Refraction Network aims to solve domain censorship at the ISP Level. Rather than trying to hide individual proxies from censors, refraction brings proxy functionality to the core of the network, through partnership with ISPs and other network operators. This makes censorship much more costly, because it prevents censors from selectively blocking only those servers used to provide Internet freedom. Instead, whole networks outside the censored country provide Internet freedom to users—and any encrypted data exchange between a censored nation’s Internet and a participating friendly network can become a conduit for the free flow of information.

Text: https://refraction.network/

Facebook Connect, also called Log in with Facebook, is a set of authentication APIs from Facebook that developers can use to help their users connect and share with such users' Facebook friends (on and off Facebook) and increase engagement for their website or application. When so used, Facebook members can log on to third-party websites, applications, mobile devices and gaming systems with their Facebook identity and, while logged in, can connect with friends via these media and post information and updates to their Facebook profile. But sometimes, especially on lesser known websites, using Facebook's universal login feature may carry security risks, according to research from Princeton University. The tracking scripts documented by Steven Englehardt, Gunes Acar, and Arvind Narayanan represent a small slice of the invisible tracking ecosystem that follows users around the web largely without their knowledge. Facebook says the ability to scrape data through Facebook Connect has been patched.

Text: https://www.wired.com/story/security-risks-of-logging-in-with-facebook/

In a number of areas – privacy, personalisation and community – there are opportunities to improve user experience of the Internet. Users are often concerned about giving there personal details over the internet because of problems related to privacy and misuse of information. These concerns go beyond hacking and fraud and include the tracking of browsing habits and personal information without individuals’ knowledge. In the US double -click ran into considerable bad publicity over their plans to misuse their user data. Along with these problems, there are a number of new internet technologies with offer the opportunity to improve the internet user experience. Two examples of this are new personalisation technology, and new peer-to-peer sharing systems. New personalisation technologies offer the possibility of presenting timely personalised information. By tracking individuals purchases and tastes it is possible that these systems could begin to manage more of the internet user experience. This uncovered something of a “privacy paradox” between users complaints regarding privacy.

Text: https://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2001/HPL-2001-49.pdf

The “privacy paradox” is the phenomenon where people say that they value privacy highly, yet in their behavior relinquish their personal data for very little in exchange or fail to use measures to protect their privacy. Managing one’s privacy is a vast, complex, and never-ending project that does not scale; it becomes virtually impossible to do comprehensively. Privacy regulation often seeks to give people more privacy self-management, such as the recent California Consumer Privacy Act. Professor Solove argues that giving individuals more tasks for managing their privacy will not provide effective privacy protection. Instead, regulation should employ a different strategy — focus on regulating the architecture that structures the way information is used, maintained, and transferred.

Text: https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/faculty_publications/1482/

The popular messaging app Telegram can leak your IP address if you simply add a hacker to your contacts and accept a phone call from them. TechCrunch verified the researcher’s findings by adding Simonov to the contacts of a newly created Telegram account. Simonov then called the account, and shortly after provided TechCrunch with the IP address of the computer where the experiment was being carried out. Telegram boasts 700 million users all over the world, and has always marketed itself as a “secure” and “private” messaging app, even though experts have repeatedly warned that Telegram is not secure.

Text: https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/19/telegram-is-still-leaking-user-ip-addresses-to-contacts

The requirement of harm has significantly impeded the enforcement of privacy law. In most tort and contract cases, plaintiffs must establish that they have suffered harm. Even when legislation does not require it, courts have taken it upon themselves to add a harm element. Harm is also a requirement to establish standing in federal court. In Spokeo v. Robins and TransUnion v. Ramirez, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that courts can override congressional judgment about cognizable harm and dismiss privacy claims. This article makes two central contributions. The first is the construction of a typology for courts to understand harm so that privacy violations can be tackled and remedied in a meaningful way. Privacy harms consist of various different types, which to date have been recognized by courts in inconsistent ways. Our typology of privacy harms elucidates why certain types of privacy harms should be recognized as cognizable. The second contribution is providing an approach to when privacy harm should be required. In many cases, harm should not be required because it is irrelevant to the purpose of the lawsuit. Currently, much privacy litigation suffers from a misalignment of enforcement goals and remedies. We contend that the law should be guided by the essential question: When and how should privacy regulation be enforced? We offer an approach that aligns enforcement goals with appropriate remedies.

Text: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3782222#