There’s something that Americans of varied political affiliations — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — largely agree on: the need to protect net neutrality.

A recent public opinion poll carried out by Mozilla and Ipsos revealed overwhelming support across party lines for net neutrality, with over three quarters of Americans (76%) supporting net neutrality. Eighty-one percent of Democrats and 73% of Republicans are in favor of it.

Another key finding: Most Americans do not trust the U.S. government to protect access to the Internet. Seventy percent of Americans place no or little trust in the Trump administration or Congress (78%) to do so.

Mozilla and Ipsos carried out the poll in late May, on the heels of the FCC’s vote to begin dismantling Obama-era net neutrality rules. We polled approximately 1,000 American adults across the U.S., a sample that included 354 Democrats, 344 Republicans, and 224 Independents.

At Mozilla, we believe net neutrality is integral to a healthy Internet: it enables Americans to say, watch and make what they want online, without meddling or interference from ISPs (Internet Service Providers, such as AT&T, Verizon, and Time Warner). Net neutrality is fundamental to free speech, competition, innovation and choice online.

As you may have seen, the FCC has proposed rolling back net neutrality protections that were enacted in 2015, and will collect public comments on net neutrality through August 18th. Then, hopefully drawing on those comments, the FCC will vote whether to adopt the order and strip their ability to create net neutrality rules.

In the coming months, Mozilla will continue to work with the majority of Americans who endorse net neutrality. We will directly engage with key policymakers. We will continue our advocacy work — like our net neutrality petition, which has garnered more than 100,000 signatures and over 50 hours of voicemail messages for the FCC (just a few of the almost five million comments on the order). And Mozilla will participate in the July 12 Day of Action, joining Fight for the Future, Free Press, Demand Progress and others to call for all Internet users to defend net neutrality.

Below, more key findings from the poll:

— Respondents across the political spectrum (78%) believe that equal access to the Internet is a right, with large majorities of Democrats (88%), Independents (71%), and Republicans (67%) in agreement

— Respondents have little trust in government institutions to protect their access to the Internet. The highest levels of distrust were reported for the Trump administration (70%), Congress (78%) and the FCC (58%)

— When it comes to corporations protecting access to the Internet, 54% of respondents distrust ISPs

— Americans view net neutrality as having a positive impact on most of society. Respondents said it is a “good thing” for small businesses (70%), individuals (69%), innovators (65%) and ISPs (55%), but fewer think that it will benefit big businesses (46%)

To see the full poll results, click here.

Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Net Neutrality was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by M.J. Kelly

As more of our important personal information is stored online behind password-protected accounts, news about data breaches sends us scrambling to find out if our passwords were hacked. One of the best places to find out is Troy Hunt’s website, www.haveibeenpwned.com, where anyone can input their email address to learn if it has been compromised.

Hunt, an Australian information security expert, has spent thousands of hours studying data breaches to understand what happened and who was at risk.

“I kept finding the same accounts exposed over and over again, often with the same passwords, which then put the victims at further risk of their other accounts being compromised,” Hunt said.

He became concerned that everyday people were unaware of how big the problem was. In 2013 when an Adobe customer account breach put more than 150 million user names, email addresses, passwords and password hints at risk, Hunt launched his site. He runs it on a “shoestring budget” out of his own pocket, and his approach has been to keep it simple and keep it free.

Business, unfortunately, has never been better.

“Data breaches have increased dramatically since I started, both in terms of frequency of the incidents and the scale as well.”

He points to a handful of reasons. To start, people have more devices connected to the Internet every year, from phones to refrigerators to teddy bears. With more connected devices and more accounts created with them, more data is being collected.

“The cloud is another thing that has exacerbated the whole problem because as awesome as it is for many things, it also makes it very cheap to stand up services, so we’re seeing more services [with logins],” he said. “It’s also very cheap to store data, so we see organizations hoarding information. Companies like to have as much data as they can so they can market to people.”

We’re also entering the digital native era, a time when more people are online who have never known a time when it was different.

“Their propensity for sharing information and their sensitivity toward their personal privacy is all very different than it is for those of us who reached adulthood before we had the Internet,” he said.

All of this adds up to more information out there from a lot more sources. And not every company is doing a stellar job of protecting that information or destroying it when it’s no longer needed, which makes it vulnerable.

“The reason we have these headlines everyday is because clearly we’re not taking security seriously enough,” Hunt said. “The really big stuff — like your Twitter and your Facebook — is very solid these days, and the vast volume of our Internet behavior is on sites that have done a very good job. The problem is when you get to middle or lower tier sites where you’ve got a lot less funding, and you don’t have dedicated security teams.”

“Pwned,” which rhymes with “owned,” is a slang term meaning your account has been utterly defeated, cracked and, yes, owned. Shortly after his site’s launch, Hunt added a feature where one can sign up to be notified if email address gets pwned in future data leaks. In February 2017, he hit one million subscribers. When Hunt started, he poked around in forums, dark web sites and even public web sites to find leaked data. What he discovered was fascinating.

“There is this whole scene where people share data breaches,” he said. “It’s very often kids, young males, teenagers, who are hoarding data. They collect as much as they can, and they exchange it like they would baseball cards. Except unlike with baseball cards, when you exchange data, you still have the original as well.”

Sometimes data is also sold. When the LinkedIn data breach occurred, it was traded for five bitcoins or several thousand U.S. dollars at the time. Hunt says the data is not typically used to break into the account from which it was hacked. Rather it’s used in an attempt to break into other accounts, such as your bank or your email, which is often the best way to unlock an account. If you reuse passwords, you’re putting yourself at risk.

Today, people get in touch with Hunt when they come across a data breach.

“Fortunately I have a reliable trustworthy network that sends me information and makes it a lot easier to maintain the service. It would be very hard for me to go out and source all of this myself.”

Hunt takes great care when he learns of a data breach. His first step is to determine if it’s legitimate.

“A lot of the stuff out there is fake,” he said. “For example there’s a lot of news at the moment about Spotify accounts, and these Spotify accounts are just reused names and passwords from other places. They weren’t hacked out of Spotify.”

Once that box is checked, he reaches out to the company to alert them, which he says is a surprising challenge. Though he works hard to responsibly disclose the breaches to the companies affected, he has many stories of companies who ignore alerts that their customer data has been compromised. Finally, he loads the email accounts onto his site alongside those from MySpace, xBox 360, Badoo, Adobe, Elance and many more.

Hunt also gives talks about information security to audiences around the world with the goal of getting more businesses and developers to approach projects with a defensive mentality. One of his sessions is a “Hack yourself first” workshop that shows developers how to break into their own work, giving them an opportunity to see offensive techniques first-hand.

“There’s like a lightbulb that goes off when people do get first-hand experience with that,” he said. “It’s enormously powerful as a way of learning.”

At Mozilla, we believe cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, and your actions help make the Internet a safer, healthier place.

Be smart about your logins

As an Internet citizen, there are a few fundamental things you can do to boost your account security online:

1. Use unique passwords.
2. Since it’s difficult to remember so many unique passwords, use a password manager.
3. Use multi-step verification

Check out Mozilla’s Guide to Safer Logins, which covers these tips in more depth.

Update your software

It’s all too easy to ignore software update alerts on your phone and computer, but your cybersecurity may depend on them. Updating to the latest security software, browser and operating system provides an important defense against viruses, malware and other online threats like the recent WannaCry ransomware attack.

Use Lean Data Practices

As a business or developer that handles data, you should always be working to create a more trusted relationship with your users around their data. Building trust with your users around their data doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does mean that you need to think about user privacy and security in every aspect of your product. Lean Data Practices are simple, and even come with a toolkit to make them easy to implement:

1. Stay lean by focusing on data you need,
2. Build in security appropriate to the data you have and
3. Engage your users to help them understand how you use their data.

Originally published at blog.mozilla.org on May 29, 2017.

Has your password been hacked in a data breach? Troy Hunt can help you find out. was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Michaela Smiley

Net neutrality has been in the headlines a lot recently. And while it’s a complicated issue, it’s a really important one to understand.

Yesterday, I spent the day with Heather West, Mozilla’s Senior Policy Manager and net neutrality expert, as we talked to people all over Washington, DC about net neutrality. After we wrapped our day, I compiled the most common questions we received from people on the street, and interviewed Heather for answers.

Net neutrality is admittedly a wonky subject, but if you’re reading this blog post, it means you use the internet. And, if you use the internet, net neutrality is something that affects you. Have a read through Heather’s FAQs to get smart on this pressing issue.

Q. What is net neutrality and why should I care?

A. Net neutrality is a simple concept that ends up being very politically complicated. It’s the idea that your internet service provider (ISP) — whether that’s Comcast, Verizon, or someone else — shouldn’t have the ability to pick and choose which service or content you can see, or make sites pay to have their content load quickly. You should care because net neutrality is about way more than packets of data — it affects competition, innovation, speech online, and user choice. Losing net neutrality would ultimately mean you have fewer choices for content, applications, and services online, in ways we can’t possibly imagine today.

Q. Why is net neutrality in the news now?

A. In 2015 — after more than a decade of broad discussion of this issue, and millions of public comments — the FCC finally adopted clear, strong rules to protect net neutrality, grounded in Congressional authority, and upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, although net neutrality is the kind of common sense policy everyone should support, the recently appointed FCC Chair has decided he would rather ISPs be empowered to pick and choose winners online. So, he just opened a formal proceeding to undo the FCC’s rules.

Q. Who opposes net neutrality and why?

A. The primary opponents of net neutrality are the ISPs, who want to find new ways to charge for internet access (whether they’re charging their subscriber or the website the subscriber wants to look at is part of this question), and to prioritize their own offerings over those of competitors. Some others oppose net neutrality because they’re being misled into believing that it’s all about “regulating the internet”, when in fact it’s anything but — it’s a policy to make sure that the internet will remain open and free for future innovators.

Q. Who thinks keeping net neutrality is a good idea and why?

A. Millions of internet users, technology innovators both large and small, librarians, creative artists, and a whole lot of others who care about the internet — including groups you might never guess, like the National Association of Realtors — have spoken out over many years in support of net neutrality. They all share an interest in preserving an open, user-driven, competition and innovation friendly internet for the future of our economy and our society.

Q. What is the Title I versus Title II debate I keep hearing about?

A. One of the things you’ll hear a lot in this debate is, “I support net neutrality…I just don’t like Title II”. But the bottom line is that the Title II net neutrality protections work, and the Title I protections didn’t. That’s why the FCC chose to reclassify broadband services in 2015.

Communications law is always wonky and complicated, but I can try to explain, Title I and Title II — the two classifications that the FCC can use here — are different sections of communications law. The FCC tried two different times to protect net neutrality using Title I authority, and both times, a Federal court said that Title I wasn’t the right tool to use and rejected Title I net neutrality rules. Title II (for telecommunications and “common carriers”) has more protections for users than Title I such as requiring reasonable practices and privacy protections, and Title II gives the FCC flexibility too. Last year, the same Federal court strongly endorsed the FCC’s use of Title II and adoption of net neutrality rules.

Q. What is Mozilla doing about net neutrality?

A. Mozilla is doing everything we can to preserve and protect net neutrality — both in the U.S. and globally. We’re talking to our community and our grassroots partners about it, we track it in our Internet Health Report, and we’ll be submitting official comments to the FCC and talking to Congress.

Q. What can I do to make my voice heard on this issue?

A. Alongside our allies, we’re running a grassroots advocacy campaign on net neutrality to collect internet users’ comments and send them to the FCC, to help make sure they know how important this issue is to everyone. You can also read our letter to the FCC and add your name here.

