It’s the digital security training team at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), with security news that keeps you, your sources, and your devices safe. If someone shared this newsletter with you, please subscribe here.

This October, we’re bringing you a twist on our weekly newsletter. Read along as we shine our flashlight into the darker, creepier, more persistent corners of the online world. After all, it’s spooky season, and we all have the potential to be the heroes when it comes to safeguarding our data.

Let’s start with a threat that isn’t likely to go away any time soon: data brokers. These are companies that collect and sell consumers’ personal information, often obtained by purchasing data from other businesses and scraping public records. That unsettled feeling you get when you are served an all-too-accurate advertisement? Data brokers at work.

While many Americans feel creeped out by this relentless tracking, America’s relationship with data brokers seems to be one step forward, two steps back. Killing off much-needed regulation is just the latest; the federal government has long been in on the game of purchasing location data. Is this a violation of our Fourth Amendment rights? Probably. As our colleague Caitlin Vogus wrote, this data broker loophole directly affects journalists and whistleblowers.

But we will take glimmers of hope where we can find them. Some states are making progress toward closing the loophole that links data brokers and law enforcement, and this U.S. senator is holding 30-plus brokers’ feet to the fire after news reports found them hiding their opt-out pages from Google search results.

In addition to issuing very good reporting, how can journalists keep the positive momentum going?

  • Learn more about how your data is tracked, bought, and sold. Knowing what’s going on behind the scenes will help you right-size your defenses.
  • Sign up for an opt-out service. We like Abine’s DeleteMe, but it comes with a yearly subscription that may be hefty for some. Luckily, Consumer Reports put out this extremely helpful comparison to help you find an opt-out service that’s right for you.
  • If you prefer a DIY approach to opting out, check out Yael Grauer’s Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List. For those fighting the good fight, reviewing Yael’s list against reports issued by your opt-out will help fill in gaps in coverage.

Next week, we’ll chat further about how our private data is used by government entities, this time with our flashlight shining on Customs and Border Patrol.

Until then,

Davis

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Davis Erin Anderson
Senior Digital Security Trainer
Freedom of the Press Foundation