- Even cookies which customise a website (such as providing a greeting message) are deemed to be non essential. Essential cookies are generally those which enable an online checkout process to work properly - or if required for technical or security purposes. Failure to comply with the Cookie Law can lead to fines of up to £500,000.
- The idea of displaying a privacy policy was required by law to respect and protect privacy even in spaces as risky as online web pages. As a private company, you have the right to protect your legal documents from the eyes of others. Yet, there’s one legal document that you’re absolutely required to divulge the contents of - the privacy policy.
- 1 What is the Cookie Law? 2 How to stay compliant with cookie legislation. Have a web page that explains what cookies are and how your website uses them; 2.2 2. Optional: Have a pop-up message or banner providing cookie information; 2.3 3. Include information on how to disable cookies; 2.4 4. Outsource your cookie notifications.
To protect your privacy on the web, you need to learn about the cookie controls provided in your browser. You should also investigate some specialized tools that can control all cookie types. Unfortunately, however, even if you do make the effort to control cookies, there is little that you can currently do to protect against cookie-less.
Welcome to the Stripe Privacy Center
Stripe respects the privacy of everyone that engages with our platform, and we are committed to being transparent about our privacy processes and policies. We are a platform that enables millions of businesses, and in order to provide our services to our users, we collect and process personal data.
The Stripe Privacy Center contains the answers to frequently asked questions about how we collect and use personal data, the rights that individuals have in relation to personal data held by Stripe, and how Stripe complies with international data protection laws.
All materials have been prepared for general information purposes only. The information presented is not legal advice, is not to be acted on as such, may not be current and is subject to change without notice.
I heard that Stripe is collecting additional information about my account from a third party and/or my other Stripe account(s). Why is Stripe collecting this information? | I am a U.S. user with a Custom connected account. Does Stripe also collect information about my Custom connected account from a third party? | What responsibilities do Connect platforms with custom accounts have to allow their users to update or correct information associated with their accounts? | I am a U.S. user with a Custom connected account. Will data collected from a third party be visible to my customers? | |
What is Stripe Identity? | What is Stripe’s approach to the collection, use, and storage of biometric information in connection with its Stripe Identity product? | What is Stripe’s approach to the collection, use, and storage of selfie images and identification documents in connection with its Stripe Identity product? | How is Stripe dealing with international data transfers? | What does the Schrems II decision mean? |
Is Stripe acting as a data controller or a data processor? | What legal basis does Stripe rely on to process personal data as a data controller? | What are your data controller activities? | As a Stripe User and as a data controller, what does GDPR mean for me? | |
Does Stripe have a Data Protection Officer (DPO)? | Who are Stripe’s sub-processors and how are they vetted? | What is a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) and how can I get one with Stripe? | How do I delete my account? | How do I delete my Custom Connect account? |
How do I delete my Express Connect account? | Where can I get more information about your privacy and cookie practices? | Stripe Connect At a Glance | How do you implement Privacy by Design at Stripe? | How does Stripe use cookies? |
Stripe Cookie Labels | What is Stripe.js? | What are advanced fraud signals? | Why are advanced fraud signals not ad tracking? | Can I turn off tracking and advanced fraud signals? |
I heard that Stripe is collecting additional information about my account from a third party and/or my other Stripe account(s). Why is Stripe collecting this information? | Stripe may collect additional information about your account to allow Stripe and its financial partners to detect fraud and/or fulfill financial compliance requirements. These requirements come from our financial partners or regulatory obligations and are intended to prevent abuse of the financial system. Examples of missing data fields include your address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, employer identification number, or website URL. Stripe may be able to fill in some of this information by leveraging data we have collected from one of your other Stripe accounts or by obtaining data from a third party. We will show you the information that we are associating with your account on your dashboard, and you may update or correct that information via your dashboard. Please see Stripe's Privacy Policy for additional information. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
I am a U.S. user with a Custom connected account. Does Stripe also collect information about my Custom connected account from a third party? | If you are a U.S. user with a Custom connected account, Stripe may collect additional information about your account to enable fraud detection and fulfill financial compliance requirements. These requirements for additional information come from our regulators or financial partners and are intended to prevent abuse of the financial system. Examples of missing data fields include your address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, employer identification number, or website URL. Stripe may leverage data we already have from one of your Stripe accounts or Stripe may fill in some of this information by receiving data from a third party. You may view the information that we are associating with your account and update or correct that information by contacting the platform or business that created your Stripe payment account. Please see Stripe's Privacy Policy for additional information. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What responsibilities do Connect platforms with custom accounts have to allow their users to update or correct information associated with their accounts? | You, the platform, are responsible for all interactions with your Custom accounts and for collecting all of the information needed to verify the Custom account-holders. Since Custom account holders cannot log into Stripe, it is up to you to build the user dashboard and communication channels. You are responsible for actioning any request by a user to update or correct their Stripe Custom account information. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
