January 28th is International Data Privacy Day. This holiday exists in part to encourage us to think about how much information we have readily available to strangers. Glenn Greenwald speaks about the importance of data privacy, Via TED
Glenn Greenwald was one of the first reporters to see — and write about — the Edward Snowden files, with their revelations about the United States’ extensive surveillance of private citizens. In this searing talk, Greenwald makes the case for why you need to care about privacy, even if you’re “not doing anything you need to hide.”
The TED Talks series explores many aspects of online privacy, see more here.
Data Privacy Day falls on January 28th to coincide with the day that the Convention for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data was opened for signature by the Council of Europe in 1981. Via Wikipedia
Data Privacy Day’s educational initiative originally focused on raising awareness among businesses as well as users about the importance of protecting the privacy of their personal information online, particularly in the context of social networking. The educational focus has expanded over the past four years to include families, consumers and businesses. In addition to its educational initiative, Data Privacy Day promotes events and activities that stimulate the development of technology tools that promote individual control over personally identifiable information; encourage compliance with privacy laws and regulations; and create dialogues among stakeholders interested in advancing data protection and privacy. The international celebration offers many opportunities for collaboration among governments, industry, academia, nonprofits, privacy professionals and educators.
Make shares 6 DIY projects to help you protect your digital privacy. These include an internet kill switch, some counter-surveillance stealth wear and routers that allow you to browse the web anonymously.
Cellphone snooping. Network surveillance. Face recognition technology. As the gadgets we search, watch, and read become more able to watch us back, Makers are finding clever ways to guard their digital privacy and maintain anonymity online. Here are a few of our favorites.
Support Data Privacy Day by discussing its importance with your friends and family. Staysafeonline.org is a great resource where you can find a Data Privacy Day event in your area.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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