ReportWire

Tag: Privacy Concerns

  • Denverites demand removal, bagging of license plate readers after mayor’s contract extension

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    DENVER — On the same day that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced a five-month extension of the city’s contract with license plate camera maker Flock Group, Inc., community members demanded their removal from intersections across Denver.

    Flock cameras were installed in Denver in May 2024, and there are now more than 100 cameras mounted at 70 intersections across the city.

    The Denver Police Department has credited the license plate readers for hundreds of arrests and recovered stolen vehicles, as well as the recovery of dozens of firearms. But at a packed community meeting Wednesday night, residents called for the city to “De-Flock Denver” and for the mayor to include the community in conversations about the future of the cameras.

    Denver7

    John McKinney, president of the East Colfax Neighborhood Association, told the packed crowd he has a simple message for Mayor Johnston.

    “Quit doing this behind closed doors and come out and debate us in the public forum, you f—-ing p—y!,” said McKinney.

    The gathering brought together several registered neighborhood associations (RNOs) against the use of Flock.

    This meeting came on the same day Johnston announced new privacy protections for the cameras, stating that only Denver police officers can access Denver’s camera data.

    “No federal agency of any sort, no federal employee of any sort will have access to Denver’s data,” Johnston told Denver7 Investigates.

    Under the updated contract, other Colorado law enforcement agencies can access the information only if they sign agreements promising not to share data with federal agencies. An agency that signs the agreement and violates it will be subject to prosecution by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.

    Flock will pay a $100,000 fine for any instance in which it shares data with the federal government, according to the city.

    Denver

    Denver bans sharing of Flock camera data with the federal government

    McKinney dismissed these safeguards as insufficient protection.

    “It’s very weak regulation,” McKinney said.

    Johnston acknowledged in his interview Wednesday that he cannot satisfy all critics but defended the program’s effectiveness in reducing auto theft and solving murders.

    “For folks who are never going to ideologically believe in any use of a camera system in the country, we won’t find common ground on that idea,” Johnston said.

    • Watch our full interview with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston below

    Denver Mayor Mike Johnston discusses 5-month extension with Flock | Full interview

    Denver City Council members who attended the town hall said they were not involved in the mayor’s contract decision with the company. Councilwoman Shontel Lewis publicly criticized Johnston Wednesday night.

    “I want to say that it’s important for you all to identify the kings in the castle in the cities in which you all live,” said Lewis. “And the mayor is one of those.”

    The heated debate over license plate reader cameras is expected to continue in the coming months. Denver7 will continue to stay on top of this issue.

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    Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Claire Lavezzorio

    Denver7’s Claire Lavezzorio covers topics that have an impact across Colorado, but specializes in reporting on stories in the military and veteran communities. If you’d like to get in touch with Claire, fill out the form below to send her an email.

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    Claire Lavezzorio

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  • Here’s How to Remove Personal Information From Google Search | Entrepreneur

    Here’s How to Remove Personal Information From Google Search | Entrepreneur

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    If you’ve ever Googled yourself, it can be scary to see how much the web knows about you — and how hard it is to scrub the information.

    Now, Google is making it a little easier. The company launched a “remove this result” feature, currently in Beta mode, which allows users to file a request to eliminate phone numbers, emails, and home addresses from appearing in Google Search results.

    To remove your personal information from Google search results:

    • Search for your name, and click the three vertical dots next to a relevant result/website.
    • Select “remove this result” and choose the appropriate removal reason.
    • Log into your Google account, enter the relevant information, and click “send.”

    You’ll receive a removal decision via email after a few days.

    If you need to remove personal information beyond phone numbers, email addresses, and home addresses, choose the “content contains your personal information” option. There, you can have sensitive data, such as Social Security and bank account numbers, removed — as well as images of signatures, pictures of an ID, and more.

    To track your request, access the “data & privacy” settings within your Google Account, scroll down to “my activity,” then press the three dots in the search bar and select “other activity.” From there, you can manage results related to you and check the status of your request.

    You can also submit a request, here.

    However, an approved removal request doesn’t mean it’s gone from the Internet or the specific website where it was originally posted, CNBC added. It will just remove it from appearing in Google results.

