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  From: Kenneth Canfield <ksc2103@columbia.edu>
  To  : <cpc@emoglen.law.columbia.edu>
  Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 12:45:12 -0400

Re: [CPC] informal poll, especially for techies

Harris Cohen wrote:
> I'm curious... If you had the ear of a young, moderately tech savvy,
> intelligent adult (say, a Columbia Law student) for a few minutes, what
> would be the top 3 or 4 things you'd try and convince her to do in order
> to protect her privacy / identity online? Encrypted email? Some type of
> browser adjustment?

My list, not that I necessarily follow all of it myself even:

1.  Think before disclosing your information (technology can only do so
much to protect users from themselves)
2.  Encrypt email and IM conversations
3.  Use tor when surfing the web

One way to get people started would be to encourage use of a highly
secure Live CD distribution (see
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70017-0.html for a discussion of
such a CD).  Perhaps taking the AOL tactic of mass-mailing CDs to people
can encourage some to try it out.

> 
> I think it would be extremely easy for someone with the inclination to
> put together a video, podcast, web page, etc., making a clear case for
> such measures and explaining / illustrating in layman's terms exactly
> how to implement them. If it were clever enough, it probably wouldn't be
> hard to get the thing into significant viral circulation. But the key
> would be keeping the message simple and direct---there'd only be time to
> advocate a few simple adjustments to the viewer's traditional online
> experience.

Even though CDs like the one in the Wired article I cited above can
easily be downloaded, I think getting them out there in people's hands
can help people start using it.  This approach could perhaps be coupled
with your idea of coming up with a video or something like that.
Perhaps if the CD is shipped with an literature that is convincing
enough.  The good thing about a CD is that the user can stick it in and
try it without doing anything to his or her hard drive/main
installation, and could then decide whether to make a change.  This goes
somewhat outside of your question though as does involve using an
entirely different OS, not making only "a few simple adjustments."
Sticking in a CD and booting is pretty simple though.

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