Forensic insights from
the world's most experienced
privacy advocate.
By Simon Davies Last year I was contacted – via an intricately circuitous route – by a contractor (a coder) working for the US National Security Agency (NSA). It was the third occasion over the past few years that this person had reached out to me. Longer-term readers of this site may recall that in …
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By Simon Davies The Privacy Surgeon has launched an EU-wide initiative to massively increase the number of class action legal claims against governments, security services and corporations. The aim of this ambitious exercise is to force greater accountability from such organisations by supporting anyone in Europe to participate in litigation. The concept of class action …
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By Simon Davies It has been just over five years since the Privacy Surgeon began. Since then, the experience has been a rollercoaster. I wanted to share with readers the things I have learned from taking on this challenge. I pledged back then: “These pages are devoted to promoting such tests of evidence and contrasting …
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In the first of an occasional series on the world’s leading privacy organisations, Simon Davies looks at the Washington DC-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). In the eyes of the US government, King Henry 11’s famous outburst “Will no-one rid me of this meddlesome priest” could well have been intended for the Electronic Privacy Information …
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Game of Thrones is filled with intrigue, deception, redemption, conflict, heroism and deal-cutting. That sounds scarily like the world of privacy. So – we wondered – who are characters in the privacy world that most resemble those in Game of Thrones? The Privacy Surgeon recently published a poll to ask this very question. To …
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By Simon Davies Over the past few weeks, there have been reports that Google’s new search algorithm – intended to demote fake news and conspiracy theories – has in fact been censoring legitimate news sites. More worrying still, it’s arguable that the world’s most extensive censorship regime has just begun with hardly a whisper from …
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By Simon Davies I predict it’s only a matter of time before corporations feel the heat of public expectation to release more data about their operations. As people become more educated about privacy issues it is inevitable they will view disclosure of information as a key element of trust and accountability. Some companies like 3M …
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As narrated to Simon Davies Dear Diary, 8AM Well, here it is. The Big Push. Must get myself ready for the march. Every other guy in this country is probably still in bed, fondling their black boyfriend, but not me! I’m up and about, bopping to Rage Against The Machine. Might take a …
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By a Facebook user (as revealed to Simon Davies) Facebook is living out some weird fantasy that it knows what people want. No it doesn’t. It’s clunky and full of useless bits that mess with your head and waste your energy. It’s time Facebook learned the truth about what we REALLY want out of …
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By Simon Davies I spent nearly twenty years as a university lecturer unsuccessfully trying to figure a way to make authentication a fun and popular topic, and only now have I cracked the problem. It’s all about “pull” and “push” and making people in call centres read out hilariously stupid words from their screen. I …
Read More...The PrivacySurgeon is owned and operated by Simon Davies - Initial design by Scarab Designs Ltd - Implementation, coding and maintenance by Jim & Pete.
