Privacy Matters

Global Encryption Day

2022-10-23T22:08:52.813Z

October 21, 2022, is the Global Encryption Day organized by the Global Encryption Coalition.

Here the official announcement of this coalition on its website.

Make the change on Global Encryption Day

Increasing the use of end-to-end encrypted platforms not only keeps you and your loved ones safe from hackers and thieves, but also improves the security of the Internet as a whole. That's why on this Global Encryption Day, all individuals, businesses and organizations should move to using strong encryption.

Global Encryption Day is an opportunity to tell governments around the world that protecting and strengthening encryption is crucial to making the Internet safer for their citizens. It will send a message to governments to abandon plans that will weaken encryption, and the Internet as a whole, by granting law enforcement special powers to access your private data on encrypted platforms.

On Global Encryption Day, the Global Encryption Coalition wants people around the world to make the switch to end-to-end encrypted platforms. This will help create a safer Internet for everyone.

Secure end-to-end encryption makes life safer for everyone. It protects you and your family's security. End-to-end encryption enables law enforcement to tackle organized crime, helps journalists expose corruption and is critical for national security to protect society from terrorists, criminals and hostile governments.

Switch to end-to-end encryption on Global Encryption Day and build a safer Internet.

The first Global Encryption Day will be celebrated on October 21, 2021.

GLOBAL ENCRYPTION COALITION

Encryption protects the personal security of billions of people and the national security of countries around the world.

However, some governments and organizations are pushing to weaken encryption, which would create a dangerous precedent that compromises the security of billions of people around the world.

The Global Encryption Coalition (GEC) was founded in 2020 by the Center for Democracy and Technology, Global Partners Digital and the Internet Society, and now has more than 200 members.

Its mission is to promote and defend encryption in key countries and multilateral forums where it is under threat. The GEC also supports companies' efforts to offer encrypted services to their users.

Encryption protects us, so we need to protect it.

Encrypted mails are the new trend in the age of data mining and surveillance

2022-09-03T15:42:56.442Z

Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and other free email services are still the ones that most people use in the world to send messages, files and store sensitive information in their email.

Have you ever wondered why it is so easy and free to use these services without paying for them?

Because two of the most important technological giants such as Google and Microsoft offer a good storage capacity to collect your data and create with them a more accurate profile (fingerprint) of you, along with other data that you leave on the Internet when using your browser, social networks, shopping websites and more that are not "friendly" with privacy.

This information helps them to get to know you better and to send you personalized ads that target you on the Internet. But also to sell them to third parties in the gigantic market of the sale of data.

Sooner or later this data accumulated day by day, year by year throughout your digital life, becomes a significant source of information used by companies, governments and security agencies which can be used against you.

With this information they can know your preferences as consumer, ideological, religious, sexual, political and much more.

A first step to limit the amount of data these companies collect from you is to use encrypted mail services such as Proton Mail and Tutanota. All of them are based in Europe in privacy-friendly countries with laws that defend this fundamental human right.

Some features of these mail services that benefit you:

They offer free basic free encrypted mail plans.
Offer free encrypted calendars
Password and 2FA access
Zero-knowledge access: the companies behind these services cannot access your messages.
Have web and mobile app versions
Are open source and reviewed by third parties
Their companies are activists who fight for digital privacy
And much more...

Their paid plans offer more features for those who want to take advantage of the full potential of these services and support privacy paid for by users and not by third parties with hidden interests. This helps those who cannot afford to pay for encrypted mail services in oppressive countries to access them for free.

And you, do you already use an encrypted email service?

Proton Mail: https://proton.me/
Tutanota: https://tutanota.com/

Privacy Tip #2: 2FA more security for your social networks

2022-02-22T15:36:39.687Z

Nowadays many people are active users of social networks; surely you are one of them.

We are used to share a lot of personal or professional information in order to connect with other people in our social circle: friends, family, co-workers or followers. It all depends on what profile your account has on a social network such as Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

But did you know that if your password is not strong enough and if you don't configure the security and privacy settings on your social network accounts correctly, a cracker can take control of these accounts?

If this happens, the damage to you and your followers can be irreparable.

Don't worry, to avoid this today I will explain what you can do to increase the security of your accounts easily and quickly with the second factor authentication (2FA) to prevent this from happening.

What is 2FA?

Second factor authentication, or 2FA, is a second layer of security that many services and social networks have enabled to provide you with an additional level of security so that others cannot access your accounts without your permission.

Three steps to follow to activate 2FA:

You must go to your social network account settings and look for the security and privacy section. There you will see the option to activate a second layer of security called 2FA, so you must follow the instructions that the social network offers you to properly activate this second layer of security.
The next step is to install an application on your phone such as Google Authenticator or Authy from an official store (Google Play Store/App Store). This app, once properly configured, offers you a series of random numbers that change every 60 seconds and that only you can see as long as a third party does not access your phone.
Finally, from the installed app you must scan the QR code or manually enter the alphanumeric code offered by the social network where you want to activate the 2FA.

That's it! You now have 2FA activated for an extra layer of security.

Just remember the following: keep the recovery codes provided by the social network in a safe place once the 2FA activation process is complete in case you lose your phone. Otherwise, you will not be able to access your social network account.

And finally, every time you log in to your social network account from a computer (or activate the account for the first time on your phone) you must enter the username, password and 2FA.