I am a U.S. user with a Custom connected account. Will data collected from a third party be visible to my customers? | Card networks and issuers use statement descriptors to identify payments on a cardholder’s bank statement. Statement descriptors usually include information about the payment, such as the name and phone number of the seller. However, the exact information displayed is ultimately up to a cardholder’s bank. If Stripe updates your account’s business address, phone number, or email address, these fields may be displayed on the statement descriptor within the cardholder’s bank statement. However, the exact information displayed is ultimately up to the card network or the cardholder’s bank. If any information is incorrect, please reach out to the platform through which you receive charges to ensure you have provided them with the most accurate information about you and your business. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What is Stripe Identity? | Stripe provides a variety of verification services to help our customers prevent fraud, conduct identity verification, or meet their legal obligations. We call these verification services “Stripe Identity,” and we call the third party business customers who use these services “Stripe Identity Users.” One type of verification service that Stripe provides uses biometric identification and facial verification technology to verify identity. On behalf of the Stripe Identity User, we will ask you (the person who provides us the personal information) to provide an image of your face (a “selfie”) and an image of your identification document (“ID”) (e.g., driver’s license or passport). We will ask you for consent to use the images for two purposes. The first purpose is to verify your identity and the information provided, which may include verifying that the selfie matches the ID, reviewing and extracting the information in the ID, and confirming that the ID is valid and not associated with fraud or misuse. The second purpose is to help Stripe train our systems to more accurately verify identities and detect fraud and misuse of the services. For both purposes, we will need to extract the biometric information associated with your selfie and ID to see if they match, as discussed below. You can consent to the use of your information for verification purposes without consenting to allowing your images to be used to improve our verification technology. You can withdraw your consent for this use at any time by contacting the Stripe Identity User with whom you have a relationship. You can also email [email protected] with the subject matter line “Stripe Identity” for any additional privacy-related questions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What is Stripe’s approach to the collection, use, and storage of biometric information in connection with its Stripe Identity product? | To offer Stripe Identity, Stripe may use the biometric information associated with your selfie and ID (“face map”) to determine whether the selfie matches the ID provided. Stripe will not sell, lease, or trade a face map. Stripe will delete the face map within 48 hours of creating it for identity verification, unless we believe it is associated with fraud or misuse of our services. We may retain face maps identified with fraud or misuse of our services for up to 1 year in order to identify and detect similar attempts or misuse. Keep in mind that while we delete the face maps within 48 hours, we store your selfie and ID for longer. Please look to the applicable Stripe Identity User’s privacy policy to learn more about their retention policies. As a service provider to the Stripe Identity User, we continue to store your image and identity document in accordance with our contracts in place with them. [Note: If you are a customer of Stripe products, you can find out more about how we use and store your personal data in the Stripe Privacy Policy.] If you consented to the use of your data to improve the accuracy of Stripe’s facial verification technology, Stripe will use the selfie and/or ID image to train its identity verification technology by creating another face map from your images. This face map will be deleted within 48 hours after creation and used only to improve Stripe’s services. In those limited instances where Stripe stores a face map associated with fraud or misuse of services, Stripe will implement reasonable security measures to prevent unauthorized access or use of it. We do so by using the reasonable standard of care within our industry, including through the use of access controls, and in a manner that is the same or exceeds the standards used to protect other similar confidential and sensitive information held by Stripe. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What is Stripe’s approach to the collection, use, and storage of selfie images and identification documents in connection with its Stripe Identity product? | To verify your identity, Stripe will need your consent to collect and use your selfie and ID. Stripe will use facial verification technology to compare your ID and selfie. If you do not consent, we will direct you back to the Stripe Identity User. If you consent, we will use the images you provide to verify you. We may in some cases send a copy of your selfie and/or ID to a third-party service provider to Stripe to help us complete the verification, in accordance with Stripe's Privacy Policy. Once the verification is complete, the Stripe Identity User may ask Stripe to store copies of your selfie and ID. Stripe Identity Users may be required by law to retain copies of your identification to show that they conducted an identity verification, and Stripe provides this service to many of these Stripe Identity Users. In those cases, Stripe will store the images you provided on behalf of the Stripe Identity User and they may be accessed by, or deleted at the direction of, the Stripe Identity User. Please be sure to review the Stripe Identity User’s privacy policy/notice to learn more about their use of your personal data. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
How is Stripe dealing with international data transfers? | The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a ruling in Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Maximilian Schrems (Schrems II), examining transfers of data from the European Economic Area (EEA). Here’s some additional information on Stripe’s approach to this judgment. Stripe continues to have appropriate safeguards and compliance measures to ensure an adequate level of protection of personal data transferred outside the EEA and Switzerland. Stripe’s existing measures include the EU Commission’s approved Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to accommodate international data transfers. Stripe respects the privacy of everyone that engages with our products and services, and we are committed to being transparent about our privacy processes and policies. We enable millions of businesses, and in order to provide our services to our users, we collect and process personal data. To learn more about our commitment to privacy and data security, please see our Stripe Privacy Policy, Stripe Privacy Center, and Stripe Security Center. We also want to highlight some of our supplementary measures to protect our users’ data from unauthorized access. Stripe maintains and enforces a security program that addresses the management of security and the security controls employed by Stripe. We also perform risk assessments and implement and maintain controls for risk identification, analysis, monitoring, reporting, and corrective action. Stripe maintains and enforces an asset management program that appropriately classifies and controls hardware and software assets throughout their life cycle. In addition, Stripe employees, agents, and contractors acknowledge their data security and privacy responsibilities under Stripe’s policies. Stripe applies technical and organizational measures that include the following:
