Disabling Read Receipts: Taking Control of Your Email Privacy

In today's fast-paced tech-dominated world, the pressure to respond to emails and messages immediately can be overwhelming. But what if you want to reclaim your time and manage it on your terms? One way to do that is by ensuring your emails are more private, and a key step in achieving this is to disable read receipts.

Tech expert Jon Morgan, CEO of Ventures Smarter, explains that blocking hidden read receipts can be a crucial step in preserving your email activity's privacy and preventing others from knowing whether you've read their messages or not. He provides a simple guide to help you achieve this:

The first step is to disable read receipts in your email client or service. While the process may vary depending on the email platform you use, you can usually find this option in the settings or preferences section. Look for a setting related to read receipts or message tracking, and disable it. By doing so, your email client won't send read receipts to the sender, allowing you to maintain your privacy and respond at your own pace.

Reviewing Privacy Settings: Enhancing Email Security and Anonymity

Disabling read receipts is just the beginning. To bolster your email privacy, it's important to review the privacy settings of your email account. Many email services offer various privacy options that can further protect your communication from prying eyes. Jon Morgan advises paying attention to features such as blocking external images or preventing remote content from loading automatically.

By enabling these settings, you can prevent senders from receiving notifications when you open their emails or download images. This step adds an extra layer of confidentiality to your communication and reduces the risk of unintentionally revealing your activity to the sender. Take the time to explore your email service's privacy options and customize them according to your needs.

Using Email Clients with Advanced Privacy Features: Safeguarding Your Communication

In your quest for enhanced email privacy, it's worth considering using an email client or application that prioritizes privacy and security. Certain email clients offer advanced features like encrypted messaging, blocking read receipts, and additional privacy controls. Making the switch to such a client can significantly enhance your email security and provide you with more control over your personal information.

Before choosing an email client, Jon Morgan recommends conducting thorough research to find one that aligns with your specific privacy requirements and preferences. Look for a client that not only offers robust privacy features but also aligns with your desired user experience. By selecting a privacy-focused email client, you can take another step towards safeguarding your communication.

Offline Reading and Other Privacy Measures: Ensuring Complete Email Confidentiality

If you truly want to ensure complete privacy in your email communication, Jon Morgan suggests reading your emails offline, without an internet connection. By disconnecting from the internet while reading your messages, you eliminate the risk of triggering read receipts or tracking requests that could be sent back to the sender. This step guarantees that your email activity remains entirely private and allows you to read and respond to messages on your terms.

Disabling remote content loading in your email client's settings adds an extra layer of protection. By default, many email clients automatically load remote content, such as images, when you open an email. However, this feature can be exploited to track whether you've read the message. To counter this, disable remote content loading in your email client. This ensures that the sender won't receive any notifications when you open their email or load external images, further preserving your privacy.

For an added level of security, Jon Morgan suggests considering the use of a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN encrypts your internet connection, making it difficult for anyone to track your online activities, including your email interactions. By utilizing a VPN, you can protect your privacy and prevent tracking attempts, thus safeguarding your email communication.

Implementing these privacy measures gives you back control over your time and allows you to manage your emails without feeling overwhelmed or rushed. By disabling read receipts, adjusting privacy settings, using email clients with advanced features, and considering offline reading and VPN usage, you can enjoy a heightened level of email security and privacy while navigating the digital landscape.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have come under scrutiny for its questionable tactics in data collection that may have violated the privacy of individuals and organizations. Recently, ICE's use of custom summons to gather data from schools, clinics, and social media platforms has raised serious cybersecurity concerns.

According to a Wired report, ICE issued 1,509 custom summons to a significant search engine in 2020, seeking information on individuals and organizations involved in protests against ICE. While the summons is legal, experts have criticized the lack of transparency and oversight in the process and the potential for data breaches and leaks.

ICE's data collection practices have also targeted schools and clinics, with reports suggesting that the agency has sought information on students' and patients' immigration status. These actions raise serious questions about the privacy rights of individuals and the ethics of using sensitive data for enforcement purposes.

The Intercept has also reported on ICE's use of social media surveillance, which raises concerns about the agency's ability to monitor individuals' online activities and potentially use that information against them. The lack of clear policies and oversight regarding ICE's data collection practices puts individuals and organizations at risk of having their data mishandled or misused.

As the use of data becomes more prevalent in law enforcement, it is essential to ensure that agencies like ICE are held accountable for their actions and that appropriate safeguards are put in place to protect the privacy and cybersecurity of individuals and organizations. One expert warned, "The more data you collect, the more potential for breaches, leaks, and mistakes."

Privacy and cybersecurity are seriously at risk due to ICE's use of bespoke summonses and other dubious data collection techniques. It is essential that these problems are addressed and that the proper steps are made to safeguard both organizations' and people's rights.

The company often boasts of its potential for identifying rioters involved in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, saving children from being abused or exploited, and assisting in the exoneration of those who have been falsely accused of crimes. Yet, critics cite two examples in Detroit and New Orleans where incorrect face recognition identifications led to unjustified arrests. 

Last month, the company CEO, Hoan Ton-That admitted in an interview with the BBC that Clearview utilized photos without users’ knowledge. This made it possible for the organization's enormous database, which is promoted to law enforcement on its website as a tool "to bring justice to victims." 

What Happens When Unauthorized Data is Scraped 

Privacy advocates and digital platforms have long criticized the technology for its intrusive aspects, with major social media giants like Facebook sending cease-and-desist letters to Clearview in 2020, accusing the company of violating their users’ privacy. 

