Center for Democracy & Technology | Keeping the Internet Open, Innovative and Free

About

Welcome to Take Back Your Privacy, the Center for Democracy & Technology’s campaign to put control over our personal data back where it belongs: in our own hands.

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Email Your Rep

The first step to Take Back Your Privacy is to let your representatives know that you want it! Are you frustrated that it's becoming difficult to track when, where, how, and to whom your personal information is disclosed? If so, contact your representative here.

Privacy Tools

Use CDT’s brand new Privacy Complaint Tool to share your complaints about companies that are violating your privacy. Send your complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or just share it with your friends.

Privacy Postings

Weeding Twitter

by: Brock N. Meeks

Date: 02/23/2010 - 4:21pm

More Issues in Consumer Privacy

Remember when you were all a buzz over Twitter (no pun intended)? The snappy little microblogging application summed up where you were, what you were doing, and what you were thinking at the time. Soon the buzz started to fade a bit but then you discovered a host of "really cool apps" that let you figure out how "popular" you were on twitter; where you stood as a "power user" in the Twitter pantheon; and the overall firepower of your tweets based on how many followers you had and how influential those followers were.

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Buzz or Bust (Guest Blog Post)

by: Adam Rosenberg

Date: 02/18/2010 - 1:55pm

Baseline Privacy Legislation

CDT President Leslie Harris has a column in the Huffington Post discussing the recent "buzz" (no pun intended) surrounding the launch of Google Buzz. As you're probably aware, Google's social network-like application was immediately panned by many Gmail users because of questionable privacy practices. Within days of the launch, Google was making statements and tweaking Buzz based on user feedback to make privacy settings more prominent. Leslie's post talks about Google's response to the situation and how Buzz can be looked at as a textbook example of what can go wrong when the principles of Privacy by Design aren't taken into account. When new products are rushed out of the gate to the public, sometimes privacy features aren't given due consideration. With many companies like Google holding massive amounts of user information, paying close attention to how new products allow users to control the release and use of that...

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The Buzz over at Google

by: Adam Rosenberg

Date: 02/17/2010 - 11:04am

Baseline Privacy Legislation

Recently, Google launched Buzz, its own social media application that gives users - a new way to interact with a social network of statuses updates similar those found on Facebook and Twitter. The public backlash started almost immediately with Buzz users complaining about hard to understand privacy controls and their address books seemingly exposed to all of their Google contacts. Users contacted Google and blogs and with their immediate, first impression feedback; within days, Google was "re-launching" Buzz with a statement acknowledging the part user-feedback played in the decision. This was a great example of how effective the organized voice of the user can be when companies hear it. With the "Take Back Your Privacy" campaign, we are working hard to create ways to amplify your voice to Internet companies and businesses and tell them that you need to be included in conversations about how privacy controls are created and how your data is...

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The Cost of Privacy (Guest Blog Post)

by: Adam Rosenberg

Date: 01/19/2010 - 12:23pm

Behavioral Advertising

CDT's Web Producer, Cyrus Nemati, knows a thing or two about plug-ins for your web browser. So much in fact, that he did a guest blog post for Wired's Geek Dad blog discussing some of his favorite plug-ins and how they can better protect your privacy. Cyrus's post offers great advice on how to bridge the gap between productivity and keeping your computer safe.

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Take Back Your Privacy

Take Back Your Privacy is about you and your rights. For Congress and industry to understand that Internet user privacy matters, we as consumers need to send a clear message – we want our privacy.

When you join the privacy campaign, we’ll keep you informed about the major developments in Internet user privacy – whether they occur in Capitol Hill meeting rooms or Silicon Valley boardrooms. We’ll also tip you off to opportunities to make your voice heard, both by lawmakers and by the companies that collect our personal information.

We won’t share your information with anyone (our full privacy policy is here) and won’t overload you with e-mail.

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Tweet the Privacy Facts

3rd-party apps on your phone/social networking profile may be tracking you online or accessing your friends’ profiles #tbyp

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90% of young adults reject advertisements that are tailored based on information gathered about their offline behavior. #tbyp

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The United States lacks a comprehensive federal law protecting consumer privacy. #tbyp

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