    The “remove this result” tool is part of Google’s “results about you” feature that launched last year.

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    Madeline Garfinkle

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  • How to Protect Yourself Through Data Security | Entrepreneur

    How to Protect Yourself Through Data Security | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Data masking is a security and data privacy technique that obscures or anonymizes specific data elements within a database, application, or file. Its primary purpose is to protect sensitive information, such as personally identifiable information, protected health information, and financial data, from unauthorized access.

    Related: 3 Reasons Why Privacy Matters to Your Business, Your Brand and Your Future

    Why is data security important in healthcare in particular? For one, healthcare organizations collect and store extremely sensitive patient information. In the wrong hands, it can be used for identity theft, fraud, and other malicious purposes. Its importance is only increasing, too: According to a report by the Ponemon Institute, 89% of healthcare organizations experienced cyberattacks — 43 on average — between 2021 and 2022.

    Effective data security precautions

    Healthcare organizations should implement comprehensive security measures, data privacy protocols, and risk management strategies to address these data security issues. This includes doing regular security risk assessments, implementing encryption and access controls, conducting regular training for employees, and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations. By prioritizing data security, healthcare organizations can safeguard patient data and maintain trust with their patients.

    Protecting patient privacy with data masking

    Data masking is useful for resolving data security issues in healthcare. Essentially, data masking creates a duplicate of a database and replaces sensitive data with fictitious data that preserves the data’s structure and format. For instance, a financial institution may use data masking to safeguard its customers’ social security numbers or account numbers while enabling the testing and development of new applications with a production-like dataset. Credit card numbers, social security numbers, and names can all be masked to protect sensitive information without compromising the dataset’s integrity.

    Data masking is crucial when third-party vendors or offshore teams handle sensitive data:

    Companies can use it to ensure regulatory compliance without denying developers, analysts and testers the ability to work with real-time datasets. We all know by now that data privacy and security are necessary to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access, theft, or misuse. The consequences of failing to protect data can be severe; it could result easily in financial loss, legal liability, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust.

    Related: 3 Simple Ways to Be More Self-Aware as an Entrepreneur

    How to prevent security breaches in healthcare

    Data masking’s ability to reduce the risk of data breaches and theft by limiting access to sensitive information is arguably what makes it most useful.

    Even if an attacker gains unauthorized access to a masked dataset, the information is useless without the means to de-identify the data. Now that you know why data security is important in healthcare, follow these five steps to start using it:

    1. Identify sensitive data

    Begin by identifying your most sensitive data. Scan all available resources and implement appropriate security measures to protect the data. When you know what data is on your servers and equipment, you can better protect it with cutting-edge techniques. This could mean using data masking or encryption to safeguard sensitive information.

    2. Do your research

    It’s essential to stay informed about the latest security threats and trends by regularly reviewing industry news and participating in relevant training and conferences. This can help you stay ahead of potential vulnerabilities and emerging threats. By proactively staying in the know, you will maximize your data protection.

    3. Verify, don’t trust

    Implement strong access controls and permissions for your data to ensure that only authorized users can view or modify it. This can involve setting up multifactor authentication and limiting user access based on job function or seniority. Because zero-trust architecture is necessary to fully protect all business systems and data, it’s now standard across all government systems.

    4. Continuously audit your systems

    Security and data privacy is not a one-and-done deal. It requires constant vigilance. Regularly audit your systems and data to identify and address any vulnerabilities or weaknesses in your security protocols. This includes conducting security assessments, penetration testing, and vulnerability scans to identify and remediate security risks.

    5. Find the right solution

    When implementing data masking, it’s important to carefully evaluate and select a solution that meets your organization’s needs, budget, and compliance requirements.

    Consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, and data integrity when choosing a data masking tool. If the solution isn’t personalized to you, it could cause more problems than it resolves.

    6. Apply masking when copying data to lower environments

    Development and testing teams needing access to production-like data should leverage masking to ensure no sensitive data makes it into lower environments. This enables them to freely leverage that data without risking data breaches or compliance violations.

    Data masking is an important technique that protects sensitive data in various applications. It uses fake data to conceal real data from unauthorized users. When facing modern cyber threats, data masking is foundational to protecting your business data.

