Cyber Privacy: Who Has Your Data and Why You Should Care

Description

April Falcon Doss, a cybersecurity and privacy expert with experience working for the NSA and the US government, explores the most common types of data being collected about individuals today and delve into how it is being used-sometimes against us-by the private sector, the government, and even our employers and schools. You're being tracked. Google, Facebook, and Amazon-not to mention the federal government-keep incredible amounts of information about your online and real-world behaviors. Understand why it's a problem. We live in an era of unprecedented data aggregation, and the trade-offs between individual privacy, personal convenience, and national security and cybersecurity have never been more challenging to negotiate. Technology is evolving quickly, while laws and policies are changing slowly. April Falcon Doss, a cybersecurity and privacy expert with experience working for the NSA and the US government, has seen this imbalance in action. She wants to see policy catch up, for the protection of individuals and our private data. That starts with spreading awareness. In Cyber Privacy, Doss explores the most common types of data being collected about individuals today and delves into how it is being used-sometimes against us-by the private sector, the government, and even our employers and schools. She reveals the trends in technology, data science, and law that directly impact our privacy, based on the digital footprints we leave in our daily lives. Most important, Doss also offers new approaches that can help law, policy, and ethics keep pace with technological change. No matter where we live or what demographic groups we fall into, someone is collecting our data: to profile us, target us, assess us; to predict our behaviour and analyse our attitudes; to influence the things we do and buy-even to impact our vote. Though government surveillance is one facet of the challenge, data collected by national security programs pale in comparison to the exquisitely detailed user profiles that are being amassed by major brands. It's high time to rethink notions of privacy and what, if anything, limits the power of those who are constantly watching, listening, and learning about us. Cyber Privacy offers realistic solutions to restore individuals' control over information about us that is created, collected, combined, and manipulated every day.

April Falcon Doss spent over a decade at the National Security Agency, where she was the associate general counsel for intelligence law. She also served on Capitol Hill as the senior minority counsel for the Russia investigation in the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Doss is a regular commentator on data privacy, cybersecurity, and national security issues. She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. April's articles have appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Washington Post, Atlantic, Weekly Standard, Lawfare, and SciTech Lawyer.

"In Cyber Privacy, April Falcon Doss has written the most sweeping, revealing, and understandable book about privacy and our digital lives . . . A must-read if you want to understand how both businesses and governments know so much about you and how our society needs to adapt to preserve an individual's sense of identity." -Glenn Gerstell, senior advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and former general counsel, National Security Agency "We all have serious-but too often vague-concerns that every day computer usage poses a dire threat to our personal and financial well-being, as well the nation's security. In her new book Cyber Privacy, April Falcon Doss-the nation's leading expert on this subject-not only tells why that is so, but in a clear and engaging way arms us with strategies to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and the nation itself from life-threatening assaults on our privacy." -Michael Greenberger, professor, University of Maryland Carey Law School and director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security, University of Maryland "From big tech companies, retailers, advertising companies, through to the police and intelligence agencies of the US and beyond, this is an absolutely critical read for anyone who wants to understand the complex, and often unintuitive, consequences of living in our increasingly data-driven world." -Matt Tait, independent cybersecurity expert, formerly at GCHQ and Google Project Zero, and former senior cybersecurity fellow at the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin "A brilliantly written tour de force on privacy in the 21st century. Combining decades of experience on all sides of the privacy debate, Doss combines incisive analysis of disruptive technologies, underlying economics, and increasingly complex legal overlays to deliver an essential primer on the fraught privacy landscape." -Chris Inglis, deputy director, NSA, 2006-2014 "At a time when most internet users do not understand the complex concoction of algorithms, engagement, microtargeting, and personal data profiles that curate the information they see, April Falcon Doss uses her multi-sector experience to make privacy accessible to all. Anyone who cares about maintaining a grip on their personal information-or at least being informed about what's happening with it-should read this book." -Nina Jankowicz, author of How to Lose the Information War "Without losing sight of the substantial benefits that are achieved through collecting and analyzing personal information on a massive scale, Doss exposes the unregulated practices of the large data collectors-including Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google-then examines the regulated practices of the Intelligence Community and the constraints-good and bad-on law enforcement activities . . . This book makes the case that we seriously need to re-examine what we are doing, and it provides useful guidance on where and how we can start to make meaningful changes that will benefit most everyone." -David C. Shonka, former acting general counsel, Federal Trade Commission, and privacy partner at Redgrave LLP "April Falcon Doss has provided a vital contribution to our understanding of privacy and cybersecurity. Cyber Privacy provides laymen and experts alike with a rich understanding of the laws and technology that shape our ability to control who accesses our personal information and what they do with it." -Jeff Kosseff, author, The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet "Whether you are a technology user, a compliance or privacy officer, or a practicing lawyer, this book will help in understanding the complex intersections of technology, the internet economy, the role of the state, and the uses of personally identifiable information and metadata . . . An essential guidebook." -Rick Ledgett, former deputy director, NSA "April Falcon Doss thoughtfully, expertly and critically informs and navigates the reader across an amazing number of privacy invasion scenarios to an extent not seen in previous publications . . . Novice and expert readers alike will profit from this important book." -William H. Murphy, Jr., former judge and prominent civil rights attorney "April Falcon Doss has spent a career at the National Security Agency, Senate intelligence committee, and in private practice influencing the decisions that shape technology, cybersecurity, and data privacy. In this book, Doss turns twenty years of perspective and experience into a Cyber Privacy road map to guide those looking to understand how data came to rule our world and where we go from here." -Susan Hennessey, author of Unmaking the Presidency