By default, Stripe encrypts data at rest and data in transit. We further protect your data with tools like audit logs, access management policies and certifications as described on our Payments page in the section “Security and compliance at the core”. Security controls implemented at Stripe include TLS 1.2 configuration of endpoints for data in transit, TLS and/or SSL encryption for HTTPS and regular testing of infrastructure components. Two-step authentication is available for an extra layer of security at Dashboard login. We no longer rely on the Privacy Shield as a transfer mechanism for data transfers given EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield are no longer valid as a result of the Schrems II decision issued by the European Court of Justice on July 16, 2020. We do continue to commit to the principles of the Privacy Shield Framework as it can still provide privacy protections to users. We get requests for access to data from law enforcement, and our standard is to carefully scrutinize each request and respond with the minimum amount of information in response to legitimate, legally mandated requests. We are committed to ensuring that our users’ data can continue to flow freely between the EU and the U.S., and we will continue to partner with regulators, industry groups and similarly situated companies to make sure our users’ needs are met. If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected]. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What does the Schrems II decision mean? | The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a ruling in a case C-311/18 Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Maximilian Schrems (Schrems II) examining transfers of data from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Here’s some additional information on our approach. Stripe continues to have appropriate safeguards and compliance measures to ensure an adequate level of protection of personal data transferred outside the EEA and Switzerland. Stripe’s existing measures include the EU Commission’s approved Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to accommodate international data transfers. We no longer rely on the Privacy Shield as a transfer mechanism for the EU as a result of the Schrems II decision, but continue to take part in the program with respect to our certification with the U.S. Department of Commerce and for the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield. For this reason, we continue to make a reference to the Privacy Shield in some of our policies. Our users can be assured that we are committed to compliant personal data flows through our services and that we’ll continue our work to provide adequate protections based on the issues raised in the Schrems II ruling. We will continue to evaluate the decision and anticipate regulatory guidance to be forthcoming shortly. If you have additional questions, reach out to our Privacy team at [email protected]. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Is Stripe acting as a data controller or a data processor? | The answer is both. Stripe is a data controller when it determines the purposes and means of the processing taking place, including processing related to (1) anti-fraud activity, (2) all back-end verification and compliance activity (e.g., KYC requirements, relationships with financial partners and regulators, AML and sanction screening) and (3) improving Stripe products and services. This is because Stripe determines on its own how to handle such activity and is not instructed by the User or end-customer. Stripe is a data processor where it is facilitating payment transactions on behalf of and at the direction of a Stripe User. In this case, the Stripe User is a data controller since Stripe is acting on the Stripe User’s instructions regarding the processing, i.e. whom to pay, how much to pay, when to pay. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What legal basis does Stripe rely on to process Personal Data as a data controller? | We rely upon a number of legal grounds to ensure that our use of your Personal Data is compliant with applicable law. In short, we use Personal Data to facilitate the business relationships we have with our Users, to comply with our financial regulatory and other legal obligations, and to pursue our legitimate business interests. We also use Personal Data to complete payment transactions and to provide payment-related services to our Users. Here’s a more detailed overview of why and how we use your Personal Data. Contractual and pre-contractual business relationships. We use Personal Data for the purpose of entering into business relationships with prospective Stripe Users, and to perform the contractual obligations under the contracts that we have with Stripe Users. Activities that we conduct in this context include:
Legal and regulatory compliance. We use Personal Data to verify the identity of our Users in order to comply with fraud monitoring, prevention and detection obligations, laws associated with the identification and reporting of illegal and illicit activity, such as AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and KYC (Know-Your-Customer) obligations, and financial reporting obligations. Legitimate business interests. We rely on our legitimate business interests to process Personal Data about you. For example, we:
Payment transactions and related services (Stripe as a data processor). As a processor of payment transactions, we use Personal Data of our User’s Customers to process online payment transactions and authenticate Customers on behalf of our Users. Marketing and events-related communication. We may send you email marketing communications about Stripe products and services, invite you to participate in our events or surveys, or otherwise communicate with you for marketing purposes, provided that we do so in accordance with the consent requirements that are imposed by applicable law. Advertising. When you visit our Sites, we (and our service providers) may use Personal Data collected from you and your device to target advertisements for Stripe Services to you on our Sites and other sites you visit (interest-based advertising), where allowed by applicable law. We do not use, share, rent or sell the Personal Data of our Users’ Customers for interest-based advertising. We do not sell or rent the Personal Data of our Users, their Customers or our Site visitors. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What are your data controller activities? |