Originally published at blog.mozilla.org on May 18, 2017.

Net Neutrality: Answers You Seek was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the EU, outdated copyright law is threatening the health of the Internet.

The EU’s current copyright framework — developed for a time before the Internet — can stymie innovation, preventing entrepreneurs from building on existing data or code. It can stifle creativity, making it technically illegal to create, share and remix memes and other online culture and content. And it can limit the materials that educators and nonprofits like Wikipedia depend on for teaching and learning.

That’s why Mozilla is dropping airborne leaflets — millions of them — onto European cities.

Well, sort of.

Mozilla doesn’t own a fleet of zeppelins. And we like to conserve paper.

So we built Paperstorm.it instead. Paperstorm is a digital advocacy tool that urges EU policy makers to update copyright laws for the Internet age.

Paperstorm allows you to drop copyright reform flyers onto maps of European landmarks, like the Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw, Poland. When you drop a certain amount, you can then message EU policymakers — like Pavel Svoboda, Chair of the EU Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs — on social media and urge them to support reform.

Alone, you might drop a handful of fliers. But together, we can drop millions — and send a clear, forceful message to EU policymakers.

Paperstorm is a collaboration between Mozilla and our friends at Moniker, the Webby award-winning interactive design studio based in Amsterdam. Paperstorm is another installment in Mozilla’s suite of advocacy media, which includes Codemoji and Post Crimes.

Why now? Copyright reform is at a critical juncture. Presently, lawmakers are crafting amendments to the proposal for a new copyright law, a process that will end this year. These amendments have the potential to make copyright law more Internet-friendly — or, conversely, more restrictive and rooted in the 20th century.

The good news: We know lawmakers are listening. Last year, Mozilla and our allies collected hundreds of thousands of signatures calling for copyright reform that would foster innovation and creativity in Europe. Some members of the European Parliament have been working diligently to improve the Commission’s proposal, and have taken into account some of the changes we’ve called for, such as removing dangerous provisions like mandatory upload filters, and pushing back against extending copyright to links and snippets.

But many other lawmakers need to be convinced not to break the Internet, and to support a modern copyright reform that empowers creators, innovators and Internet users.

“The EU Commission’s proposal to modernize copyright law for the 21st century falls short,” says Raegan MacDonald, Mozilla’s Senior Policy Manager in the EU. “It would stifle, rather than promote, innovation and creativity online.”

“We are especially concerned about the provisions calling for mandatory upload filters, which would force online services from Soundcloud to eBay to Wikipedia to monitor all content posted online in the name of copyright protection,” MacDonald adds. “Such an obligation would have a disastrous impact on the Internet ecosystem, repressing free expression and wedging out smaller players.”

“Paperstorm is part advocacy tool, part art project,” says Luna Maurer, Co-Founder of Moniker. “It’s a way to explore the intersection of the digital and physical worlds, while also standing up for free expression online.”

If you support common-sense copyright law in the EU — and a healthier Internet — join the #paperstorm today.

Drop Airborne Leaflets to Fix EU Copyright was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

By Ashley Boyd, VP Advocacy

A little over two years ago, the mood here at Mozilla — and across the broader Internet health movement — was jubilant. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had voted to enshrine net neutrality as law.

The February 2015 milestone was a major victory for those who believe the Internet is a global public resource that belongs to all users, not select corporations. The order meant individuals were free to say, watch and make what they want online, without meddling or interference from Internet service providers. It was good news for business owners, web developers, entrepreneurs and anyone who streams, clicks and creates content online.

Today, the mood is less jubilant. It’s more dismal and angry. It’s “saddening and maddening,” as Mozilla Chief Legal and Business Officer Denelle Dixon wrote last month.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced his intention to gut net neutrality. His goal is clear: to overturn the 2015 order and create an Internet that’s more centralized. The FCC will vote to move his proposal forward on May 18 — just 10 days from today.

Net neutrality is about more than packets and data — it’s about upholding free speech, competition, innovation and user choice. To be clear:

Net neutrality is fundamental to free speech. Without net neutrality, big companies could censor your voice and make it harder to speak up online. Net neutrality has been called the “First Amendment of the Internet.”

Net neutrality is fundamental to competition. Without net neutrality, big Internet service providers can choose which services and content load quickly, and which move at a glacial pace. That means the big guys can afford to buy their way in, while the little guys are muscled out.

Net neutrality is fundamental to innovation. Without net neutrality, creators and entrepreneurs could struggle to reach new users. Investment in new ideas would dry up, and the Internet would start to look more and more like cable TV: so many channels, but with nothing on.

Net neutrality is fundamental to user choice. Without net neutrality, ISPs could decide you’ve watched too many cat videos in one day, and throttle your Internet speeds — leaving you behind on the latest Maru memes.

So what do we do? What worked last time: loud, bold and relentless grassroots action. In 2015, nearly four million people urged the FCC to protect the health of the Internet. We sent letters and voicemails, tweets and memes. And it worked.

Now — in the 10 days leading up to the May 18 vote — it’s time to make even more noise.

Mozilla is making it simple. Add your name to our letter, and we’ll deliver your message straight to the FCC. You can also record an impassioned voicemail using Mozilla’s call tool (see the below gif for details). So far, Internet users have recorded more than 50 hours of audio for the FCC’s ears.

We’re not alone. A broad network of individuals and organizations — millions of us — are fighting to save net neutrality. Individually, we can write one letter and record one voicemail. But together, all this creates a movement.

I hope you’ll stand with Mozilla and spend the next nine days standing up for a healthy Internet. Free speech, competition, innovation and user choice online depend on it.

Why the Next 10 Days Are Critical to the Internet’s Future was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by M.J. Kelly

The Internet hosts thousands of hours of podcasts, all ready for our on-demand listening pleasure. While podcasting might not save the world, it does contribute to a healthy, vibrant Internet. Anyone and everyone can make a show to express themselves, pursue ideas and teach others. Some shows do a remarkable job covering Internet Health issues like privacy, security, openness, inclusion and more. Here are eleven worth hearing, from heart-wrenching human stories to lofty academic conversations, all touching on the Internet’s past, present and future.

1. TED Radio Hour: Open Source World

Creating things freely and in the open sometimes leads to results you never thought possible.

Synopsis: The era of open source has led to countless innovations. When does it work and when is it chaos? In this episode, TED speakers explore how open source is changing how we build, collaborate and govern.

My review: This TED Radio Hour makes the case for why an open source world is a better world, and they do it in a beautiful, conversational way. I listened to this podcast on a Saturday morning in my kitchen, and texted the link to a friend with the comment, “So freaking inspiring!” Seriously, this podcast had me almost in tears of gratitude and inspiration. Good TED Talks can do that. Or maybe I’m just emotional. Either way, it’s good listening.

Open Source World

2. Note to Self: The Bookie, The Phone Booth, and The FBI

When privacy is invaded, it’s not all at once. It’s little by little by little. It’s changing our society and will have profound implications for who we are as a nation.

Synopsis: The fourth amendment doesn’t mention privacy once. But those 54 little words, written more than 200 years ago, are a crucial battleground in today’s fight over our digital rights. That one sentence is why the government can’t listen to your phone calls without a warrant. And it’s why they don’t need one to find out who you’re calling.

My review: I’ve listened to this episode several times. At around the 21-minute mark, when Laura Donohue, director of Georgetown’s Center on Privacy and Technology, eloquently summarizes why privacy matters and how the fourth amendment plays a critical role in defining who we are as a country, I was ready to take to the streets draped in an American flag to defend my constitutional rights. I also got hooked on Note to Self, which tackles the modern quandaries of Internet citizens in an approachable way.

The Bookie, The Phone Booth, and The FBI

3. FT Tech Tonic: Political Disruption and the Internet

You can donate your blood, but you can’t donate your data.

Synopsis: Helen Margetts, head of the Oxford Internet Institute, talks to the Financial Times’ Madhumita Murgia about fake news, echo chambers, big data and why we need more research to be able to combat the “pathologies” of the internet.

My review: As a parent to two young digital natives, I’m concerned about the positive and negative effects of the Internet on them, our society and our future. I didn’t know the Oxford Internet Institute existed, and I’m relieved that academics are studying the social science of the Internet. This podcast is a more academic (and British) conversation about how technology and the Internet can turn small political actions into mass mobilization. Margetts also examines the role of big data analytics in democracies. Good stuff from FT Tech Tonic.

FT Tech Tonic

4. This American Life: If you don’t have anything nice to say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS

Let’s dive into the bile. Let’s dive Into the hate, and look around and see whatever we can understand. Let’s ask the dumbest questions, like “Why so mad?” And if you are so mad, why go to the trouble to tell strangers?

Synopsis: It’s safe to say whatever you want on the Internet; nobody will know it’s you. But that same anonymity makes it possible for people to say all the awful things that make the Internet such an annoying and sometimes frightening place.

My review: I was riveted by writer Lindy West’s story about confronting the man behind the worst trolling experience of her life. For an outspoken, self-described “fat” woman who writes about women’s issues, that’s saying a lot. In classic This American Life style, three more segments carry the theme onward, bringing Internet anger into a very human focus.

If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say, SAY IT IN ALL CAPS

5. To the Best of Our Knowledge: Why is the Internet toxic for women?

The same ways we once trivialized domestic violence and sexual harassment in the workplace were the very same arguments that victims of cyber harassment are faced with.

Synopsis: Ask any woman who spends much time online and she’ll tell you — being a woman on the Internet means coping with abuse and harassment. In one study, nearly half of the women surveyed had been harassed online — and 76 percent of those under 30. As a society, why do we have to put up with this? And how do we fight back?

My review: The episode starts with an incessant buzzing, the sound your phone makes when you get a message. The dispassionate voiceover is indie game developer Zoë Quinn talking about how her phone blew up with messages at the start of Gamergate. To The Best of Our Knowledge’s hosts go on to talk with four more guests — strong, smart women — about the cost of harassment and misogyny. I didn’t come away with “the answer,” but I did come away thinking we can do better than this. Every voice that is silenced due to mistrust in the the online world comes at a cost to us all.

Why Is The Internet Toxic For Women?

6–7. Reply All: The Russian Passenger + Beware All

Oh god–have I been pwned?

Synopsis: Somewhere in Russia, a man calls for a car. Somewhere in New York City, a stranger’s phone buzzes. Alex Blumberg’s Uber account gets hacked. PJ Vogt, Alex Goldman and Phia Bennin set out to solve the mystery.

My review: It’s almost impossible to pick a favorite Reply All episode to feature because they are all so good. In these episodes, the hosts embark on a journey to figure out out how Alex Blumberg’s Uber account got hacked. I identified with the awful, helpless feeling of trying to figure out how it happened and what to do about it. No spoilers, but makes sure to listen to both episodes.

• " #91 The Russian Passenger
• " #93 Beware All

8. Harvard Business Review: When Not to Trust the Algorithm

I wanted to tell the world, because I thought it was relatively invisible to most people, that we’d all drunk the Kool-Aid of big data and we trusted so math so much, so deeply, that it was blinding us to the real problem.

Synopsis: Cathy O’Neil, data scientist and blogger at mathbabe.org , co-host of the Slate Money podcast, and author of the new book Weapons of Math Destruction discusses how data can lead us astray — from HR to Wall Street.

My review: With “Big Data” being ever-present in our lives, gathering endless information about what we do, think and feel, the conversation about ethical use of data is not always front and center. Cathy O’Neill is changing that. She talks to HBR Ideacast about her time as Wall Street number cruncher during the financial crisis and her journey to best selling author. Math nerds unite!

When Not to Trust the Algorithm

9. Recode Decode: Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle

If we allow those who control the present to control the past then they control the future. That’s George Orwell. We need to know what came before.

Synopsis: Journalist Kara Swisher hosts entrepreneur, activist and founder of the Internet Archive (AKA, the Internet Wayback Machine) Brewster Kahle to discuss the growth of the open internet and the importance of having a history of the internet available to everyone.

My review: This Recode Decode conversation is not only about the history of the Internet, it’s about the importance of preserving the web as history. With the web being a decentralized platform by design, saving its content it is no easy feat. Enter social media’s walled gardens and the job is even trickier. I’m grateful people like Kahle are dedicated to keeping the Internet open and available to everyone. I also picked up this nice tidbit: there’s an Internet Hall of Fame, and Kahle is in it.

Full transcript: Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle on Recode Decode

10. Freakonomics Radio: Is the Internet being ruined?

The Internet has the potential to create a more engaged and creative society. The risk is that gatekeepers and profiteers and others will turn it into a more passive ecosystem, less interactive than it could be — more like watching television.

Synopsis: It’s a remarkable ecosystem that allows each of us to exercise control over our lives. But how much control do we truly have? How many of our decisions are really being made by Google and Facebook and Apple? And, perhaps most importantly: is the Internet’s true potential being squandered?

My review: Mozilla believes the Internet is our largest global resource, a living ecosystem that billions of people depend on for knowledge, livelihood, self-expression and love. So is the Internet being ruined? Freakonomics’ Stephen Drubner doesn’t draw a conclusion, but this podcast does serve to raise the alarm.

Is the Internet Being Ruined? - Freakonomics

11. Ctrl-Walt-Delete: Can Walt Mossberg rescue the Internet?

Every few years, the feds and the courts change direction or fail to answer important questions. And every day, the internet becomes more of a platform for lousy ads, for increasing the power of a few rich companies, and for intrusive tracking. It’s too important to leave unprotected.

Synopsis: Walt Mossberg proposes a plan to change how the internet is managed, regulated, and operated. He suggests that the US government should preserve the internet in a similar fashion to how natural resources are protected. He discusses what we need to change, and possible solutions for the problems politicians and major corporations are debatably only blocking.

My review: I was pretty taken with this conversation. Walt Mossberg is a respected, long-time journalist who has covered technology for decades. The fact that he’s believes the Internet is a threatened resource worthy of our protection encourages me. We at Mozilla believe that a healthy Internet — one that is private, inclusive, collaborative and open — is crucial for the world to thrive. As Mossberg notes, there is an infinite number of things that depend on it. So I leave you with this thought: If we don’t protect the Internet, who will?

Can Walt Mossberg save the internet?

Originally published at blog.mozilla.org on May 1, 2017.

Podcasts about the Internet: 11 excellent episodes worth hearing was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On Monday, May 8, 2017 at the re:publica conference in Berlin, we invite participants to join us in a playful examination of global Internet health.

Have you ever wondered if the Internet is healthy? Wouldn’t you love to know if efforts against centralisation, censorship or surveillance are succeeding in making the Internet healthier? How can we not only assess the impact of our actions, but compare and learn from each other?

With the launch of the Internet Health Report, Mozilla has started an open process to document and explain the health of the Internet ecosystem across five issues: Openness, Decentralization, Privacy and Security, Digital Inclusion and Web Literacy.

On Monday, May 8, during the re:publica conference in Berlin, Germany we are bringing the concept to life for the first time in an interactive installation called The Internet Health Clinic.

Visitors will see five “examination tables” (one for each of the issues) where they can learn more. We will be seeking input on ideas for research topics for the Internet Health Report as well as for what actions could contribute to improving global Internet health.

Our partners for this installation are the Global Innovation Gathering (GIG), a network of makers, hackers, founders and innovators from nearly thirty countries. Every hour between 2–5pm, GIG experts and Mozillians will have “visiting hours”. By sharing their research projects and initiatives they will help exemplify “Internet health” across continents.

When and where to find us!

As an ecosystem, the Internet is always evolving and adapting. So must our conversations about Internet health. Are you an engineer, advocate, academic, journalist, maker, or innovator working to improve or advance digital life and freedoms? Then meet us at re:publica 17!

Mozilla’s Internet Health Clinic will open its doors in the Labore:tory building at re:publica on Monday, May 8, 2017 from 12pm to 9pm for walk-ins throughout the day. Open visiting hours with our global experts will be conducted every hour between 2pm to 5pm.

Visiting hours | 2–3 pm

Privacy and Security:

Michelle Thorne @thornet
Internet of Things Program Lead, Mozilla, USA

Michelle Thorne leads Mozilla’s Open Internet of Things Studio, a professional learning network committed to making IoT more healthy and open. Together with Peter Bihr, she co-authored the book Understanding the Connected Home, and exhibited in The Good Home Project. Michelle co-founded Zephyr Berlin, a clothing label making pants that look great, perform and travel well, and are built to last for years.

Digital Inclusion:

Cathleen Berger, Global Engagement Lead, Mozilla, Germany

Cathleen Berger currently works with Mozilla where she is leading the organisation’s global engagement. In this position she is responsible for analysing global developments on digital issues, strategizing engagement across different teams, identifying partnerships and ensuring Mozilla’s ongoing presence in international key fora. Previously, she worked within the international cyber policy coordination staff at the German Foreign Office.

Digital Literacy:

Mishi Choudhary, Legal Director, Software Freedom Law Center, India

Mishi is a technology lawyer and an online civil liberties activist. She is the Legal Director of the New York based Software Freedom Law Center. At SFLC, Mishi is the primary legal representative of many of the world’s most significant free software developers and non-profit distributors, including Debian, the Apache Software Foundation, and OpenSSL.

In 2010, she founded SFLC.in, since which time she has divided her time between New York and New Delhi. Under her direction, SFLC.in has become the premier non-profit organisation representing the rights of Internet users and free software developers in India.

Openness:

Martín Restrepo, Co-founder and EdTech Director, Appiario, Colombia

Martin is a social innovator and specialist in Transmedia for Education and Mobile Learning. He’s Cofounder of Editacuja, develops programmes and projects to access to pervasive and ubiquitous technologies for educational, cultural and social initiatives, integrating communities and schools, training a new generation of teachers, empowering leaders and digital content creators, with the applications of innovative and disruptive technologies. He was recognized by MIT with the TR35 Award, as one of top 10 young innovators in Brazil .

Decentralization:

Gilberto Vieira, Observatório de Favelas, Brazil

Gilberto Vieira holds a bachelor in Social Communication (2008) and specialises in film and video (2010), he also received a master’s degree in Culture and Territorialities (2015). Gilberto studies the mechanisms and articulations of cultural production in Brazil, uniting citizen policy and empowerment through new technologies, digital tools and artistic creation in production processes. He also analyses tactics developed by young cultural producers in favelas.

Visiting hours | 3–4 pm

Privacy and Security:

Jon Rogers, Professor of Creative Technology, University of Dundee, UK

Professor Jon Rogers holds a personal chair in creative technology at the University of Dundee and is a senior research fellow at the Mozilla Foundation. His work explores the human intersection between digital technologies and the design of physical things. He balances playful technologies with cultural and societal needs to find new ways to connect people to each other and to their data in an approach that explores not just what is possible but also what is responsible. Jon has a PhD in neural networks from Imperial College London and built up his knowledge while being a tutor and researcher at the Royal College of Art. He is currently based in Berlin’s Mozilla office, working with the Foundation to build the Open IoT Studio.

Digital Inclusion:

Achol Jok Mach, project manager #defyhatenow, South Sudan

Achol is a South Sudanese/Canadian, born 1984 in what was then Sudan. In the early stages of the Sudanese civil war she moved to Cuba with her family, where she lived for 8 years before moving to Canada in 1997. In Canada she finished her education earning a B.A in Literature from the University of Alberta. Today, she is working with #defyhatenow, an initiative Mobilising Civic Action Against Hate Speech and Directed Social Media Incitement to Violence in South Sudan, both raising awareness and finding ways to counter this ‘epidemic’.

Digital Literacy:

Solana Larsen, Editor, Mozilla Foundation

Solana Larsen is the Editor of Mozilla’s Internet Health Report, an open source project to collect research from different sources to document and explain the health of the Internet. Until a few years ago, Solana was the Managing Editor of Global Voices, an international community of writers, bloggers, translators reporting on citizen media, digital activism and current events in more than a dozen languages. In 2016, she worked with The Web Foundation on the Web We Want.

Openness:

Denise Karunungan, Communications and Engagement Strategist, Open Data Lab Jakarta, Indonesia

Pursuing expertise in design, communications and marketing, Denise works for the Open Data Lab Jakarta (a project of the Web Foundation) building, strengthening and implementing communications and engagement strategies. Denise has roots in information design and digital media, a background thoroughly used as she worked several years in the advertising and creative industry.

Decentralization:

Esther Mueni Ngei, Member, wHack, Kenya

Esther Ngei is a Kenyan studying Economics at the University of Warsaw in Poland, with interest in Political Economy. Esther is interested in global economy and researching international strategies for technology transfer and cooperation between groups/communities/NGOs in different countries.

Visiting hours | 4–5 pm

Privacy and Security:

Katarzyna Szymielewicz, President Panoptykon Foundation, Poland

Katarzyna is an expert in human rights and technology, and an activist. She is the co-founder and president of Panoptykon Foundation — a Polish NGO defending human rights in surveillance society, with mission to control the controllers. Since 2012 she is also vice-president of European Digital Rights, Board member of Tactical Technology Collective, Amnesty International (Poland) and Coding Rights.

Digital Inclusion:

Renata Avila, Senior Digital Rights Advisor, Web Foundation, Guatemala

Renata is the Senior Digital Rights Advisor for the World Wide Web Foundation. She is a Guatemalan human rights lawyer and digital rights advocate. Specialising in Intellectual Property and Technology, she works in the intersection between human rights, information, technological change and the power disparities between the Global North and South. As a lawyer in Guatemala, she has represented indigenous victims of genocide and other human rights abuses, including the indigenous leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum, and was a fellow at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Digital Literacy:

Markos Lemma, Co-founder, iceaddis, Ethiopia

Markos Lemma is a techie, activist, and co-founder of iceaddis — a community oriented innovation hub in Ethiopia and co-founder of Glihub — a startup company working on primary education and literacy. He specialised in ICT consultancy and community management. He is also an advocate for startup movements, social and environmental innovations & blogging. Markos is a coordinator on a research program on literacy, a project running by MIT, OLPC & Tufts University with a direct supervision of Nicholas Negroponte, Dr. Cynthia Breazeal & Maryanne Wolf. He organises Barcamp Ethiopia once a year, the biggest tech community event in Ethiopia.

Openness:

Raegan MacDonald, Senior EU Policy Manager, Mozilla, Canada

Originally from Canada, Raegan is based in Brussels, Belgium, where she leads Mozilla’s Public Policy work in the EU, and specialises in copyright, net neutrality, privacy and data protection. Prior to joining Mozilla, Raegan established and led Access Now’s Brussels Office. Prior to that, Raegan worked with European Digital Rights (EDRi), an association civil and human rights groups from across Europe.

Decentralization:

Dalia Othman, Gender and Tech Coordinator/ Co-Founder, Tactical Tech Collective/ VecBox, Palestine

Dalia Othman is the Gender and Tech project coordinator at Tactical Tech Collective and a Research Affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. For the past few years, Dalia has been researching online civic engagement in the Arab World, focusing on analysing the Arab Blogosphere and Twitter networks of various countries within the region. She is co-founder of the data storytelling resource site Netstories.org, VecBox, a hackerspace in Palestine.

See you all in Berlin!!

Originally published at blog.mozilla.org on May 2, 2017.

Step into the “Internet Health Clinic” @ re:publica 17 — Internet Citizen was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by M.J. Kelly

We have long advised Web users to look for HTTPS and the lock icon in the address bar of their favorite browser (Firefox!) before typing passwords or other private information into a website. These are solid tips, but it’s worth digging deeper into what HTTPS does and doesn’t do to protect your online security and what steps you need to take to be safer.

Trust is more than encryption

It’s true that looking for the lock icon and HTTPS will help you prevent attackers from seeing any information you submit to a website. HTTPS also prevents your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing what pages you visit beyond the top level of a website. That means they can see that you regularly visit https://www.reddit.com, for example, but they won’t see that your spend most of your time at https://www.reddit.com/r/CatGifs/. But while HTTPS does guarantee that your communication is private and encrypted, it doesn’t guarantee that the site won’t try to scam you.

Because here’s the thing: Any website can use HTTPS and encryption. This includes the good, trusted websites as well as the ones that are up to no good — the scammers, the phishers, the malware makers.

You might be scratching your head right now, wondering how a nefarious website can use HTTPS. You’ll be forgiven if you wonder in all caps HOW CAN THIS BE?

The answer is that the security of your connection to a website — which HTTPS provides — knows nothing about the information being relayed or the motivations of the entities relaying it. It’s a lot like having a phone. The phone company isn’t responsible for scammers calling you and trying to get your credit card. You have to be savvy about who you’re talking to. The job of HTTPS is to provide a secure line, not guarantee that you won’t be talking to crooks on it.

That’s your job. Tough love, I know. But think about it. Scammers go to great lengths to trick you, and their motives largely boil down to one: to separate you from your money. This applies everywhere in life, online and offline. Your job is to not get scammed.

How do you spot a scam website?

Consider the uniform. It generally evokes authority and trust. If a legit looking person in a spiffy uniform standing outside of your bank says she works for the bank and offers to take your cash in and deposit it, would you trust her? Of course not. You’d go directly to the bank yourself. Apply that same skepticism online.

Since scammers go to great lengths to trick you, you can expect them to appear in a virtual uniform to convince you to trust them. “Phishing” is a form of identity theft that occurs when a malicious website impersonates a legitimate one in order to trick you into giving up sensitive information such as passwords, account details or credit card numbers. Phishing attacks usually come from email messages that attempt to lure you, the recipient, into updating your personal information on fake but very real-looking websites. Those websites may also use HTTPS in an attempt to boost their legitimacy in your eyes.

Here are some things you should do.

Don’t click suspicious links.

I once received a message telling me that my Bank of America account had been frozen, and I needed to click through to fix it. It looked authentic, however, I don’t have a BoFA account. That’s what phishing is — casting a line to bait someone. If I did have a BoFA account, I may have clicked through and been hooked. A safer approach would be to go directly to the Bank of America website, or give them a call to find out if the email was fake.

If you get an email that says your bank account is frozen / your PayPal account has a discrepancy / you have an unpaid invoice / you get the idea, and it seems legitimate, go directly to the source. Do not click the link in the email, no matter how convinced you are.

Stop for alerts.

Firefox has a built-in Phishing and Malware Protection feature that will warn you when a page you visit has been flagged as a bad actor. If you see an alert, which looks like this, click the “Get me out of here!” button.

HTTPS matters

Most major websites that offer a customer login already use HTTPS. Think: financial institutions, media outlets, stores, social media. But it’s not universal. Every website out there doesn’t automatically use HTTPS.

It’s not difficult for sites to convert. The website owner needs to get a certificate from a certificate authority to enable HTTPS. In December 2015, Mozilla joined with Cisco, Akamai, EFF and University of Michigan to launch Let’s Encrypt, a free, automated, and open certificate authority, run for the public’s benefit.

HTTPS across the Web is good for Internet Health because it makes a more secure environment for everyone. It provides integrity, so a site can’t be modified, and authentication, so users know they’re connecting to the legit site and not some attacker. Lacking any one of these three properties can cause problems. More non-secure sites means more risk for the overall Web.

If you come across a website that is not using HTTPS, send them a note encouraging them to get on board. Post on their social media or send them an email to let them know it matters: @favoritesite I love your site, but I noticed it’s not secure. Get HTTPS from @letsencrypt to protect your site and visitors. If you operate a website, encrypting your site will make your it more secure for yourself and your visitors and contribute to the security of the web in the process.

In the meantime, share this article with your friends so they understand what HTTPS does and doesn’t do for their online security.

Tags: HTTPS, phishing

Originally published at blog.mozilla.org on April 21, 2017.

How does HTTPS protect you (and how doesn’t it?) was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Daniel Kessler

Here’s the scenario: You’re at the airport or train station and have a hour to kill. This might be a good time to be mindful of your data privacy and health — on and offline.

Pro Tips:

• Out of consideration for your health — unless you ran a double marathon right before your trip and are doing an Ironman the next day — avoid Cinnabon’s Caramel Pecanbon (1080 calories), found at many an airport. Delicious but deadly.
• Consider the following easy-to-do steps to protect your privacy and stay safe and secure online while traveling. Bonus: These privacy tips work when you get home, too.

Make Sure You Only Use Encrypted Network Connections for More Privacy

Try to only visit encrypted websites that use HTTPS (note the lock icon in your browser). Encryption is key to Internet Health. HTTPS sites are secure and prevent bad guys from peeking into what you are viewing on your browser. If any websites you use on a regular basis don’t use HTTPS, contact them and tell them to update. Let’s Encrypt makes it easy.

