Beyond protecting our privacy and the sale of our personal data, we also want to help keep our and others’ data secure, to prevent things like identity theft or being the victim of financial scams. Below are some recommended resources related to digital security (often referred to as information security, or infosec, for short), including some DLINQ blog posts covering different aspects of digital security.

Information Security Resources

• Information Security tips and resources for Middlebury
• Information security resource page from the Federal Trade Commission

Additional Tips and Resources

• Be aware of deceptive web practices and attention gimmicks and report them. Deceptive practices include disguised ads, forced continuity, and friend spam. Check out Dark Patterns for more examples and suggested responses. The Data Detox Kit by Tactical Tech also offers some great advice and tips on this topic, as well as other ways to detoxify your digital world.
• Use an ad and privacy blocker to get rid of visual noise and unwanted tracking. DLINQ recommends Privacy Badger, Ghostery, and Disconnect.
• Read up on algorithms and machine bias. Some good places to start are ProPublica’s selection of articles on Machine Bias, and Project Information Literacy’s Information Literacy in the Age of Algorithms.
• Protect your data privacy to keep companies from tracking your digital footprint and feeding algorithms. Use search engines like DuckDuckGo instead of Google to keep websites from tracking your data. Explore more privacy tools and resources listed here and from the DLINQ CryptoParty.
• Unplug home assistant technologies, like Alexa or Google Assistant, when not in use, and consider leaving them unplugged most of the time. These are data-extracting devices (even when you don’t realize they are collecting data, they are).
• Play with tools that confuse automation and algorithms, like the Track This tool. Track This obfuscates your browser data by opening websites unrelated to your browser history.