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    ReadWrite.com

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  • Protect Your Business Online With These Decentralized VPNs

    Protect Your Business Online With These Decentralized VPNs

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    For small businesses, the average cost for a data breach can start as low as $120,000 and reach as high as $1.24 million. Any unplanned expense could impact your company, but one of this magnitude could be enough to sink it. IT services aren’t inexpensive either, with some recommendations saying even businesses of only 40 people should plan for up to $3,000 a month.


    StackCommerce

    You may be able to offload some of your network security costs using a hardware VPN with a built-in firewall. Deeper Connect has two options for buying, but both of them could help your business retain its privacy and security.

    Protect your business online.

    Recent years have seen a 600% rise in cyber crimes. While some businesses may have been able to go without network security protocols before, it may be unwise to do so with breaches so common. Installing a Deeper Connect Pico or Deeper Connect Mini decentralized virtual private network is a simple way of helping to protect your business digitally. Just plug in this hardware VPN and connect your devices. Start enjoying ad-free browsing and enterprise-grade cybersecurity functions for all your IoT devices. If your business caters to families, they may appreciate one-click parental controls that can block inappropriate content for their kids.

    You may have already researched your options for VPNs and found most of them are entirely digital. They may be convenient, but many digital-only VPNs also have monthly subscription fees. Deeper Connect lets you skip the subscription costs for a one-time payment.

    You can still take it anywhere, though. Going on a business trip? Take your Deeper Connect with you for safer browsing. The Deeper Connect Mini Pico works on public or private internet connections, but the Mini needs to be plugged directly into a router.

    An affordable way to improve your cybersecurity.

    Full IT services may not be in the budget. Start saving and get the Deeper Connect Mini Decentralized VPN and Firewall for $199 (reg. $359) or the Deeper Connect Pico Decentralized VPN and Wi-Fi Adapter for $219 (reg. $249).

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    Entrepreneur Store

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  • What the Downfall of Web Cookies Means for Advertising

    What the Downfall of Web Cookies Means for Advertising

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    With initiatives to prioritize consumer privacy by companies like Apple, app trackers and third-party cookies are disappearing, which is impacting the efficiency of traditional methods for performance advertising.

    How does paying 25% more to reach the same audience this coming year sound? While nobody wants to spend more to get less or the same, that is going to be the reality for 44% of marketers, according to GetApp.

    Perhaps this increased cost is a fact that you have accepted already. Maybe you’re not ready to make drastic changes to your advertising approach, or your company has decided to reduce its advertising budget. But what if you have to spend 50% or more for the same audience the following year? At what point will the pain become too much that you are forced to make a complete baseline paradigm shift? What’s really at risk here?

    Related: Data in 4 Flavors, and the Demise of the Cookie

    The downfall of the cookie

    That we are forced to pay more with less quality of tracking and measurement really shouldn’t come as a surprise. The whole space has been the Wild West for so long, and third-party tracking has made it easy to find our target audience — something had to give.

    In advertising, we’ve had easy access to audiences. If someone looks at Perrier on one website and then sparkling water on another, cookies tell us they are in the market for beverages. However, for consumers, the disconcerting experience of talking about cats with your phone nearby and then being presented with cat food ads on Facebook seems to have crossed a line: it’s just plain creepy. In fact, 69% of people are concerned with how their data is collected.

    We are still in the Wild West. Even though the EU adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), privacy experts question its robustness. In the U.S. — where a U.S. version of GDPR hasn’t been passed by Congress — companies are basically only required to display pop-ups that prompt users to accept all cookies or not and 76% of people choose to ignore it. Who’s really going into the advanced cookie settings and carefully selecting 36 different tracking options on every website they visit?

    What’s most at-risk is discovering who our audience is, what they are interested in and where they are hanging out so we know where to serve them best. If we play our cards right, it could be a win-win situation instead: Customers could be served ads they are actually interested in (and in the medium they prefer) while advertisers can become more efficient and stop wasting money serving ads to people who aren’t interested.

    This becomes a question of data: Who’s got the best first-party data, and how do we make the most of it?