"Clearview AI's actions invade people's privacy which is why we banned their founder from our services and sent them a legal demand to stop accessing any data, photos, or videos from our services," says a Meta spokesperson in an email Insider, following the revelation. 

The spokesperson continues by informing Insider that Meta, since then, has made “significant investments in technology and devotes substantial team resources to combating unauthorized scraping on Facebook products.”

When unauthorized scraping is discovered, the company may take action “such as sending cease and desist letters, disabling accounts, filing lawsuits, or requesting assistance from hosting providers to protect user data,” the spokesperson said. 

In spite of internal policies, biometric face prints are made and cross-referenced in the database once a photo has been scraped by Clearview AI, permanently linking the individuals to their social media profiles and other identifying information. Individuals in the photos have little recourse to try to remove themselves from the photos. 

Searching Clearview’s database is one of the many methods where police agencies can make use of social media content to aid in investigations, like making requests directly to the platform for user data. Although the use of Clearview AI or other facial recognition technologies by law enforcement is not monitored in most states and is not subject to federal regulation, some critics argue that it should even be banned.  

Millions of dollars have been fined against the corporation over and over again in Europe and Australia for privacy violations. Critics, however, argue that the police using Clearview to their aid puts everyone into a “perpetual police line-up.” 

"Whenever they have a photo of a suspect, they will compare it to your face[…]It's far too invasive," says Matthew Guariglia from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. 

The figure has not yet been clarified by the police in regard to the million searches conducted by Clearview. But, Miami Police has admitted to using this software for all types of crimes in a rare revelation to the BBC. 

How Does Clearview Works 

Clearview’s system enables a law enforcement customer to upload an image of a face, followed by looking for matches in a database of billions of images it has in store. It then provides links to where the corresponding images appear online. It is regarded as one of the world's most potent and reliable facial recognition companies. 

The firm has now been banned from providing its services to most US companies after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused Clearview AI of violating privacy laws. However, there seems to be an exemption for police, with Mr. Ton saying that his software is used by hundreds of police forces across the US. 

Yet, the US police do not routinely reveal if they do use the software, and in fact have banned the software in several US cities like Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. 

Police frequently portray the use of facial recognition technology to the public as being limited to serious or violent offenses. 

Moreover, in an interview with law enforcement about the efficiency of Clearview, Miami Police admitted to having used the software for all types of crime, from murders to shoplifting. Assistant Chief of Police Armando Aguilar said his team used the software around 450 times a year, and it has helped in solving murder cases. 

Yet, critics claim that there are hardly any rules governing the use of facial recognition by police.

In a recent hearing, a number of officials, including New Jersey Democrat Frank Melone, cited studies demonstrating that TikTok disseminates offensive material for children and teenagers. The site sends content about self-harm and eating disorders to children and young people every 2.6 minutes, or every eight minutes, according to a new study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The concern is furthered by the fact that TikTok is a popular platform choice among young users. According to a 2022 Pew Research Survey, the app was utilized by 67 percent of the teens polled, followed by YouTube. 

Callum Hood, research director at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, said in a press statement “Without legally mandated security through design, transparency, and accountability, the algorithm will continue to put vulnerable users at risk.” 

Although, Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok noted that these are the issues that almost all major social media platforms have faced in recent years. These concerns are echoes of complaints that Meta has made in the past, particularly in connection to Instagram. 

When it comes to commenting on how harmful could a platform be to children, it often seems more of an attention-seeking tactic, highlighting some of the most common worries that American parents have. What kind of monster would not want to ensure that children are protected from exploitation and hazardous content? The attention paid to young users also presents one of the few open doors for bipartisan collaboration. 

But only a day before Chew was scheduled to testify before Congress, another gunshot forced students at Denver East High School to flee their classrooms. A pandemic-era program that provided free school meals to all children was phased away earlier this year in favor of a system based on income, which will put more obstacles in the way of the kids who need it the most. Due in large part to entrenched problems with economic inequality and a deteriorating social safety net, about one-third of children in the US live in poverty. 

Children are impacted by things like a lack of gun safety regulations and a lack of funding for social or educational initiatives, but these concerns frequently result in impasses in legislative and policymaking processes. Moreover, pleading with lawmakers to "think about the children" rarely has an impact. When it comes to Big Tech, the focus on "the kids" frequently oversimplifies and diverts attention from the more delicate issues of privacy, widespread data collection, the outsized power of certain companies to dominate smaller competitors, and the transnational nature of extremist content and misinformation. Instead, we need to ask deeper questions: How long should companies be able to keep data? What should it be used for? Can private companies that want to educate the next generation of consumers ever be incentivized to set time limits or restrict access to content for young users? Overall, how do our systems allow damage? 

There are certain ways that would get the concerns regarding children's well-being to light, practically protecting them. Although, it is rare to find favor in Congress. While officials may express concerns about how TikTok in the US differs from its Chinese counterpart, Douyin, in terms of the experience for young users, little has changed in legislation to address the online harms experienced by US children in the five years since the Tide Pod challenge or even the 18 months since Frances Haugen first testified before Congress, despite her frequent appearances on television hearings. 

In regard to these cases, Senators Edward J. Markey and Bill Cassidy are proposing a bipartisan bill for 2021 that would prohibit internet companies from gathering user data from users between the ages of 13 and 15 and establish a juvenile marketing and privacy branch at the Federal Trade Commission. However, the bill is yet to be voted on in the Senate.