Be careful when entering any personal information for website access. If you’re using Firefox, it will display a green lock icon when you’re viewing a page with a secure connection. This is to inform you that if you enter your password, you are reasonably safe from eavesdroppers.

Turn on two-step authentication for all your accounts. Two-step authentication is one of the best ways to prevent unauthorized access to your private accounts. Even if somebody manages to steal your private password, you’ll get a text notifying you when the thief tries to login from an unfamiliar phone or computer. It’s easy to set this up and requires both your password and device to get access to your accounts.

Extra Credit

Use private browsing. Every modern browser has a function to keep your search history and other data somewhat secret. Firefox has private browsing and tracking protection, which minimizes the ability of hidden third parties to track your activity across many sites. Firefox Focus for your iPhone erases your history every time after every search. Pretty nifty.

Avoid Cinnabon’s Cinnamon Roll Coffee Chillatta if you want to work/read on the trip. Sorry to come back to this. This delicious concoction packs 900 calories into one frothy drink. I speak from experience. You’ve been warned.

Make Your Devices More Secure For More Privacy

Turn your phone off when going through border control. If you turn off your device, you’ll be required to enter a password to open the device when you turn it back on — assuming you set one up (see above). This is true even if you turned on the fingerprint functionality.

Make sure you have a password on your device. Every device invites users to create a password for extra security. Think of a password like your ATM card PIN. You wouldn’t want any old Tom, Dick or Harry to get hold of your card without a PIN to protect it. Same deal with your device. Set a password. It takes five seconds.

Remove apps you’re not using. Deleting apps doesn’t just save you data and storage — it also decreases the chance these apps can be insecure. You should also turn on automatic updates for apps when on WiFi, or take a moment to update them. Updated apps are more likely to be secure.

Update your device to latest version of your operating system and back it up. Backing up your phone and keeping your OS current means your data is there for you if your device is stolen or damaged and you’re using the latest security tools.

Extra Credit

Download a password manager. These handy tools store passwords for you and can create randomized passwords. Having many passwords as opposed to just one is a best practice.

Grab an apple and some nuts. Just so I’m being fair, it’s not just Cinnabon that should be carefully considered while killing time at the airport. DYK a Big Mac has 900 calories? That’s like 9 apples. Choose wisely my friends.

Originally published at blog.mozilla.org on March 28, 2017.

How to Protect Your Data Privacy While Traveling — Internet Citizen was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by M.J. Kelly

When artist Robert Sikoryak put the iTunes Terms and Conditions into graphic novel format, he tapped a familiar problem. Most of us don’t read the terms and conditions because it’s a bore and a chore. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University estimated the median length of a single online privacy policy, for example, to be 2,514 words. This would take 10 minutes to read. Multiply that by the number of apps and sites you use daily, and it adds up to a fairly onerous burden.

A healthy Internet depends on our ability to make meaningful choices online about what we share with what companies and understanding the trade-offs we’re making when we do. By skipping past lengthy terms and conditions in the hunt for the “I agree” button, we have no idea what we’re giving away — like our first born child for use of a fake social network or the shirt off our back to win an iPad. Too often, our personal, private data is also offered up in the mix.

We sat down with Sikoryak to hear more about his new book, Terms and Conditions, The Graphic Novel, which not only makes reading the fine print more enjoyable, it also highlights the challenges consumers face in controlling of how personal information is collected and used by companies.

From a room surrounded by comics, Sikoryak described his work as pastiche, a mash-up technique that joins the iTunes fine print with redrawn “swipes” of previously published comics. He pairs Persepolis with iBooks storage rules, Superman with submissions to the iTunes service, Josie and the Pussycats with exceptions for public institutions, Captain Marvel with Apple Music usage rules, and The Simpsons with intellectual property protection. And those are just a few of the nearly 100 comics he celebrates in the book.

Each page features a familiar comic book character satirically reimagined as Steve Jobs who relays the iTunes legalese to us. Steve Jobs as Mr. Natural, Bone, Felix the Cat, Cathy and Snoopy’s Joe Cool — all sporting black turtlenecks, glasses and beards — is irresistible.

Sikoryak is known for adapting literary classics into comic format, meshing highbrow with lowbrow. Waiting for Godot meets Beavis and Butt-Head; Crime and Punishment meets Batman; Wuthering Heights meets Tales from the Crypt. When he was looking for a new long-form project, the infamously long terms and conditions came to mind.

“One of the reasons that I got excited about adapting [the iTunes terms] is that there’s no characters, no plot, and people don’t have a connection to the text. I really wanted people to reconsider the possibilities of comics,” Sikoryak said. “I want them to look at comics a different way as much as they look at terms and conditions in a different way.”

He initially drew Terms and Conditions as single comics and sold them at his local shop and conventions before trying online publishing. The response astonished him.

“I put [the comics] on Tumblr, and I sent an email out to everyone I knew to say ‘Hey, I did this thing,’” Sikoryak said. “Within 24 hours, Boing Boing found me. I was on Morning Edition on NPR with in a week. Fresh Air called. I didn’t have a publicist. I just put it out in the world.”

Throughout Sikoryak’s project, the iTunes Terms and Conditions fluctuated in length from 14,000 words to a whopping 23,000 words. The book serves to capture a historical record, for after he published the book, the terms changed again. Today it’s called “Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions” and is trimmed to 6,800 words.

“All of the [Apple] products are so beautiful and elegant, and the Terms and Conditions are so massive and awkward and not poetic,” he said. “Maybe there are lawyers who find it well written. It’s not Gertrude Stein. There’s a lot of repetition, but it’s not poetry.”

Learn more about Terms and Conditions by R. Sikoryak from publisher Drawn & Quarterly.

Originally published at blog.mozilla.org on April 3, 2017.

Terms and Conditions, The Graphic Novel was originally published in Mozilla Internet Citizen on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.