    Powerful data, served up fresh (and safe)

    Fortunately for us, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel; the framework for obtaining and leveraging powerful data is out there already; we just need to use it. Things like retail media and first-party shopper data aren’t typical media investments for marketers and can be overlooked easily, but regardless of whether you sell a physical product in the retail space, retail media platforms have incredible tools to activate for your brand.

    Retail media data is better because it provides a clearer picture of who is actually in the market. Just think of what all that single sign-in user information from Amazon can provide — everything a customer buys; the movies they watch; all the items they spend time looking at across all the web properties Amazon owns like IMDB or DPreview — the list goes on.

    Let’s dig deeper and consider all of the companies that Amazon owns, like MGM Studios. Amazon is buying bits and pieces of what are powerful touchpoints to identify customer interest, age and preferences to create a comprehensive view of the audience.

    Now, when I skip past all the horror films to watch my favorite new comedy, Amazon knows what I like. When I binge a new Podcast on Wonderly, it gives insights into what captivates me. Combine that with Amazon’s ownership of other publications like Twitch — the top game-streaming platform in the U.S. — Alexa devices and Whole Foods, and not only does Amazon have the data but it also has the avenues to communicate with audiences.

    In contrast with the creepy social media ads that seem to know a little too much, most first-party data is brand-safe. For instance, Amazon has spent the last 20 years becoming one of America’s most trusted companies, and it wouldn’t risk that by tinkering with data in an unscrupulous way. Thus, leveraging this type of information allows us to identify audiences in a way that is safe for our brands, all while being comprehensive and giving us access to premium advertising inventory.

    Related: How Marketers Can Prepare for the Removal of Third-Party Cookies

    A no-brainer

    As we adapt to the changing tides of the digital advertising landscape, a new way is necessary — and the solution really isn’t complicated. While 81% of companies still are dependent on the sinking ship of third-party cookies, we can use our own first-party data combined with retailer data through Amazon Marketing Cloud to create a powerful picture of our consumers and serve them ads where they congregate.

    This goes beyond simple awareness advertising — which doesn’t have many useful metrics (in the prehistoric days of TV and radio, it was really just general demographic data from surveys) — by tying that awareness to a specific event. With a clickable icon or a QR code in a StreamingTV, we now have traffic to the landing page and information about how people interacted with it — a constant feed of measurable and trackable consumer behavior.

    And we can do all this, from discovering our audience and shopper behavior to ad platforms and measurement, while getting the most out of our advertising dollars and respecting our customers’ privacy.

    Take that, cookies.

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    Joshua Kreitzer

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  • Protect Your Privacy with a Custom Second Phone Number

    Protect Your Privacy with a Custom Second Phone Number

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    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    Every year, up to 10 percent of people are affected by identity theft. A common first step is seeing that your phone is no longer secure, indicated by a significant influx of spam calls and texts. However, keeping your phone number safe isn’t exactly easy considering you have to use your phone number for everything from work calls to social events and online purchases.


    StackCommerce

    However, instead of using your real number, you may be able to create a false number using Hushed Private Phone Line. This subscription gives you access to a false number you can use to make calls, send texts, and more, and a lifetime subscription is on sale for 83 percent off.

    Protect your phone number and your anonymity.

    Before cell phones, phone numbers weren’t as connected to your identity. Now, phone numbers are inextricably tied to a multitude of accounts, creating vulnerabilities that hackers and scammers can exploit.

    Hushed gives you a fully functional second phone number that you can use for calls or texts that won’t reveal your real number. Choose from hundreds of area codes and set up voicemail on your fake number and protect your privacy.

    Arrange a purchase on Craigslist without worrying about getting strange texts weeks after. Sign up for social media without putting your personal number in the hands of a company that may end up selling it. Communicate with co-workers on your time without giving them unlimited means to contact you in your off hours.

    This plan gives you 6,000 SMS and 1,000 phone minutes that renew every year. If you run out of minutes or texts before your year is up, you can add more at any time. The only requirement is that you use your fake number at least once every six months to keep it active.

    Make calls and send texts from a second phone number.

    Protect your privacy without limiting your ability to use your phone. Get a lifetime subscription to Hushed Private Phone Line for $24.99 (reg. $150).

    Prices subject to change.

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    Entrepreneur Store

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