Headline, November03, 2013

'''THE DIGITAL STAR OF -THE-

 FREEDOM OF INFORMATIO​N '''

Dr Soghoian has since perfected this modus operandi and used it to expose problems with Internet encryption, online privacy and electronic surveillance.

In each case he identifies a problem, creates a technology demonstration to highlight it and sometimes files Freedom of Information Act requests and complaints to government agencies.

He then presents the results neatly packaged for the news media. The organisations targeted by Dr Soghoian usually start off by accusing him of being mistaken or naive, before admitting that he is right and modifying their policies, or issuing a statement that a fix was already in the works.

Dr Soghoian has among other things, revealed the extent to which Sprint, an American Telecoms operator, was disclosing its customers' satellite positioning data to law enforcement agencies; shamed Google, an Internet Giant, into upgrading its encryption.

Exposed a woefully misguided attempt to attack Google by a public relations firm hired Facebook, a rival Internet giant; embarrassed Dropbox, a provider of Online file-storage, over its marketing claims and technical practices.

And pushed for the adoption of a ''Do Not Track'' scheme to allow Internet users to opt out of targeted advertising.

''Every privacy scandal essentially has to take the form of a firestorm,'' says Dr Soghoian. ''I try to focus on things that are really important that haven't gotten enough attention.''

He is now campaigning against the widespread trawling of Internet traffic by the law-enforcement agencies, calling instead for a more targeted focus on specific cases or leads.

Having grown up surrounded by computers -his father used to be a software engineer- Dr Soghoian says he slid into computer science without even considering other disciplines. He became interested in computer security in particular during his undergraduate studies and was then drawn to the specialised field of privacy.

But it was only when the FBI raided his home in 2006 and his PhD adviser suggested that he take a law class that Dr Soghoian decided to concentrate on the intersection between computing and the law.

He wrote his thesis on the governmental use of third-parties to monitor electronic communications and was awarded his doctorate in July 2012

But it would be wrong to characterize Dr Soghoian simply as an academic or an activist, because he has an unusual gift for working outside conventional institutional strictures.

Dr Soghoian's support for the ''Do Not Track'' standard, and his efforts to make it easier for people to prevent their use of the Internet being tracked by the advertisers. Turning such tracking off can be quiet tricky, and must be done by multiple groups, or networks, of advertisers.

This prompted Dr Soghoian to develop two-add-ons for the Firefox web browser that demonstrated simple ways to turn off tracking automatically.

The Honour Post continues:

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of France. See ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' !!! A Giant Leap !!! '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless