The Central Illinois Chapter of the ACLU held a political education seminar on Digital Privacy in relation to both corporations & the government. The event was co-organized by Illinois State University Center for Civic Engagement.

Speakers included Dmitry Zhdanov, Director of the Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education at Illinois State University and Stephen Ragan, the Illinois ACLU Police and Advocacy Strategist: Privacy, Technology, and Surveillance.

Below is a summary of the information provided, including: how & why personal data is collected, recommendations on how to protect yourself and your data, ACLU recommendations on Illinois legislation to protect digital privacy, and past ACLU legislative victories going back fifteen years.

Why is your data being collected?

• Surveillance capitalism
  • Data collected is use to target you with specialized ads
  • Data is also sold to other companies
• Influence
  • Used for political campaigns
• Artificial Intelligence
  • Needs large volumes of data for training

What type of data is being collected?

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• Device information
• Location information
• Social information
• Behavioral information
• Environment Information

How is your data collected online?

• Cookies
• Web beacons
  • A web beacon is a technique used on web pages and email to unobtrusively allow checking that a user has accessed some content. Web beacons are typically used by third parties to monitor the activity of users at a website for the purpose of web analytics or page tagging. They can also be used for email tracking. Using such beacons, companies and organizations can track the online behavior of web users.
• Browser fingerprinting
  • Browser fingerprinting is a term used to describe the act of discreetly gathering software and device settings data through an internet user’s browser when they’re online. This combination of settings is then used to build a unique identity – or ‘fingerprint’ – for that individual.

How is your data collected from your devices?

• Make & model info of devices/parts
• IP addresses
• Advertising IDs
• App Permissions
• Location (including Wi-Fi & cell towers)
• Correlations

How is your data collected on social media?

• Connection information
• Metadata
• Trust exploitation

How is your data collected in your environment?

• Cameras
• Microphones
• Sensors

What are the problems of data collection?

• Identity theft
• Surveillance
• Bypassing search warrants
• De-anomization
• Exposure of sensitive populations (minors, crime victims)

“If a device is ‘smart,’ it’s smart because it’s collecting your data.”

Dmitry Zhdanov, Director of the Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education at Illinois State University

The ACLU provided this list of Do’s & Don’ts for privacy protection:

Do’s	Do Not’s
Online: – Reject unnecessary cookies – Use VPN (Virtual Privacy Networks) – Use Privacy-oriented browsers	Online: – Click “Accept all cookies” – Follow links in pop-ups – Authenticate where unnecessary
Devices: – Limit app permissions – Choose the “use once” option – Use a web browser instead of apps – Use Wi-Fi instead of cellular network – Choose “on device” processing	Devices: -Accept default permissions – Share your contacts, locations, etc. – Leave your devices unattended – Choose “in the cloud” processing
Social Media: – Set your profile to be private – Limit the number of groups & connections – Verify the information you get	Social Media: – Connect with people you don’t know – Post your personal details – Announce travel in advance – Tag people in photos
Overall: – Use multi-factor authentication – Review and freeze your credit reports – Opt-out of advertising	Overall: – Use products & services without understanding terms – Jeopardize the privacy of others – Be too trusting

There are no federal laws protecting your digital privacy. State laws are fragmented at best.

The ACLU is supporting the following bills in the Illinois legislature:

HB 4093: Protect Health Data Privacy Act
HB 4093 aims to safeguard private health care information by assuring that individuals have more control over their data before it is collected, stored, shared, or sold to others.

HB 4781: Kinship in Demand Act (KIND Act)
The KIND Act provides equitable support for kinship care and guardianship benefits to improve outcomes for DCFS-involved youth who are in relative care, as well as increase the capacity of relatives to become caregivers delivering permanency for more youth.

HB 5548: Protect Youth Access to Health Care Act
HB 5548 ensures that parents are not at risk of being punished or losing their rights when they support their child’s access to lawful health care.

SB 3499: End of Life Options to Terminally Ill Patients Act
SB 3499 will allow a mentally capable, terminally ill adult with a prognosis of six months or less the option to obtain a prescription medication they may decide to take so they can die peacefully and end their suffering.

In the past 15 years, the ACLU of Illinois has supported the passage of the following laws:

(2008) BIOMETRIC INFORMATION PRIVACY ACT – SB 2400 PUBLIC ACT 95-0994
The Biometric Information Act (BIPA) prohibits any company from selling or otherwise profiting from consumers’ biometric information & requires companies to provide a written notice & obtain written consent from the consumer before collecting consumers’ biometric information. BIPA is a historic legislation in illinois & continues to stand as the most protective biometric privacy law in the nation, with the only one of its kind to offer consumers protection by allowing them to take a company who violates the law to court.

(2013) FREEDOM FROM DRONE SURVEILLANCE ACT – SB 1587 PUBLIC ACT 98-0569
SB 1587 ensures the privacy guarantees of the 4th amendment and the Illinois Constitution by prohibiting law enforcement from using a drone to gather evidence or conduct surveillance except when countering a terrorist attack, authorized by a search warrant, needed to prevent imminent harm to life or serious damage to property, or forestalling a suspect’s escape or the destruction of evidence.

(2014) LIMITATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT USE OF PRIVATE DRONES – SB 2937 PUBLIC ACT 98-0831
SB 2937 builds on the protections created by the Freedom From Drone Surveillance Act passed in 2013, making clear that law enforcement cannot urge any private drone owner to conduct such surveillance, and then use the materials gathered for prosecution.

(2014) FREEDOM FROM LOCATION SURVEILLANCE ACT – SB 2808 PUBLIC ACT 98-1104
SB 2808 is a response to the increasingly common and precise location tracking that creates intrusions on an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy in everyday travel. The act requires a court order based on probable cause of crime before law enforcement can obtain current or future location information from an individual’s electronic device, unless the location information is acquired for a narrow list of exceptions.

(2016) CITIZEN PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT – SB 2343 PUBLIC ACT 99-0622
SB 2343 creates statewide regulations for the use of invasive surveillance technology known as “Stingrays”, a virtual pat down of your phone without your knowing the pat down occurred. While they are an effective piece of technology for tracking and surveillance suspects, Stingrays have the potential to sweep private data from mobile devices that are not part of an investigation. This act allows law enforcement to use cell site simulators for the narrow purpose of locating or tracking the location of a communication device after obtaining a court order based on probable cause, but it does not allow law enforcement to disable a phone by intercepting data and actual content, employing malware, blocking calls, locking phones, or draining battery life.

(2019) INCREASED PROTECTIONS FOR HISTORICAL LOCATION INFORMATION – HB 2134 PUBLIC ACT 101-0460
HB 2134 amends the existing Illinois Freedom from Location Surveillance Act to require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing historical location information. Previously, only current and future historical location information required a warrant. This amendment recognizes the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Carpenter v. United States that cell phone users have a reasonable expectation of privacy under the 4th amendment in historical cell site location data in addition to current or future location information.

(2021) PROTECTING HOUSEHOLD PRIVACY ACT – HB 2553 PUBLIC ACT 102-0597
HB 2553 protects private electronic information stored in household electronic devices from being collected by law enforcement without a valid warrant, court order, or exigent circumstances. The act also places reasonable limitations on the retention and disclosure of the information once it is collected by law enforcement.

This article was originally published on Strangecornersofthought.com.