold mine, May 5, 2015
          • The case against web encryption, Title II designation for ISPs, April 28, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts, April 28, 2015
          • Tech shorts, April 21, 2015
          • Should all web traffic be encrypted? April 14, 2015 >
            • Anonymous Internet Map, April 14, 2015
          • More reasons why you need to block web ads, April 7, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts: April 7, 2015
          • Web 3.0 returns control of personal information to users, March 31, 2015
          • Passwords are about to get some much-needed assistance -- from your body, March 24, 2015
          • An unexpected visit from the Karma Police, March 17, 2015
          • Three views of the future that are certain to curl your hair, March 10, 2015
          • The tricks of the malware trade: Don't take the bait! February 24, 2015
          • How to ruin your life in 140 characters or fewer, February 17, 2015
          • Browse better with these three essential freebies (plus one valuable cheapie), February 10, 2015 >
            • Tech shorts: February 10, 2015
          • Why you should care about your loss of privacy, January 27, 2015
          • How to combat hate and harassment on the Internet, January 13, 2015
          • Beat ransomware by saving your files to the cloud, January 6, 2015
          • Five fantastic Web freebies, December 9, 2014
          • How Google, Facebook, and Twitter make billions by offering 'free' services, December 2, 2014
          • Telephone tech-support scams are on the rise, November 24, 2014
          • Tor breach shows there's no such thing as Internet anonymity, November 11, 2014 >
            • Hackers owned Home Depot's networks for five months, November 11, 2014
            • Another call for a nationwide breach-notification law, November 11, 2014
          • Comcast battles Netflix, and everybody loses, November 4, 2014
          • Sexting has become part of growing up (gulp!), October 28, 2014
          • Quick, simple fixes for everyday tech glitches, October 21, 2014
          • Battle of the behemoths: Facebook ad network takes on Google, October 14, 2014
          • Instant access to all your recent files, October 6, 2014
          • iPhone's new Medical ID feature could save your life, September 29, 2014
          • Now you can really lock your phone, September 22, 2014
          • Facebook auto-play videos eat up mobile data allotments, September 15, 2014
          • Three free browser add-ons protect against cyber-crime, September 9, 2014
          • Control which iPhone apps are allowed to stay 'active' when they're off, August 25, 2014
          • The best browser you're probably not using, August 4, 2014
          • Never pay for software again (almost), July 14, 2014 >
            • Best free alternatives to top-selling software, July 11, 2011
          • The pros and cons of cloud computing, July 14, 2014 >
            • Three approaches to free encrypted online storage, June 23, 2009
            • Future-proof your data archive, December 30, 2010
            • Ten simple, common-sense security tips, October 9, 2012
          • Browser security settings you gotta change, June 24, 2014 >
            • Beef up Chrome's security, June 24, 2014
            • Batten down the hatches in Firefox, June 24, 2014
            • Enable Internet Explorer's privacy and security features, June 24, 2014
          • Online advertising dangers, June 10, 2014 >
            • U.S. Senate: Self-regulation of online ad networks isn't working, June 10, 2014
            • Free browser extensions give ads the boot, June 10, 2014
            • Claim a property interest in your personal information, June 10, 2014
            • A micropayment alternative to privacy-sucking ads, June 10, 2014
          • Great people make great sites, May 30, 2014
          • Three free privacy add-ons for Firefox and Chrome, May 20, 2014 >
            • Three essential security add-ons for Firefox, Chrome, and IE, May 7, 2013 >
              • How to improve security in Firefox, Chrome, and IE, May 6, 2013
            • Disable third-party cookies in IE, Firefox, and Google Chrome, March 14, 2011 >
              • Add 'do not track' to Firefox, IE, Google Chrome, December 7, 2010
              • Five great Firefox privacy add-ons, July 14, 2010
          • Remove metadata from Office files, PDFs, and images, May 16, 2014
          • Make folders private in Windows 8.1, May 9, 2014 >
            • Enable Vista's hidden administrator, and password-protect its XP equivalent, February 13, 2008
            • How to secure your PC in 10 easy steps, November 15, 2011 >
              • Three approaches to free encrypted online storage, June 23, 2009
              • Amazon Cloud Drive and Box.net go toe-to-toe, April 5, 2011
              • Free VPN service helps keep public Wi-Fi safe, February 14, 2011
              • How to prevent identity theft, September 13, 2011
            • Free utility finds unwanted programs uninstallers miss, February 24, 2014
          • Malware authors target Android phones, May 13, 2014
          • Secure your Facebook account in six easy steps, September 23, 2013
          • How to find the positive in negative comments, April 30, 2014
          • The 'I hate passwords' guide, April 29, 2014
          • Protect your device from malicious ads, April 10, 2014
          • Five ways to save a Web page, September 26, 2011
          • Five essential Windows 8.1 time-saving tweaks, February 3, 2014
          • Best free sites for learning how to write code, December 12, 2013
        • Software Intellectual Property Protections, August 16, 2014 >
          • Introduction: It's a Software World
          • 1. Trademark >
            • a. Registration
            • b. Trademark requirements
            • c. Lanham Act: 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051-1053 and 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) (a.k.a. § 43(a)) >
              • 1. Distinguish from patent protection
              • 2. Distinguish from copyright protection
              • 3. Trademark-infringement elements >
                • A. Confusion
                • B. Designation of origin
                • C. Famous and distinctive
            • d. Infringement criteria
          • 2. Trade Secrets >
            • a. Uniform Trade Secrets Act
            • b. Software protected by trade secrets
            • c. Limitations on trade-secret protections >
              • 1. Secret and valuable
              • 2. Described with particularity
              • 3. Software trade secrets and patents: Conflicting or complementary?
          • 3. Copyright >
            • a. History of software copyright statute
            • b. Assembling the pieces of the software-copyright jigsaw puzzle >
              • 1. Two types of source code: Declaring and implementing
              • 2. Originality requirement
              • 3. Merger doctrine
              • 4. Abstraction-filtration-comparison test
              • 5. Short phrases
              • 6. Scenes a faire doctrine
              • 7. Structure, sequence, and organization of the Java APIs
              • 8. Interoperability as it relates to copyrightability
              • 9. Fair use
              • 10. Copyright protections vs. patent protections for software
          • 4. Patent >
            • a. U.S. Constitution Article 1 § 8 >
              • 1. In terms of patent law, software is special
              • 2. Software innovations are clearly patentable
            • b. 35 U.S. Code § 101 >
              • 1. Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International: Procedural history
              • 2. Test for patentability of abstract ideas: Implicit exception to exclusion
            • c. 35 U.S. Code § 102 - Conditions for patentability; novelty, prior art >
              • 1. Section 102(a)'s "known or used" determination (prior art)
              • 2. Section 102(b)'s "on sale" and "disclosure" determinations
              • 3. Section 102(g)'s "abandoned, suppressed, or concealed" determination
            • d. 35 U.S. Code § 103 Conditions for patentability: non-obvious subject matter
            • e. 35 U.S. Code § 112: Specification >
              • 1. Claim construction
              • 2. Doctrine of equivalents and rule of prosecution history estoppel
          • Conclusion
          • Table of Cases
        • Reclaim your personal information
  • Cloud Computing
    • Five tips for protecting cloud data from internal threats
    • What does the future hold for DBAs?
    • Busted: 10 Big Data Myths Exploded
    • Is the cloud ready for speech APIs?
    • From machine learning to super clouds: Competing visions of cloud 2.0
    • Two great reasons for making your cloud data location aware
    • The most common cloud migration mistakes
    • How to prepare for the next cloud outage
    • The new shadow IT: Custom applications in the cloud
    • Drawbacks of running containers on bare-metal servers
    • How to reduce latency in public clouds
    • Mastering the art of container management
    • Hybrid Clouds: Here to stay, or stop-gaps to enterprise cloud?
    • How zero-trust security makes VMs more efficient
    • Ultimate virtualization: The end of infrastructure
    • 21 best orchestration tools for MSPs
    • Cloud governance: The key to effectively scaling your cloud
    • Update or rewrite? A cloud-application perspective
    • New views into cloud application performance
    • Multicloud vs. hybrid cloud
  • The Stories So Far....
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