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As a Stripe User and as a data controller, what does GDPR mean for me? | Take a look at our GDPR Guide. In addition, as data controller, you are responsible for the relationship with the data subject (i.e., your end customer). You may instruct a third party (like Stripe) to process the data but it is your job to set the purpose (or objectives) and legal basis for the processing. All third parties have to abide by the terms agreed by the data controller and the data subject. To be sure of this, the data controller must have Data Processing Agreements (i.e., DPAs) with each one. Our DPA has been designed to serve this purpose for you; it is strongly aligned with payment transactions, so it should establish that you are compliant with GDPR from a payments perspective. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Yes, Stripe has appointed a DPO and they can be reached via [email protected]. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Who are Stripe’s sub-processors and how are they vetted? | Please see our service providers page where we have a list of our most common sub-processors. Stripe identifies, evaluates, and engages sub-processors through our vendor management program. We enter into a contract with each sub-processor prior to sharing data with the sub-processor, and each contract contains terms that provide for monitoring and audit. In addition, all potential vendors are vetted and approved through Stripe’s security review process before we begin using their services. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What is a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) and how can I get one with Stripe? | A Data Processing Agreement is a contract between a data controller and a data processor, which describes the roles and responsibilities of the parties when personal data is processed. Article 28 of the GDPR sets out a number of requirements that a Data Processing Agreement must satisfy in order to be compliant with European data privacy law. We have made a Data Processing Agreement available to Stripe Users. When you are logged in to your Stripe account you can review and accept the Stripe DPA. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
How do I delete my account? | You can close your Stripe account from the Settings page on the Dashboard. You can read more about that on our support page: Close a Stripe account. Please be aware that we will delete some, but not all, of the information that we hold, for the reasons explained below. As a provider of payment services, Stripe is required to comply with many regulations, including anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws. These regulations and laws may require Stripe to retain transactional records associated with Stripe Users for a prescribed period of time after the close of the customer relationship. You can read more about our underwriting obligations in our Privacy Policy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
How do I delete my Custom Connect account? | If you are a Custom Connect account User, your account is managed by a Platform User of Stripe. They are the party responsible for managing payments for you and responding to your query, therefore we recommend reaching out to them for assistance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
How do I delete my Express Connect account? | If you are an Express Connect account User, your account is managed by a Platform User of Stripe. They are the party responsible for managing payments for you and responding to your query, therefore we recommend reaching out to them for assistance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Where can I get more information about your privacy and cookie practices? | This information can be found in our Privacy Policy and our Cookie Policy.Security and privacy are the highest priority for Stripe. We take our responsibilities to you seriously and value transparency in our interactions. We put together this summary of the key clarifications we made to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, effective as of April 28, 2020. In the Privacy Policy:
In the Cookie Policy:
We’ve also expanded our fraud documentation to further describe our Advanced Fraud Signals to help our Users understand in more detail how these cookies are integrated into the fraud detection tooling. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Stripe Connect At a Glance |
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How do you implement Privacy by Design at Stripe? | Privacy by design aims at building privacy and data protection up front, into the design specifications and architecture of information and communication systems and technologies, in order to facilitate compliance with privacy and data protection principles. We rely on our internal privacy team and a review process for any new product launch. We are dedicated at every level of product development to making privacy a key consideration – from engineering to product management. This helps ensure that people can trust the Stripe products that they enjoy every day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
How does Stripe use cookies? | We use cookies to (1) ensure that our services function properly, (2) prevent and detect fraud and violations of our terms of service, (3) understand how visitors use and engage with our website and (4) analyse and improve our services. Depending on your relationship with Stripe and the domain you are visiting, different cookies apply: for instance some cookies are set on the public Stripe domain, some on the Stripe Dashboard when you are logged in as a Stripe user, and some on the payment page available to customers who make payments and use the services Stripe provides. Cookies play an important role in helping Stripe provide personal, effective and safe services. Please be mindful that we change the cookies periodically as we improve or add to our services. For more information, please see our Cookie Policy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Stripe Cookie Labels | We want to provide you with some facts about our cookies—like a nutrition label. The cookies listed give an indication only of the cookies that apply in each scenario—for a more detailed list please see our Cookie Policy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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What is Stripe.js? | Stripe.js (and its iOS and Android SDK counterparts) is a JavaScript library that businesses use to integrate Stripe and accept online payments. Once Stripe.js is added to a site or mobile app, fraud signals are used to differentiate legitimate behavior from fraudulent behavior. For example, fraudsters and bots are less likely to spend time on different pages, which we’re able to detect and use as a signal in stopping fraud. When you visit a site that uses Stripe, this fraud prevention could appear in a privacy report or tracker list in your web browser. While you might see Stripe in a tracker list, we’re not building an individual tracking profile on you. Stripe doesn’t—and won’t—share or sell this data to advertisers.This data is securely exchanged between the following Stripe-controlled hosts:
