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You've heard a lot about online privacy.

Let's talk about the things that really matter

Is it possible to disconnect, what details should not be given, why a smart home can be dangerous for you and why it is not worth photographing your baby sitting in a night pot?

On the occasion of International Privacy Day, Yotam Gutman reviews the points that are less talked about in this aspect

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• privacy

Yotam Gutman

Thursday, 28 January 2021, 08:57

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International Privacy Day is celebrated on January 28, with the aim of raising awareness of the importance of privacy in our digital world.

When the debate over the privacy of users of WhatsApp and Facebook is conducted on every possible platform, it seems that there is no real need to say too much about privacy on the web, but this is actually a great opportunity to discuss aspects that are less known to the general public.

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Most people living in 2021 (probably in the State of Israel) have one or another interaction on the Internet, and for this purpose use social networks, mobile devices, various software (such as Gmail).

We understand and accept that for the use of these services and technologies we waive our private information.

The social network knows our preferences and knows who our friends are, Google scans the content of our emails to offer us customized search results and mobile apps collect a lot of information about us to improve interaction (and increase consumption).

Most people take the collection, storage, cataloging and analysis of this data calmly, perhaps because they "chose" it.

However, as soon as we realize that a factor is collecting information about us without our prior consent, a great outcry arises.

You can relax.

Google, Amazon and Facebook, as well as Apple and Samsung, will continue to gather as much information as possible about all of their users.

This is their business model and this is what allows them to offer their services at the price they offer (which is usually - zero).

It is not really possible to break away from these companies and one has to accept their proportionate invasion of our privacy.

This is not to say that they are allowed to do whatever they want, so there is a need for greater involvement of regulators who will enact and enforce privacy protection laws.

You got married on social media to a Catholic wedding, but that does not mean they are allowed everything (Photo: ShutterStock, shutterstock)

Applying basic logic

The fact that we are consumers (and to a large extent, the product as well) of digital services and products, and for that purpose we give up some of our privacy, does not mean that our privacy should be underestimated at all.

So it's true that Facebook knows a lot about us, but there's no reason we should reveal to it, or to anyone who is a member of it, more than we need to.

It should be borne in mind that any post, tweet, photo or clip will be exposed to millions of foreign eyes (even if we enable the most stringent privacy settings, it is enough for someone to take a screenshot and share with his followers).

So the simple rule is - what you do not want people to know, do not go online.

This includes personal information, intimate photographs, documents, and any other item of information that should not be visible to other people.

Visual information

For most of the Internet's life, the sensitive information about people was structured information - address, name, phone number, bank account and credit card.

With the rise of social networks, a new type of information has been added: textual information that the person produces himself (talkbacks, posts, blogs).

In recent years, with the rise in popularity of smartphones, the most significant information produced today is visual information - photos and videos.

This is a completely different type of written or structured information, it is accessible and easy to copy and transfer easily (screenshot we have already said).

Worse - it identifies the person unequivocally (you can not hide behind a fake user if you see in the picture your real face).

Visual information can be easily manipulated and completely changed with "Deep Pike" technology.

Here, too, the rule is not to share what we do not want our aunt to see.

Did you take a picture?

Did you send / upload?

Keep in mind that "it's out there" and that this information cannot be erased from the collective memory of the Internet.

Children

The rule mentioned above is known and understood by adults, but for children it is not trivial at all.

The generation that grew up with mobile devices feels completely comfortable photographing themselves and sending to friends or going online, often without understanding the deep meanings of these acts.

Again - you have to take into account that everything is visible and everything will live in the memory of the network forever.

In the case of toddlers it is more severe because we do not ask them at all.

Consider that when your kids grow up someone will suddenly pull out an embarrassing picture of them from Purim in compulsory kindergarten, or worse, naked in the bath (not to mention what pedophiles will do with such pictures).

It is advisable to talk to young children and explain the subject to them, and even prevent them from messing with such platforms until at least adolescence (I personally do not upload frontal photo platforms of my daughters, less until they reach adolescence and can deal with the consequences of body shaming).

It's fun and nice now, but any picture can take revenge on your child in the future (Photo: ShutterStock)

Smart homes and wearable computing

The world of consumer computing is evolving so fast.

When computers infiltrated our lives, privacy was not personal because the home computer was not connected to anything.

We then connected to the internet and learned not to tell strangers about our password.

With the smartphone we also learned about the dangers of the camera and microphone, but the technology does not stop.

Smart homes document our actions, photograph and record us and also know what we have in the fridge.

Because there is no need to take an active action of “logging in” or running an app our sensitivity to risk decreases and we forget that the smart device is there, always, and listening to us.

Here too the rule is - if not mandatory, do not install cameras and smart microphones where they can record things we do not want others to see or hear (yes, these devices are supposed to be secure but there have been many instances where they have been hacked and their content broadcast to anyone).

When it comes to wearable computing, the sensitivity is even higher.

It is a device that reports to the world our physiological data non-stop.

Here, too, we need to ask ourselves whether we really need constant monitoring or whether the danger is greater than the benefit.

Retention of information that is not in our possession

Yotam Gutman

All of the above sections deal with the information we produce and to some extent control its distribution, so the responsibility for it belongs to us.

However, there is a lot of information that we have given to other entities for the sake of identification, performing actions or that we actually asked them to keep for us (for example, cloud storage services).

Some of the major information security incidents of recent years have occurred when such entities have been negligent in maintaining such information.

We as the information producers (and customers of those bodies) do not have much to do about it - the information is no longer with us, and sometimes we will not even know that it was taken from the same department that received the information from us on duty.

What can be done?

Do not give information unnecessarily (many sites ask customers for an ID number, without a real need), find out if the site / service is secure at the required level, and whether they are subject to standards and privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA).

It is also possible to come to an account with entities that do not adequately secure our information and take our information elsewhere (for example, Yahoo's email service has been hacked several times and most users have closed their account with them and switched to parallel services).

Summary

The modern world requires us to give up our privacy.

At the point in time we are still in control we have some control over the type of information we share and how it is secure.

It is recommended that we all actively examine our conduct vis-à-vis platforms, companies and applications, with the aim of reducing as much as possible the ongoing erosion of our privacy.

Yotam Gutman is the marketing director of the cyber company SentinelOne

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