Imagine for a moment losing control of your social networks and someone decides to impersonate you. All your contacts will be within the reach of this criminal, so imagine the damage he can do to your reputation or to those who follow you (Internet scams are common nowadays). In addition, the content you have created over the years will no longer belong to you.

To prevent the above from happening I recommend you to follow my recommendation to activate once and for all the 2FA on ALL your social media accounts.

Remember: privacy matters.

Privacy Tip #1: The password is the access to your kingdom

2022-02-11T18:44:33.664Z

A password is a key that allows you to access anywhere in your digital ecosystem. That is why it is very important to know how to create, store and take care of your passwords.

This becomes even more relevant in the face of possible attacks from crackers (cybercriminals) or anyone who wants to take control of your accounts and access your personal information.

Therefore, I will give you only four powerful suggestions that will help you to be more secure on the Internet:

Create strong passwords between 15 and 30 alphanumeric digits that combine different types of letters, uppercase, lowercase, numbers and special signs. You can also generate passphrases of six or more random words, using capital letters, numbers and hyphens or spaces. Don't worry, a good password manager such as Bitwarden can help you create, store and retrieve them when you need them.
Do not use personal information that can identify you or can be found in your social networks, forums, blogs and other platforms where you have an account.
Do not reuse passwords. Use a unique password for each website.
Use two-factor authentication (2FA) in combination with your password on all platforms where this is possible. A second layer of security will prevent unauthorized third parties from accessing your accounts and personal information. This will reduce the chances of hacking and headaches. 2FA applications that I recommend are Authy and Google Authenticator.

With these simple tips you can be safer on the Internet or at least take your first steps to improve your privacy and digital security.

Remember: privacy matters.

Vivaldi recommends using Startpage instead of Google, do you consider this correct?

2022-02-04T18:12:27.383Z

Vivaldi invites its users to use Startpage as an alternative to Google

Surely you have had to surf the Internet to search for information, make purchases, pay bills, work, study, interact with others on social networks, and even to enjoy a pleasant time watching your favorite series or movie.

There are many alternatives of browsers and search engines to do this, but surely you are one of those who use Google as your default option. The universe of this technological giant offers many free services to make your life easier.

But have you ever wondered how a free service worth millions of dollars is supported?

The answer is very simple: by collecting a large amount of personal data about your identity, browsing habits, consumption, social relationships, among others, in order to build a profile (footprint) about you. This information is used to deliver targeted ads to you and encourage online surveillance by various actors. Imagine having 1,001 eyes looking over your shoulder as you browse the internet doing what you need or like to do.

This is a multi-billion dollar industry, as well as multiple political and social benefits tied to new forms of manipulation. What you consume is influenced, but so are the choices you make.

What is the result?

You completely lose your privacy and as a consequence your FREEDOM in the broad sense of the word.

As I always say: a society without privacy is doomed to lose its freedom. And from this, the fundamental human rights necessary to build a democracy.

In the last two years, privacy-oriented conversations, content, products and services have been amplified. They even say that 2022 is the year of privacy.

In the latter case, Vivaldi has decided to go further and further and offer its users the opportunity to try alternative search services such as Startpage, which uses Google's search engine, but without collecting your personal data. This negates the possibility of creating a unique digital footprint about you.

Some people see this as negative and invasive behavior. They see Vivaldi as trying to influence the users' decision instead of respecting their own choice.

In my opinion, I believe that if a browser promotes privacy as one of its main values in the services it offers, the right thing to do is to deliver what it promises. This is only possible by educating and helping to adopt privacy as a healthy life habit.

And since privacy is a collective issue, Vivaldi is taking many steps together with its users to help foster a culture and awareness towards the value of this essential human right in our digital life.

And you, what do you think?

Data Privacy Week

2022-02-04T17:39:11.848Z

January 24–28 is Data Privacy Week, culminating in the annual Data Privacy Day. The aim of this initiative is to raise the public’s awareness for online privacy and to encourage Internet users to exercise their right to privacy.

A little history

The Data Privacy Day is an international awareness day that was initiated by the Council of Europe (not to be confused with the European Council) back in 2008 and is held annually on January 28.

This date was chosen because on January 28, 1981, the Council of Europe proposed its “Convention 108,” which is the first internationally binding agreement to protect personal data and could be considered to be a precursor to, or inspiration for, the GDPR.

Since 2008, various organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, educational institutions, and companies use this opportunity to make a case for privacy and point out the inherent dangers of systematic data collection by tech corporations and government agencies.

For one thing, privacy is a basic human right that’s valuable and worthy of protection in and of itself. For another, it is an important corner stone of democratic societies. And last but not least, there’s simply no way of knowing what kind of inferences can be drawn about individuals in the future by means of the tremendous amount of collected user data in conjunction with new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Source: https://threema.ch/en/profile-picture-generator

What is privacy?

2022-02-04T17:15:37.480Z

Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know... Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world. - Eric Hughes

Privacy is about keeping some things to yourself, which may include your actions. For example, messaging friends privately so they know who sent the message, but only they can read it.

In the case of cryptocurrencies, a private transaction is one where third parties do not know the amount of money, as well as the reason for which it is paid.

Anonymity, on the other hand, is about keeping your identity private, but not your actions. For example, use a pseudonym to post messages on a social media platform.

Returning to the example of cryptocurrency transactions, an anonymous transaction is one in which neither the sender nor the receiver is known to third parties.

A society without privacy is doomed to lose its freedom.