The data collected by these endpoints is designed to be secure and to not leave Stripe infrastructure. Access to this data is tightly controlled, and restricted to a small number of Stripe employees working on fraud prevention and security (and permissions are regularly reviewed). You can read more about this in our Privacy Policy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
What are advanced fraud signals? | Stripe’s advanced fraud detection looks at signals from a customer’s device characteristics and user activity indicators, such as quickly copy and pasting—things that bots or fraudsters would do, not legitimate customers. These signals are highly indicative of fraud and power Stripe’s fraud prevention systems, such as Radar. The signals are securely transmitted to Stripe’s backend by periodically making requests to the m.stripe.com endpoint. You can learn more in our documentation for advanced fraud detection. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Why are advanced fraud signals not ad tracking? | Stripe only uses these advanced fraud detection signals to enable secure payments and prevent fraud. We don’t use this data to build individual profiles or share or sell it to third-party advertisers. You can read more about how we use this data in our Privacy Policy. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Can I turn off tracking and advanced fraud signals? | Your web browser may allow you to manage your cookie preferences, including deleting or disabling Stripe cookies. If you choose to disable cookies, keep in mind that some features of our Site or Services may not operate as intended. Disabling cookies will not disable the collection of advanced fraud signals, which we use to prevent fraud on Stripe. The collection of this data is controlled by the business that integrated with Stripe. If a business seeks to disable this data collection there are instructions to do so through Stripe’s docs. You can take a look at the help section of your web browser or follow the links below to understand your options for disabling cookies. You can learn more about how businesses can disable collection of advanced fraud signals in our documentation for disabling advanced fraud detection. |
Posted: Jul 01 1995 | Revised: Jan 16 2019
1. Online Tracking
2. Mobile Apps
3. Privacy Policies
4. Accessing the Internet
5. Passwords
6. Wireless Networks and Wi-Fi
2. Mobile Apps
3. Privacy Policies
4. Accessing the Internet
5. Passwords
6. Wireless Networks and Wi-Fi
![Cookie Cookie](https://windows-cdn.softpedia.com/screenshots/SanDisk-SecureAccess_3.png)
1. Online Tracking
Librarian pro 4 0 1 – complete personal inventory system. Almost every major website you visit tracks your online activity. Tracking technology can follow you from site to site, track and compile your activity, and compile all of this into a database. Generally, tracking utilizes a numerical identifier, rather than your real name. This information is used to personalize the content that you see online.
The good news is that almost all browsers give you some control over how much information is revealed, kept and stored. Generally, you can change the settings to restrict cookies and enhance your privacy. Most major browsers now offer a 'Private Browsing' tool to increase your privacy. However, researchers have found that 'Private Browsing' may fail to purge all traces of online activity.
Most browsers also provide a Do Not Track (DNT) setting. DNT is a way to keep your online activity from being followed across the Internet by advertisers, analytics companies and social media sites. When you turn on the DNT setting in your browser, your browser sends a special header to websites requesting that don’t want your activity tracked. Unfortunately, honoring the DNT setting is voluntary. Individual websites are not required to respect it. While a few websites will honor DNT, most websites will ignore your preference.
Some of the tools that are used to track you online include cookies, flash cookies, and fingerprinting.
Cookies. When you visit different websites, many of the sites deposit data about your visit, called 'cookies,' on your hard drive. Cookies are pieces of information sent by a web server to a user's browser. Cookies may include information such as login or registration identification, user preferences, online 'shopping cart' information, and so on. The browser saves the information, and sends it back to the web server whenever the browser returns to the website. The web server may use the cookie to customize the display it sends to the user, or it may keep track of the different pages within the site that the user accesses.
For example, if you use the internet to complete the registration card for a product, such as a computer or television, you generally provide your name and address, which then may be stored in a cookie. Legitimate websites use cookies to make special offers to returning users and to track the results of their advertising. These cookies are called first-party cookies. However, there are some cookies, called third-party cookies, which communicate data about you to an advertising clearinghouse which in turn shares that data with other online marketers. These third-party cookies include 'tracking cookies' which use your online history to deliver other ads. Your browser and some software products enable you to detect and delete cookies, including third-party cookies.
Disconnect is a browser extension that stops major third parties from tracking the webpages you go to. Every time you visit a site, Disconnect automatically detects when your browser tries to make a connection to anything other than the site you are visiting. You can also opt-out of the sharing of cookie data with members of the Network Advertising Initiative.
Flash cookies. Many websites utilize a type of cookie called a 'flash cookie' (sometimes also called a 'supercookie') that is more persistent than a regular cookie. Normal procedures for erasing standard cookies, clearing history, erasing the cache, or choosing a delete private data option within the browser will not affect flash cookies. Flash cookies thus may persist despite user efforts to delete all cookies. They cannot be deleted by any commercially available anti-spyware or adware removal program. However, if you use the Firefox browser, there is an add-on called Better Privacy that can assist in deleting flash cookies.
Fingerprinting. A device fingerprint (or machine fingerprint) is a summary of the software and hardware settings collected from a computer or other device. Each device has a different clock setting, fonts, software and other characteristics that make it unique. When you go online, your device broadcasts these details, which can can be collected and pieced together to form a unique 'fingerprint' for that particular device. That fingerprint can then be assigned an identifying number, and used for similar purposes as a cookie.
Fingerprinting is rapidly replacing cookies as a means of tracking. Tracking companies are embracing fingerprinting because it is tougher to block than cookies. Cookies are subject to deletion and expiration, and are rendered useless if a user decides to switch to a new browser. Some browsers block third-party cookies by default and certain browser add-ons enable blocking or removal of cookies.
Unlike cookies and flash cookies, fingerprints leave no evidence on a user's computer. Therefore, it is impossible for you to know when you are being tracked by fingerprinting.
You can test your browser to see how unique it is based on the information that it will share with the sites that you visit. Panopticlick will give you a uniqueness score, letting you see how easily identifiable you might be as you surf the web.
Unfortunately, fingerprinting is generally invisible, difficult to prevent, and semi-permanent. There's no easy way to delete fingerprints that have been collected. Computer users determined to prevent fingerprinting can block JavaScript on their computer. However, some parts of a website (for example, video and interactive graphics) may not load, resulting in a blank space on the webpage.
One way to block JavaScript is to use the Firefox browser with the “add-on” program called NoScript. The combination of Firefox and NoScript can stop JavaScript on websites. Disabling JavaScript stops many forms of browser fingerprinting, because it prevents websites from detecting plugins and fonts, which are necessary to effectively fingerprint a device.
Cross-device tracking. Cross-device tracking occurs when companies try to connect a consumer’s activity across their smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, and other connected devices. The goal of cross-device tracking is to enable companies to link a consumer’s behavior across all of their devices. While this information serves many purposes, it is particularly valuable to advertisers.
To engage in cross-device tracking, companies use a mixture of both “deterministic” and “probabilistic” techniques. The former can track you through an identifying characteristic such as a login. The later uses a probabilistic approach to infer which consumer is using a device, even when a consumer has not logged into a service.
For example, a company called BlueCava is able to identify and track users online across multiple devices. They can associate multiple devices to the same person or household, by attaching an IP address to a BlueCava identifier and by recognizing and collecting information about the various computers, smartphones, and tablets that people use to connect the internet. Thus, your behavior on one device can be associated with other devices from both your home and office. This information can be very valuable for marketing purposes.
BlueCava's technology enables them to recognize computers and devices by collecting information about your screen type, IP address, browser version, time zone, fonts installed, browser plug-ins and various other properties of your screen and browser. This information is put into a “snapshot” and is sent to their servers to create a unique ID for every browser and to “match” the snapshot to the snapshots they receive from their marketing partners. When they use snapshots to create a unique ID, they are also able to group related screens into “households” based on common characteristics among the snapshots, such as IP addresses. BlueCava allows you to opt out of tracking.
If you are interested in some of the more technical aspects of online tracking, the Princeton Web Census measures cookie-based and fingerprinting-based tracking at one million websites and evaluates the effect of browser privacy tools.
2. Mobile Apps
If you use a smartphone or other mobile device to access the Internet, chances are that you may be using mobile applications (apps) rather than an Internet browser for many online activities. An app is a program you can download and access directly using your mobile device. There are hundreds of thousands of apps available, including numerous free or low-priced choices. Unfortunately, apps can collect all sorts of data and transmit it to the app-maker and/or third-party advertisers. This data may then be shared or sold.
Some of the data points that an app may access from your smartphone or mobile device include:
- your phone and email contacts
- call logs
- internet data
- calendar data
- data about the device’s location
- the device’s unique IDs
- information about how you use the app itself
Many apps track your location. There are location-based services like Yelp and Foursquare that may need your location in order to function properly. However, there are also apps (such as a simple flashlight) that do not need your location to function and yet still track it.
Smartphones and other mobile devices may ask you for specific permissions when you install an app. Read these and think about what the app is asking for permission to access. Ask yourself, “Is this app requesting access to only the data it needs to function?” If the answer is no, don’t download it. Learn where to go on your particular phone to determine what you will allow the app to access, and if you are at all suspicious do more research on the app before you download.
Mobile apps generally do not provide ad networks with the ability to set a cookie to track users. Instead, ad networks may use your phone's mobile advertising identifier. These identifiers have different names depending on the brand of your phone. For example, on Android devices they are called Google Advertising ID. On iOS, they are called Identifiers for Advertisers. You can find your device's options to set an opt-out flag using these instructions.
3. Privacy Policies
One way to protect your privacy online is to understand how a site or app will use and share your personal information. Websites and apps generally provide this information in their privacy policy.
California's Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) requires commercial websites or mobile apps that collect personal information on California consumers to conspicuously post a privacy policy. The privacy policy must, among other things, identify the categories of personally identifiable information collected about site visitors and the categories of third parties with whom the operator may share the information. The privacy policy must also provide information on the operator’s online tracking practices. CalOPPA is the first law in the United States to impose disclosure requirements on website operators that track consumers’ online behavior. As a practical matter, CalOPPA applies nationwide as long as the site operator collects personal information from California consumers.
According to the California Attorney General, a website, app, or other online service may violate this law if:
- it lacks a privacy policy
- its privacy policy is hard to find
- its privacy policy does not contain all the information required by law
- it does not follow its own privacy policy, or
- it does not notify users of significant changes to its privacy policy
The California Attorney General operates an online complaint form that consumers may use to report violations.
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4. Accessing the Internet
You are likely to access the internet using one or more of these services:
- An Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- A Mobile (Cellular) Phone Carrier
- A Wi-Fi Hotspot
If you use a computer to access the internet and pay for the service yourself, you signed up with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP provides the mechanism for connecting to the internet.
Each computer connected to the internet, including yours, has a unique address, known as an IP address (Internet Protocol address). It takes the form of four sets of numbers separated by dots, for example: 123.45.67.890. It’s that number that actually allows you to send and receive information over the internet.
Depending upon your type of service, your IP address may be 'dynamic', that is, one that changes periodically, or 'static', one that is permanently assigned to you for as long as you maintain your service.
Your IP address by itself doesn’t provide personally identifiable information. However, because your ISP knows your IP address, it is a possible weak link when it comes to protecting your privacy. ISPs have widely varying policies for how long they store IP addresses. Unfortunately, many ISPs do not disclose their data retention policies. This can make it difficult to shop for a “privacy-friendly” ISP. Some ISPs may share their customers’ internet activity with third parties and/or collect your browsing history to deliver targeted advertisements.
When you visit a website, the site can see your IP address. Your IP address can let a site know your geographical region. The level of accuracy depends upon how your ISP assigns IP addresses.
You can block your IP address by utilizing a service such as Tor which effectively blocks this information. Another alternative is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN replaces your IP address with one from the VPN provider. A VPN subscriber can obtain an IP address from any gateway city the VPN service provides. You will have to pick a VPN provider very carefully. Unfortunately, experts can’t agree upon which VPN services are best. Some VPNs have potential security flaws that could put your data at risk. It can be difficult to determine how secure a VPN is, and precisely what it is doing with your data. Most experts advise avoiding free VPNs, which may monetize your data in exchange for the free service.
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If you access the internet with a phone or other mobile device, you may access the internet using a data plan tied to your cellular phone service. If you have a data plan, your service provider (such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile) collects data about your usage.
5. Passwords
Whenever you have an opportunity to create and use a password to protect your information, make sure that you use a strong password. Passwords are the first line of defense against the compromise of your digital information. Revealing the data on your phone, your banking information, your email, your medical records, or other personal information could be devastating. Yet many people fail to follow proper practices when selecting the passwords to protect this important information. Many websites that store your personal information (for example web mail, photo or document storage sites, and money management sites) require a password for protection. However, password-protected websites are becoming more vulnerable because often people use the same passwords on numerous sites. Strong passwords can help individuals protect themselves against hackers, identity theft and other privacy invasions.
Here are some password “dos” and “don’ts” that can help you to maintain the security of your personal data.
- Do use longer passwords. Passwords become harder to crack with each character that you add, so longer passwords are better than shorter ones. A brute-force attack can easily defeat a short password.
- Do use special characters, such as $, #, and &. Most passwords are case sensitive, so use a mixture of upper case and lower case letters, as well as numbers. An online password checker can help you determine the strength of your password.
- Don’t 'recycle' a password. Password-protected sites are often vulnerable because people often use the same passwords on numerous sites. If your password is breached, your other accounts could be put at risk if you use the same passwords.
- Don’t use personal information (your name, birthday, Social Security number, pet’s name, etc.), common sequences, such as numbers or letters in sequential order or repetitive numbers or letters, dictionary words, or “popular” passwords.
- Don’t feel obligated to change your passwords frequently, unless you believe that your password has been stolen or breached. Conventional wisdom considered changing passwords to be an important security practice. Recent research suggests that people who change their passwords frequently select weaker passwords to begin with, and then change them in predictable ways. Of course, if you believe that your password has been breached or compromised, it is essential to change it immediately.
- Don’t share your passwords with others.
- Do enable two-factor authentication (when available) for your online accounts. Typically, you will enter your password and then a code will be sent to your phone. You will need to enter the code in addition to your password before you can access the account. Twofactorauth.org has an extensive list of sites and information about whether and how they support two-factor authentication. It's best to use an option that isn't SMS-based, such as an authentication app on your smartphone.
- Don’t write down your passwords or save them in a computer file or email. Consider a password manager program if you can’t remember your passwords. Alternatively, keep a list of passwords in a locked and secure location, such as a safe deposit box.
