On the day after Data Protection Day (or Privacy Day, depending on whether you are tomato or tomato) we take a look at privacy enhancing technologies - how to control, restrict and eliminate your personal data footprint (if that’s what you want to do). This podcast will be invaluable for privacy professionals that want to know what PETs are available and for consumers that would like to have greater control of their digital profiles.

GDPR Now! Is brought to you by This Is DPO.

www.thisisdpo.co.uk.

Guest/s

Abigail Dubiniecki

Data Protection Specialist

My Inhouse Lawyer

https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigaild/

Host

Mark Sherwood-Edwards

info@thisisdpo.co.uk

Materials

Competition and Markets Authority (UK competition regulator) report on digital advertising

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-lifts-the-lid-on-digital-giants

Links to PETs

(Privacy Enhancing Tech) and resources mentioned in the podcast (and more!)

Disclaimer – not endorsing any PET in particular, just sharing info.

Want a pretty version or more explanation? Check out my LinkedIn profile for a Slideshare of a presentation and handy Infographic – available next week. Let’s help build this list.

Which PETs are you using or curious to try? If they’re not here, let Abigail know via contact details in the show notes so I can update my list.

Inform yourself, update software, adjust privacy settings, use 2FA!

Privacy Analyzer

(https://privacy.net/analyzer): Analyses your browser to reveal what can be learned about you and recommend actions you can take

DuckDuckGo Device Privacy Tips

https://spreadprivacy.com/tag/device-privacy-tips/

‘Learn’ tab in the DisconnectMe Privacy Pro VPN (iOS only) – ‘learn’ materials available without paying. Just download the app and click!: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/disconnect-privacy-pro-entire/id1057771839?ls=1

Consumer Reports articles & videos with quick-fixes in bite-sized pieces: https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/linkedin-privacy-settings/

www.consumerreports.org/video/view/electronics/news/6050416388001/protecting-your-online-privacy/

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read (TOSDR https://tosdr.org/): one-stop shop for digested Ts & Cs of most popular online providers, including score cards. Brilliant browser add-on offers automatic assessment of pages you access. Addresses privacy notices & terms e.g. cancellation, etc.

Ghostery

(www.ghostery.com) lets you block ads and trackers, watch the watchers, and speed up your browser with a suite of products, some of which are free, others reasonably privacy. A new product – Ghostery Midnight (www.ghostery.com/midnight) – claims to protect your entire device while giving granular preference management at the app-by app level. Sounds like having your own personal privacy watchdog on your device. Extension is free!! But some of the other products are paid.

Baycloud (https://baycloud.com) was one of the early champions of privtech, starting in the DNT space. They offer B2C and B2B resources. Baycloud Bouncer let reveals who’s tracking you and gives you a handy dashboard to adjust your preferences (https://baycloud.com/bouncer). You can also pre-scan websites you’d like to visit from the comfort of Baycloud’s site. Try before you buy (so to speak, with your data I mean). Free!!

Have I been pwned?(https://haveibeenpwned.com) will help you check whether your account or credentials has been compromised based on research into the (sigh) multitudinous data breaches. Free!!

DuckDuckGo privacy report card for websites (https://duckduckgo.com/app): instantly evaluates and remediates websites you visit to give you a before and after score. Browser add-on for various browser types on desktop but only available for iOS on mobile. Free!!

Deseat.Me (www.deseat.me) : Helps you clean up your online presence by instantly getting a list of all your accounts, allowing you to sort through and delete them / unsubscribe.

Personal Data.io: A self-named “integrated toolbox addressing surveillance capitalism”. This advocacy group goes beyond providing tools for e.g. filing DSARs, there is a forum (https://forum.personaldata.io) and a number of chat groups for trouble-shooting, contributing, advocacy and knowledge-exchange) You can share your experience or tap into people’s expertise, commiserate or find journalists to raise awareness about your experience or discoveries. This is the group that helped journalist Judith Duportail, who was researching dating apps, learn that Tinder had over 800 (disturbing) pages of data on her. Worth a read here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/26/tinder-personal-data-dating-app-messages-hacked-sold

My Permissions(https://mypermissions.com): app that does a privacy scan (Privacy Cleaner) of your social media / collaboration apps to help you identify who can access your data. It identifies your current permissions and let’s you quickly and efficiently manage them all from one place. A small fee required to manage permissions, but there is a free tier.

Princeton IoT Inspector (https://iot-inspector.princeton.edu/) let’s you watch your smart devices back. Automatically discovers IoT devices and analyzes their network traffic to identify security and privacy issues. Currently only available on MacOS High Sierra or Mojave (waitlist for Windows, Linus and MacOS Catalina).

PiHole for Raspberry Pi (https://pi-hole.net): Protect your entire network from ads and targeting. Block in-app and SmartTV ads. Free!! but powered by donations. You need a supported OS and hardware (Raspberry Pi).

Strong Passwords: NCSC ‘3 random words’ guidance:

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online/use-a-strong-and-separate-password-for-email.