Presented at
33C3 (2016),
Dec. 28, 2016, 8:30 p.m.
(60 minutes)
When thinking about surveillance, everyone worries about government agencies like the NSA and big corporations like Google and Facebook. But actually there are hundreds of companies that have also discovered data collection as a revenue source. We decided to do an experiment: Using simple social engineering techniques, we tried to get the most personal you may have in your procession.
When thinking about surveillance, everyone worries about government agencies like the NSA and big corporations like Google and Facebook. But actually there are hundreds of companies that have also discovered data collection as a revenue source. Companies which are quite big, with thousands of employees but names you maybe never heard of. They all try to get their hands on your personal data, often with illegal methods. Most of them keep their data to themselves, some exchange it, but a few sell it to anyone who's willing to pay.
We decided to do an experiment: Using simple social engineering techniques, we tried to get the most personal you may have in your procession. Your “click-stream data”, every URL you have been visiting while browsing the web.
After a couple of weeks and some phone calls we were able to acquire the personal data of millions of German Internet users - from banking, over communication with insurance companies to porn. Including several public figures from politics, media and society. In the talk, we'll explain how we got our hands on this data, what can be found inside and what this could mean for your own privacy and safety now and in the future.
* Introduction & background
* Who collects data and for which purposes
* How we got our hands on a large data sample
* What's in it? Detailed analysis of the data set
* How does it work? Analysis of the collection methods
* Outlook: Can we still save our privacy?
Presenters:
-
Svea Eckert
as @sveckert
Investigative researching journalist for biggest german broadcaster ARD - focusing on new technologies.
Since 2007 Svea Eckert works as a freelance journalist for the public service broadcaster “Das Erste” (ARD). She is mainly researching and reporting on current events for PrimeTime news shows “Tagesschau” and “Tagesthemen”. Her main focus lies on new technology: current internet policies and digital society, economics and data protection policies.
In 2011 she released, as co-author, her first documentary “Weltmacht Wikileaks?”. Four more documentaries for "Das Erste" (ARD) followed. In 2012 she told the story about facebook and its then much speculated about IPO in her documentary “Facebook - Milliardengeschäft Freundschaft” (“Facebook - Billion Dollar Business friendship”). In 2014 her knowledge and her research during the NSA-affair ended in her first book “Überwacht und ausgespäht: Prism, NSA, Facebook & Co.” (“Monitored and spied out: Prism, NSA, Facebook & Co.”) which was published in the Lingen Verlag. In 2015 she published her recent documentary "Schlachtfeld Internet - Wenn das Netz zur Waffe wird" ("The Internet as a battlefield") where Edward Snowden was the main interview partner - she was researching in hundreds of secret NSA documents.
Svea Eckert studied “Journalism and Communications” and Economics in Hamburg. During that time she published articles and television broadcasts for numerous publishers and TV stations. Amongst them are “Spiegel TV” and “ZDF”. She also published for “DIE ZEIT” and “Financial Times Deutschland” during an internship at New York German Press. She completed her journalistic training at NDR, Hamburg and Hannover.
-
Andreas Dewes
I’m a trained physicist with a background in low-temperature physics and quantum computing, now working as a data scientist & programmer. I’m interested in data analysis and technology with a focus on privacy, algorithmic transparency and security.
Links:
Similar Presentations: