On November 15, the Federal Trade Commission released a blog post title "Upgrading Your Phone? 4 Things You Should Do First." The blog post, linked below, offers instructions for clearing personal data off phones before trading them in (although the post focuses on phones primarily, the information could easily apply to other tech devices). Included in the FTC's post is this graphic, which outlines the four important steps people should take for clearing personal data off the

Last week, I joined MANA’s National President and CEO Amy Hinojosa for the first in a series of luncheon events on the politics of privacy at the AT&T Forum for Technology and Innovation. These luncheons are designed to address why women, communities of color and underserved communities, such as the LGBT community, have specific and different privacy concerns than other groups and should take online and data privacy even more seriously. This first discussion in the series tou

LGBT Tech applauds the renewed Congressional focus on tech policy issues but strongly urges Congress to take a bipartisan, commonsense approach. The fact that both parties have introduced proposals on privacy/data protection legislation as well as net neutrality are extremely encouraging. After nearly twenty years of debate, we believe there is a bipartisan, bicameral consensus in support of modern net neutrality protections that keep the internet open to all and prevent any

Once again, a large technology company is in the hot seat over its potential misuse of Americans’ personal data. This time, the company is Amazon and the controversy involves its facial recognition program. That system, called Rekognition, combines Amazon’s artificial intelligence software and a database of billions of images. Rekognition’s growing surveillance power, largely unregulated by federal law, raises serious privacy questions. In December, The Washington Post repor

LGBT Tech has continued to weigh in on specific privacy concerns for the LGBTQ community and today, I’m excited to share another step we are taking to ensure policymakers are aware and have the information to adequately protect our community's unique needs when it comes to privacy. Today LGBT Tech filed in NTIA’s Request for Comment on Developing the Administration's Approach to Consumer Privacy (Docket No. 180821780-8780-01). LGBT Tech has consistently called for and continu

Originally Published in The Mercury News, The East Bay Times, and SiliconValley.com, June 20, 2018 The LGBT community heard Mark Zuckerberg say Facebook would take responsibility for what happens on its network, but we need action, not just words. The internet is the ultimate double-edged sword for our community. It can be an invaluable tool to safely and privately explore challenging subjects like coming out and sexual health, access government services, and connect with th

LGBT Tech is tracking closely recent reports about the FBI’s decision to take Apple to court in order to force the company to unlock a mass shooter’s iPhone. While on the surface this may seem like a worthy and unassailable goal, just a quick look beneath the surface of such a request reveals a host of privacy concerns that could affect the LGBT community specifically. Law enforcement requests that would require that companies build a “back door” to encryption would create b

In light of Facebook’s recent string of bad press around the Cambridge Analytica debacle, it is clear that protecting your data privacy needs to be an overarching concern for all users of the social network – and of the Internet at large. As Facebook grapples with being in the negative limelight around the world, data privacy concerns and targeted advertising and marketing have become household conversations in a way that was unthinkable even a few months ago. Internet-based

LGBT Tech has submitted initial comments addressing the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) In the Matter of Restoring Internet Freedom.[1] The NPRM seeks public comment on how to preserve the basic principles of net neutrality and in its comments, LGBT Tech reiterates that the FCC needs to establish rules that apply equally to all participants in the broadband space. The Internet has become an indispensable tool for members of

Every time we access the Internet, we are leaving a digital trail but did you know that may include your personal physical mailing address too? We recently found a website built to help you put together a family tree but offers a lot more information than most of us would be comfortable with just anyone knowing. This website is FamilyTreeNow.com and it soared to attention this week after @Almost_Anna sounded the alarm on Twitter. For individuals in LGBTQ community, privacy, a

It has been impossible to avoid the constant news stories surrounding the recent hack of the Ashley Madison website that led to the release of the personal information of millions of its users. For the uninitiated, Ashley Madison is an adultery website (tagline “”Life is Short. Have an Affair”) that claims almost 40 million members. The site promises anonymity and discretion to its members. However, this promised anonymity and discretion were completely compromised when a

Co-authored by Christopher Wood and Nuala O’Connor, President & CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology This year has been one of tremendous advances in the quest for LGBT equality. However, as anti-gay foes lose the war against denying LGBT Americans equal marriage rights, the battles have shifted to other grounds including the so-called defense of religion bills that have sprouted all around the country. Fortunately, it seems that the tide is turning as individuals and busin

Digital technologies afford unprecedented possibilities to capture, store and analyze the data we produce by accessing the Internet every day. From websites, apps, social media and other sources we take pictures, share our thoughts and conduct business over the Internet, touching points and major companies that record our every move, also known as “big data”. For scientists, big data opens up new opportunities to better understand various diseases and could potentially help i