The Basics
New to the concepts and vernacular of digital safety? Start here.
- ALA Code of Ethics Maintained by American Library Association, the Code of Ethics provides broad principles that can be used as a framework for defining and working by the standards of the library profession
- California’s New Privacy Law, Explained A basic guide from Vox that covers how the CCPA works
- My Email Has Been Hacked. What Should I Do Next? via Kaspersky A how-to guide how email hacks happen and what to do if you’re the victim of an email hack
- Can You Spot When You’re Being Phished? via Google Use this quiz to learn practice identifying phishing schemes
- What are Cookies? via kaspersky.com An overview of how cookies work and how to stay safe online
- What is the Internet? via Code.org Vint Cerf, one of the "fathers of the internet" explains the history of how the net and how no one person or organization is really in charge of it.
- HTTP & HTML via Code.org
- Encryption and Public Keys via Code.org Mia Epner explains how cryptography allows for the secure transfer of data online. This educational video explains 256 bit encryption, public and private keys, SSL & TLS and HTTPS.
- 40 Maps that Explain the Internet via Vox.com Here are 40 maps that will help you better understand the internet — where it came from, how it works, and how it's used by people around the world.
- Library Bill of Rights via ALA Maintained by ALA, the Library Bill of Rights is composed of statements of basic principles that govern the service of libraries
Tools of the Trade
Trying to diagnose a digital malady or clean up after a malware incursion? We've got links for that.
- Data Detox Kit A toolkit presenting steps to take to control your digital privacy and security
- One Password An application for for managing, storing and generating your many passwords
- LastPass A password manager with a free access
- uBlock Origin A free, open-source ad content blocker
- Norton Anti-virus software
- McAfee Antivirus and VPN software
- BitDefender Anti-virus software
- Annual Credit Report A free resource to check your credit once a year. A great way to stay on top of your accounts
- DNS Resolvers via Privacy Guides A community-built list of DNS resolvers, for next-level privacy protection
- Stop Trackers Dead: The Best Private Browsers For 2022 The latest from PC Mag on selecting the best privacy-focused browser for you
- STIR/SHAKEN via Wikipedia Wikipedia's overview of STIR and SHAKEN, a suite of protocols and procedures intended to combat caller ID spoofing on public telephone networks
- donotcall.gov The National Do Not Call Registry from the Federal Trade Commission
- Cover Your Tracks via Electronic Freedom Foundation EFF's tool to check how well your browser protects you from tracking and fingerprinting
- DeleteMe A product you can pay for that helps remove your personal information from the web.
- Startpage A way to search and browse online without personal data collection, tracking, or targeting.
- Facebook Container An extension for Firefox helps you take control and isolate your web activity from Facebook.
- Privacy Badger A browser extension that automatically learns to block invisible trackers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- Brave Privacy-focused web browser.
- DuckDuckGo Downloadable browser extensions, search engine, and privacy browser app.
- Privacy Field Guides Practical, hands-on exercises for you to create a more privacy-focused library. These guides were designed for academic, public, and school libraries of all types. Sponsored by The Institute of Museum and Library Services in partnership with the American Library Association.
- Virtual Privacy Lab by San Jose Public Library Library patrons can use this tool to learn about privacy topics and generate a custom privacy toolkit geared towards their online needs.
- Surveillance Self-Defense by Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF's expert guide to protecting you and your friends from online spying
- Can You Spot When You’re Being Phished? via Google Use this quiz to learn practice identifying phishing schemes
- Why You Need a Password Manager, and How to Choose the Right One via PC Magazine Reviews of password managers, along with some tips on how and why to use one
- ‘;–have i been pwned? Check if your email or phone is in a data breach.
How To Guides
- Ways To Avoid Social Engineering Attacks Kaspersky's guide to steering clear of social engineering attacks
- Simple Online Security: If You Think You’ve Been Hacked Advice from the New York Times on what to do if you think you've been hacked
- What to Look for In an Antivirus Software Kaspersky.com on selecting the best anti-virus software for your system and you
- How To Spot—And Avoid—Dark Patterns On The Web Wired's guide for steering clear of dark patterns on the web
- How To Avoid Falling Victim To Online, Email And Phone Scams A basic toolkit from The Guardian to help you avoid losing money to fraudsters
- Phone Scams via AARP A guide to phone scams from the AARP, including a handy list of dos and don'ts
- Freedom of the Press Guides & Training Guides to protecting your data from the Freedom of the Press Foundation
- Security Planner via Consumer Reports A Consumer Reports guide to safely backing up files, browsing online without tracking, avoiding phishing scams, and preventing identity theft
- How to Clear Your Cache on Any Browser via PC Magazine PC Magazine's guide to clearing your browser history and your cache on Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and other browsers
- How to Control Annoying or Upsetting Ads Online A Consumer Reports guide to changing settings on Facebook, Google, and Instagram
- How To Delete Your Facebook Account Mozilla's guide for deleting your account
- Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List Yael Grauer's guide to removing your personal data from sites run by data brokers or companies that sell bulk access to your personal information. This list is updated regularly
- Protect Your Privacy From the Apps on Your Phone via Consumer Reports A guide to protecting your privacy on both iPhones and Android phones
- How to Get Google to Quit Tracking Your Location A guide for how to turn off Google's tracking abilities for Google Maps and other services on iOS, Android, and the desktop.
