Category Archives: Privacy

Introducing Selective Push, Privacy Protection for Push Notifications

Have you ever felt the need to turn your phone upside down so people won’t read a message in a push notification?

Today, in an update for iPhone and Android, we’re allowing you to choose which conversations you want to show up in push and which should stay locked up for viewing in the app.

So far, Gliph has only allowed push notifications to say “Someone sent you a message.” With this update, you can now choose to show the tag of who is sending you a message, and if you want, the content of the message as well.

Unique to Gliph, you can make these changes on a per-contact basis, meaning for one contact in Gliph you can show message content or tag in the push notifications, and for another show nothing at all.

Let’s look at an example, where another Gliph user you’re connected with and have tagged “Erin” sends you the message “Hey, what are you up to tonight?” The following three examples show how a Gliph Message push notification will appear using different settings:

 

How to Enable Message Content in Push Notifications on Gliph
Turning on message content in push notifications is just two taps from any conversation. We made a short video explanation of how to set up message content to show in push notifications. Here are written instructions:  Continue reading →

Gliph Opposes CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

At Gliph, we take a conservative view toward user privacy. Gliph’s privacy policy is clear: a Gliph user’s Facet information belongs to them and remains under their control. Gliph offers specific features that give users privacy in their personal communications.

Like many internet companies, Gliph is based in the United States and is governed by the laws of this country. Gliph respects the United States’ need to maintain national security. However, Gliph opposes CISPA as proposed because the legislation conflates cybersecurity with surveillance and information sharing. CISPA significantly erodes the privacy of internet users.

What is CISPA?
At the time of this writing, CISPA is H.R. 624, (web, pdf), the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. CISPA is just a bill, which is a proposed piece of legislation that has the potential to become a federal law in the United States.

CISPA’s purpose is to help the United States investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyber attacks. The bill aims to add legal framework for the sharing of information between private companies and the United States government.

Why Oppose CISPA?
Gliph appreciates the pressing global context around cybersecurity, yet is adamant about the preservation of civil liberty and personal privacy. We are joining the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Internet Defense League in our opposition to this bill. You can learn about the below bulleted issues and more in the EFF’s page about the bill.

Here are some of the key issues with CISPA Gliph is concerned about: Continue reading →

Privacy Violations: Pollution of the Digital Revolution

Today’s Dropbox is a small but shining invention of our Digital Revolution. Technology startups are now designed to grow, and done successfully can be enormously profitable. Great software is empowering people by giving them efficient control over their social lives, financial plans, travel needs and health care in ways never before possible.

But the Digital Revolution is also introducing a new hazard with a wild and unpredictable impact: privacy violations.

The first drop box was invented by Robert Kay in 1760. It increased the speed and efficiency of fabric weaving and helped usher in the Industrial Revolution. For seventy years, advances in mechanics, chemistry and urbanization resulted in both unprecedented improvements to living standards and the foundation of the modern capitalist economy.

The swift change brought with it unintended consequences. Coal-burning factories choked citizens and darkened the sky with a mix of smoke and fog. In London, fatal outbreaks of Cholera resulted from draining raw sewage directly into the Thames. In Cleveland, oil refineries spilled crude into the Cuyahoga River causing it to catch fire three times in 1800s.

During the Industrial Revolution people paid the price of progress with the destruction of the environment. Today, we pay with our privacy. Continue reading →

What Are You Sharing? Marking International Data Privacy Day with Gliph

We’d like to wish everyone a very happy 5th annual Data Privacy Day. For the fifth year in a row, the US, Canada and 27 other countries have marked January 28th as a day to “raise awareness of and generate discussion about data privacy rights and practices.”

A variety of companies and publications have released new articles or information to mark the day. Microsoft released results of a new survey of 1,000 US adults that shows privacy is becoming more important to people, yet a sense of powerlessness pervades.

In the key findings of the report, 45% of people feel they have little or no control over personal information gathered by companies about them. Below is a graphic that shows how much control people feel they have over personal information shared online: Continue reading →

Gliph Featured in Forrester Research Report on 2012 Consumer Security Dynamics and Growth Opportunities

Gliph Forrester Research Consumer Security LogosWe’re pleased to share that Gliph was included in a new report on Consumer Security by Forrester Research.

The report was written by Security and Risk analyst, Heidi Shey (@heidishey) and is titled: 2012 Consumer Security Market Landscape: Key Dynamics and Growth Opportunities.

The focus of the report is the changing dynamics of the consumer security market, including the proliferation of freeware and the “app internet.” In the United States, the consumer security market is dominated by Symantec, McAfee and AVG.

One important note from the report is the importance of Continue reading →

Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights: Notes on the NTIA’s Privacy Multi-stakeholder Meetings in 2012

NTIA multi stakeholder mobile application transparency privacyThe National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has been holding regular meetings around mobile app privacy this year that could help shape how personal data is handled in mobile applications in the United States.

John Verdi (@johnverdi) is the Director of Privacy Initiatives at the NTIA and has been blogging about activities at the meetings. In his August 1st, 2012 post, he describes the July multi-stakeholder meeting as a step toward implementing the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

This Bill of Rights is something to keep your eyes on. It was first proposed by the Obama Administration as part of a paper with the lengthy title “Consumer Data Privacy In a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy.” Gliph is hosting a copy you can download here [.pdf].

In the introduction, Barack Obama quotes Justice Louis Brandeis’ dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States which is Americans’ “right to be let alone.” Though he counters, “…privacy is about much more than just solitude or secrecy.”

The rights advanced in the paper cover the following (bulleted paragraphs are quoted from the paper): Continue reading →

Introducing Gliph Browser Plugins for Privacy on Craigslist and More

Update 1/15/15: We’ve decided to retire these plugins. See this post for more information.

Today we’re unveiling the first versions of Gliph plugins for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox web browsers.

These handy new extensions help you create and send new emails from your Cloaked Email addresses, and make adding privacy to Craigslist and other websites easy. If you aren’t familiar with Cloaked Email, take a moment to review this blog entry.

How to Install the Gliph Chrome Extension

Continue reading →

Knight Foundation Selects Gliph as Semi-finalist for News Challenge: Mobile

Gliph Selected by Knight Foundation for Semi-finalsWe’re pleased to share that the Knight Foundation has selected Gliph’s Secure Communication Tools for Investigative Journalists project as a semi-finalist in News Challenge: Mobile.

Gliph’s proposal is to build a mobile app for secure communication between journalists and their sources. The project lets investigative journalists easily exchange cryptography keys with someone during an in-person meeting, then protect continued text communication using client-side encryption.

You can read additional details of the proposal on Knight’s website.

The benefit of this project is increased trust between journalists and sources. It gives them a simple and secure way to share sensitive information discretely. The reason this would be awesome for journalists is that Continue reading →

Free Cloaks and Gliph for iPhone 1.22 Update

UPDATE: After giving away thousands of free cloaks, this promotion has ended. Please see Introducing Cloaked Email Pro for more information.

Gliph welcomed a lot of new people with the release of Cloaked Email.  We’re keeping the momentum going with some new tweaks to Cloaked Email and updates to the Gliph iPhone App.

Two Free Cloaks For Everyone
Since the launch of Cloaked Email last week, thousands of people have made Gliph a part of how they protect their privacy online.  We’ve been happy to hear stories of people using their cloaks to protect privacy on Craigslist, Apple Game Center and even while ordering tickets for a show in Las Vegas.

The Gliph community has also been swift to offer feedback on how we can improve. We heard people say they don’t want to be forced to invite friends in order to get more cloaks. Several people wrote saying we should provide a paid alternative so they wouldn’t have to ask friends to check it out.

After dozens of conversations with Gliph users on this topic and our own discussion on the Gliph team we’ve come to agree. As a step toward improvement we’re adding two additional free cloaks to each Gliph account today. Continue reading →

Gliph Hosting Seattle App Developers Privacy Summit

On the evening of September 13th from 6-9pm the Application Developers Alliance is producing an event on the changing privacy landscape at the SURF Incubator in Seattle, Washington.

We care about privacy at Gliph and want to support active discussion of how it affects software development.  If you are a developer, product manager, or interested in where mobile is headed, you may want to make plans to attend by registering for the event.  The national sponsors include TRUSTe, AT&T and Evidon

This event is part of a nation-wide set of hosted privacy events, including an August 30th event on Privacy Tools for Startups in San Francisco.  See more Apps Alliance events on their calendar page.  Below is a complete description of the Seattle event: Continue reading →