@digiphile (Twitter)

Tips from the #CatoSpyCon panel on journalism & surveillance: Keep an airgapped computer & docs offline Awareness training. Adopt MFA, password manager Big Brother really is watching. Be smart The Internet is forever. Sensitive info on slack or Gchat. Go talk in person.

The weakest point in any security regime is almost always the humans. Journalists (& their editors!) should build threat models that assess risk based on their roles, beats, sources, & assignments, & minimize their data exhaust: https://source.opennews.org/articles/security-journalists-part-two-threat-modeling/ #CatoSpyCon

Ignorance of source protection is no longer an excuse on the part of the reporter, says @RobertMMahoney, who notes that while autocracies go after journalists, Western democracies go after sources. Cf. misuse of Espionage Act: http://gov20.govfresh.com/prosecuting-whistleblowers-is-antithetical-to-open-government/ #CatoSpyCon

At #CatoSpyCon, @JFranzblau of @OpenTheGov shares best practices for combating government secrecy through the Freedom of Information Act (#FOIA): https://www.openthegovernment.org/foiaguide #opengov #foiafriday

Same trend at @Google: rising requests for user data, use of National Security Letters, FISAs. https://transparencyreport.google.com/ Transparency can inform the debate about what should be done, says @DavidLieber. Indeeeeed. #CatoSpyCon

Quis custodes ipsos custodiet? #CatoSpyCon

Getting a briefing on @facebook’s transparency report. Spoiler alert: Government requests keep growing. https://transparency.facebook.com disclosing data how quickly it reacted to consumer reports & how many mistakes remains an aspirational goal. #CatoSpyCon

Raised the spectre of insurers using “smart devices” to measure risk & set premiums at #CatoSpyCon https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/smart-gadgets-insurance_us_55e5c6ffe4b0c818f6192558 Connected CPAP machines show where our future already is: https://www.propublica.org/article/you-snooze-you-lose-insurers-make-the-old-adage-literally-true

We are opening up a world that’s gong to change the power relationship between government and people, says @ProfFerguson, on “sensorvalence” through “smart” devices & #IoT. Cf. “Your data may used against you in a court of law…” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexander-howard/how-data-from-wearable-te_b_7698764.html #CatoSpyCon

At the @CatoInstitute in DC for its excellent surveillance conference, curated by the estimable @normative, watching @heatherwest talk about @Mozilla’s holiday tech buying guide: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/ #CatoSpyCon livestream: https://www.cato.org/live