Password recovery methods are frequently the 'weakest link', enabling a hacker to reset your password and lock you out of your account. Be sure that you don’t pick a question which can be answered by others. Many times, answers to these questions (such as a pet’s name or where you went to high school) can be ascertained by others through social networking or other simple research tools. It's also a good idea to have your password resets go to a separate email account designed for resets only.
6. Wireless Networks and Wi-Fi
Households and businesses establish wireless networks to link multiple computers, printers, and other devices and may provide public access to their networks by establishing Wi-Fi hotspots. A wireless network offers the significant advantage of enabling you to build a computer network without stringing wires. Unfortunately, these systems usually come out of the box with the security features turned off. This makes the network easy to set up, but also easy to break into.
Most home wireless access points, routers, and gateways are shipped with a default network name (known as an SSID) and default administrative credentials (username and password) to make setup as simple as possible. These default settings should be changed as soon as you set up your Wi-Fi network. In addition, some routers are equipped by default with 'Guest' accounts that can be accessed without a password. 'Guest' accounts should be disabled or password protected.
The typical automated installation process disables many security features to simplify the installation. Not only can data be stolen, altered, or destroyed, but programs and even extra computers can be added to the unsecured network without your knowledge. This risk is highest in densely populated neighborhoods and office building complexes.
Home networks should be secured with a minimum of WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2) encryption. You may have to specifically turn on WPA2 to use it. The older WEP encryption has become an easy target for hackers. Also, do not name your home network using a name that reveals your identity. Setting up your home Wi-Fi access point can be a complex process and is well beyond the scope of this fact sheet. To ensure that your system is secure, review your user's manuals and web resources for information on security.
The number of Wi-Fi hotspot locations has grown dramatically and includes schools, libraries, cafes, airports, and hotels. With a Wi-Fi connection you can be connected to the Internet almost anywhere. You can conduct the same online activities over Wi-Fi as you would be able to at home or work, such as checking email and surfing the web. However, you must consider the risks to your privacy and the security of your device when using a Wi-Fi hotspot. Most Wi-Fi hotspots are unsecured and unencrypted. Even the expensive pay Wi-Fi service available in many airplanes may be as insecure as the free Wi-Fi offered at your corner coffee house. Therefore, you must take additional steps to protect your privacy.
Because the network at a Wi-Fi hotspot is unsecured, Internet connections remain open to intrusion. Hackers can intercept network traffic to steal your information. There are 3 major privacy threats in a Wi-Fi hotspot:
- Man-In-The-Middle Attack refers to the act of intercepting the connection between your computer and the wireless router that is providing the connection. In a successful attack, the hacker can collect all the information transferred and replay them on his computer.
- Eavesdropping refers to the act of using sniffer software to steal data that is being transmitted over the network. A sniffer is an application or device that can read, monitor, and capture network data. This is particularly dangerous when conducting transactions over the internet since sniffers can retrieve logon details as well as important information such as credit card numbers.
- Looking over the shoulder is the simple act of others looking over your shoulder to see your activities.
There are various ways to help protect your privacy when using Wi-Fi. Begin with basic common sense. Look around to see if anyone is surreptitiously trying to look at your computer. Do not leave your computer unattended. Never conduct unsecured transactions over unsecured Wi-Fi. When entering sensitive information (such as your Social Security number, password, or credit card number), ensure that either the webpage encrypts the information or that your Wi-Fi connection is encrypted. Disable your wireless adapter if you are not using the Internet. Otherwise, you leave your computer open to vulnerabilities if it accidentally connects to the first available network.
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VPN (Virtual Private Network). This is the first line of defense against vulnerabilities created by Wi-Fi. A VPN provides encryption over an unencrypted Wi-Fi connection. This will help ensure that all web pages visited, log-on details, and contents of email messages remain encrypted. This renders intercepted traffic useless to the hacker. You can obtain software to set up a VPN through your office or home computer, or you can use a commercial provider’s hosted VPN service.
Secure surfing/SSL. When checking your email or conducting any important transaction, adding an “s” after “http” may give you a secured connection to the webpage. Many webmail services provide this feature. This ensures that your login details are encrypted thereby rendering it useless to hackers. Although your email login may be encrypted, some webmail providers may not encrypt your Inbox and messages.
Check for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates on all websites on which you conduct sensitive transaction. SSL creates a secure connection between a client and a server, over which any amount of data can be sent securely.
Wi-Fi settings. Ensure that your computer is not set to automatically connect to the nearest available Wi-Fi access point. This may not necessarily be a legitimate connection point but instead an access point on a hacker’s computer.
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Disable file-sharing. Ensure that file sharing is disabled on your computer to ensure that intruders cannot access your private files through the network.
Firewall. Install a firewall on your computer and keep it enabled at all times when using Wi-Fi. This should prevent intrusion through the ports on the computer.
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Security updates. Keep your computer’s software and operating system up-to-date. This will help plug security holes in the software or operating system.