- How to Turn Off Location Services and Stop Your iPhone Apps From Tracking You via PC Magazine A guide for how to control what Apple and app makers know about your whereabouts.
Data Privacy
When you're ready for some more in-depth explorations of the topics in our videos, these links will guide you.
- Standard Privacy Report For Libby, By OverDrive A Common Sense Media review of the privacy policies of Libby, a product of OverDrive
- High Tech Is Watching You In Harvard Gazette, an article on surveillance capitalism
- I Tried To Read All My App Privacy Policies. It Was 1 Million Words. From the Washington Post, a case against lengthy privacy policies, plus ideas for how we humans can cope
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Official documentation of the General Data Protection Regulation
- Privacy Tool Guides via Electronic Frontier Foundation Step-by-step tutorials to help you install and use handy privacy and security tools.
- Data Privacy Project Teaching NYC librarians how information travels and is shared online, common risks encountered online by users and the importance of digital privacy and literacy.
- How Secure Is My Password? Use this website to check to see how strong your password is. And remember: avoid storing your passwords in plain text!
- Data and Dating: Who Else Wants Your Love? via Our Data Bodies The data we give away might seem like a small price to pay for the possibility of finding love, but what is happening in the background? How data is collected, analysed, sold, traded or reused might be more complicated than we think.
- What do data brokers really know about us? (video) via PBS NewsHour What types of information are companies gathering about you? How can they use this information, or even trade it? And what rights do consumers have to learn how they're being tracked? Watch this video from PBS NewsHour to find out
- 2020 Census Detailed Operational Plan for Security, Privacy, and Confidentiality Operation by Decennial Census Management Division
- On Risk Assessment via Electronic Frontier Foundation
- IP Addresses & DNS via Code.org Vint Cerf and Paola Mejia take us through the ins and outs of how networks talk to each other and what makes the Internet tic
- Packets, Routing, & Reliability via Code.org Lynn Root and Vint Cerf explain what keeps the Internet running and how information is broken down into packets.
- There and Back Again: A packet’s Tale via World Science Festival ride shotgun with a packet of data—one of trillions involved in the trillions of Internet interactions that happen every second.
Legal Momentum
- Data Broker Registry by State of California Department of Justice California law requires a data broker to register with the Attorney General on or before January 31
- H.R.8152 – American Data Privacy and Protection Act A federal privacy bill introduced in Congress by Representative Frank Pallone Jr. (Democrat, New Jersey) on 06/21/2022
Books
- Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance by Julia Angwin Publisher's summary: In Dragnet Nation, Julia Angwin of The Wall Street Journal reports from the front lines of America’s surveillance economy, a revelatory and unsettling look at how the government, private companies, and even criminals use technology to indiscriminately sweep up vast amounts of our personal data.
- Data and Goliath The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World by Bruce Schneier Publisher's summary: In Data and Goliath, security expert Bruce Schneier offers another path, one that values both security and privacy. He shows us exactly what we can do to reform our government surveillance programs and shake up surveillance-based business models, while also providing tips for you to protect your privacy every day. You’ll never look at your phone, your computer, your credit cards, or even your car in the same way again.
- Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism by Jillian York Publisher's summary: The Internet once promised to be a place of extraordinary freedom beyond the control of money or politics, but today corporations and platforms exercise more control over our ability to access information and share knowledge to a greater extent than any state. From the online calls to arms in the thick of the Arab Spring to the contemporary front line of misinformation, Jillian York charts the war over our digital rights. She looks at both how the big corporations have become unaccountable censors, and the devastating impact it has had on those who have been censored. In Silicon Values, York looks at how our rights have become increasingly undermined by the major corporations' desire to harvest our personal data and turn it into profit.
- “I Have Nothing to Hide” and 20 Other Myths About Surveillance and Privacy by Heidi Boghosian Publisher's summary: Attorney and data privacy expert Heidi Boghosian unpacks widespread myths around the seemingly innocuous nature of surveillance, sets the record straight about what government agencies and corporations do with our personal data, and offers solutions to take back our information. "I Have Nothing to Hide" is both a necessary mass surveillance overview and a reference book. It addresses the misconceptions around tradeoffs between privacy and security, citizen spying, and the ability to design products with privacy protections. Boghosian breaks down misinformation surrounding 21 core myths about data privacy.
- Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World by Meredith Broussard Publisher's summary: In Artificial Unintelligence, Meredith Broussard argues that our collective enthusiasm for applying computer technology to every aspect of life has resulted in a tremendous amount of poorly designed systems. We are so eager to do everything digitally—hiring, driving, paying bills, even choosing romantic partners—that we have stopped demanding that our technology actually work. If we understand the limits of what we can do with technology, Broussard tells us, we can make better choices about what we should do with it to make the world better for everyone.
- Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin Publisher's summary: From everyday apps to complex algorithms, Race After Technology cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce white supremacy and deepen social inequity. Benjamin argues that automation, far from being a sinister story of racist programmers scheming on the dark web, has the potential to hide, speed up, and deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to the racism of a previous era.
- Living in Data: A Citizen’s Guide to a Better Information Future by Jer Thorp Publisher's summary: To live in data in the twenty-first century is to be incessantly extracted from, classified and categorized, statisti-fied, sold, and surveilled. Data—our data—is mined and processed for profit, power, and political gain. In Living in Data, Thorp asks a crucial question of our time: How do we stop passively inhabiting data, and instead become active citizens of it?
- The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age by Danielle Keats Citron Publisher's summary: A masterful new look at privacy in the twenty-first century, The Fight for Privacy takes the focus off Silicon Valley moguls to investigate the price we pay as technology migrates deeper into every aspect of our lives: entering our bedrooms and our bathrooms and our midnight texts; our relationships with friends, family, lovers, and kids; and even our relationship with ourselves.
News/Blogs/Podcasts
Stay on top of the latest developments in cybersecurity.
- Darknet Diaries A podcast about "hackers, breaches, shadow government activity, hacktivism, cybercrime, and all the things that dwell on the hidden parts of the network."
- Privacy Project via New York Times A list of all of the articles reporting on the NY Times' investigation into how your data gets used and sold
- How Facebook Shapes Your Feed via Washington Post A report on how Facebook's algorithm works to populate your feed, and the way it handles your data
- The Inventor Of The Digital Cookie Has Some Regrets via Quartz An interview with Lou Montulli, inventor of the web cookie.
- How to Disable Ad ID Tracking on iOS and Android, and Why You Should Do It Now via Electronic Frontier Foundation This article explains the history of device ad identifiers and how they have enabled persistent tracking, identification, and other privacy invasions.
- Technology Blog via The Guardian
Organizations and Events
You gotta fight for your right to privacy.
- International Association of Privacy Professionals A not-for-profit organization that "helps define, promote, and improve the privacy profession globally."
- ALA Privacy Subcommittee ALA's Privacy Subcommittee "ongoing privacy developments in technology, politics and legislation, as well as social and cultural trends that impact individual privacy and confidentiality, both in libraries and the wider world.
- Federal Trade Commission The FTC's website. Search around for policy, advice, and other content about data privacy protections for consumers
- Freedom of the Press Foundation Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that protects, defends, and empowers public-interest journalism in the 21st century.
- Library Freedom Institute Library Freedom Institute (LFI) is a free, privacy-focused four-month program for librarians to teach them the skills necessary to thrive as Privacy Advocates; from educating community members to influencing public policy.
- Choose Privacy Everyday via American Library Association The website of ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee's Privacy Subcommittee
- Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development.
- American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee’s Privacy Subcommittee American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee's Privacy Subcommittee
- CyPurr Collective A small cryptoparty and cat-enthusiast collective.
- Opportunity for All How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at Public Libraries
Conferences and Meetups
Find your people.
Cited By Our Guests
- Plain Language Act Signed on October 13, federal law requires that agencies use clear government communication that the public can understand and use
- Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule The FCC site for COPPA
- Curricula Security awareness training for your whole staff
- Wizer Free cybersecurity training
- SANS Network Security A go-to resource for cybersecurity training
- Privacy Field Guides Practical, hands-on exercises for you to create a more privacy-focused library. These guides were designed for academic, public, and school libraries of all types. Sponsored by The Institute of Museum and Library Services in partnership with the American Library Association.
- Virtual Privacy Lab by San Jose Public Library Library patrons can use this tool to learn about privacy topics and generate a custom privacy toolkit geared towards their online needs.
- Surveillance Self-Defense by Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF's expert guide to protecting you and your friends from online spying
Uncategorized
- Data Brokers via Vermont Secretary of State Business Services Division Data brokers must register annually with the State of Vermont
- Digital Inclusion and Data Profiling by Seeta Peña Gangadharan via First Monday This paper examines specific examples of commercial data profiling against a longer history of low–tech data profiling of chronically underserved communities.