DOES ANPR TECHNOLOGY INVADE PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO PRIVACY?

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology is used to capture millions of motorists’ licence plates in the UK and store them in a huge database. In the United States the technology is more commonly known as Automated License Plate Readers/Recognition (ALPR), which according to a report published by the U.S. Department of Justice, captures up to “1,800 license plates per minute at speeds up to 120-160 miles per hour.”

What’s so bad about ANPR or ALPR technology you ask. Well, if police and other law enforcement agencies in the UK and overseas use automatic number plate recognition to fight crime such as to locate stolen cars – surely that’s a good thing? Essentially it is. Criminals are, according to British police, using the UK’s roads for illegal activities such as kidnapping, drug-related crimes and murder. While these measures to fight crime are to be commended, where can the line be drawn between bringing criminals to justice to an increasing surveillance state – without encroaching on people’s right to privacy?

Big Brother is watching!

How far can you walk down the street before spotting a CCTV camera? In the UK, it’s not long before you notice one – perhaps in a store, mounted on a traffic light or in your bank. There are between 4 million and 5.9 million CCTV cameras in the UK, according to a report by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA). However, not all CCTV cameras are equipped with ANPR technology. Currently, 9,000 automatic number plate recognition cameras are in use across the UK, according to Sky News. Kent police have plans to increase the number of ANPR cameras by a third. 34 automatic number plate recognition cameras are planned to be installed over the next few years, bringing the total number of spy cameras in Kent to 137.

Our online activity is monitored, there are apps which help employers to track the movements of their employees, facial recognition creeps into our everyday lives, even our TV sets are listening into our conversations – and of course automatic number plate recognition technology can be added to this list. It would appear that there are very few places left where people can escape state surveillance and enjoy privacy.

What is ANPR technology?

Automatic number plate recognition was invented in 1976 at the Police Scientific Development Branch in the UK. The first official report of ANPR technology being used was to help solve a murder case in the UK, in November 2005 by locating the killers of Sharon Beshenivsky, according to a number of news reports.

ANPR technology is used by police and other law enforcement agencies throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The technology has received a fair amount of traction in the British media recently, due to the number of them currently being used on the UK’s roads.

British broadcaster Sky News, recently reported that 34 million images of commuters’ car number plates were taken using automatic number plate recognition cameras each day during one week in October 2015, and these were added to a database containing 22 billion – yes 22 billion- records. All images captured by ANPR cameras are kept for two years.

CCTV cameras are fitted with automatic number plate recognition software – or ANPR technology. As a vehicle passes by the cameras, an image of the vehicle’s licence plate is captured – and sent to a database. In the UK, this data is sent to the Police National Computer. The issue here is that the information from ALL vehicles is recorded and stored – regardless of whether you are innocent.

Police.UK state on their website that:

Using Automatic Number Plate Recognition, “Police officers can intercept and stop a vehicle, check it for evidence and, where necessary, make arrests. A record for all vehicles passing by a camera is stored, including those for vehicles that are not known to be of interest at the time of the read that may in appropriate circumstances be accessed for investigative purposes. The use of ANPR in this way has proved to be important in the detection of many offences, including locating stolen vehicles, tackling uninsured vehicle use and solving cases of terrorism, major and organised crime. It also allows officers’ attention to be drawn to offending vehicles whilst allowing law abiding drivers to go about their business unhindered.”

But what happens to these records? Who lawfully has access to them? Who actually might have access to them? And what about the risk of hackers compromising the ANPR database?

Jonathan Bamford, the Head of Strategic Liaison at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), recently told Sky News: “You’ve really got to ask the question about the extent of ANPR and the amount of records that it’s collecting.” Bamford added: “There are a lot of people going around on their ordinary day to day business doing nothing wrong, innocent individuals – those are being acquired at the rate of 30 million or so a day and being retained for a number of years…you end up with a picture where there’s not a lot of our lives taking place which the state can’t gain access to in some ways. So it’s very, very important that there’s a proper public policy debate about the extent of surveillance in the United Kingdom.”

The use and storage of ANPR technology concerns many, including privacy advocates and human rights groups, such as the Big Brother Watch in that monitoring all citizens (including innocents) movements, the software not only invades people’s privacy, it allows for misidentification and errors, and can be regarded as yet another form of mass surveillance.

Renate Samson, Chief Executive at Big Brother Watch, said: “A proper debate about how this technology is used and to what extent it invades the privacy of ordinary motorists is long over. There needs to be a massive education programme about ANPR: what they are, what do they do, how long is our data kept, and what is the data used for? If not, it will fuel concerns about a surveillance state.”

Even if you are comfortable theoretically with your own government having access to these records and using them under the right controls – what about hacking groups? What about foreign governments? As the recent news of the compromise of the Equation Group (an elite hacking group strongly associated with the United States NSA) shows, even elite, possibly government-sponsored actors can have their databases compromised.  What’s to stop the information from ending up in the wrong hands?

Do you think that automatic number plate recognition technology is about keeping UK citizens safe by bringing criminals to justice? Or do you think the technology is used to generate more revenue for the government and also gives them too much power to be able to pry into the lives of innocent people?

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IMPORTANT NEWS FOR WINDOWS 10 AND VISTA USERS

Our latest release has landed!

Good news for all those Windows 10 users out there who had problems launching our latest version – we’ve fixed the problem. Thanks for bearing with us whilst we got this done! We’re now good to go for Windows 10 users.

A few other changes have been made too so let’s run through them. As you probably already know, the Windows Vista operating system is pretty old now and actually only used by 1% of the world’s Windows population. In fact, from April 2017, Vista will no longer receive updates from Microsoft, you can read about it here. To be sure that we’re offering the best possible support we can for new technologies, we’ve made the decision to withdraw support for Windows Vista. We wish we didn’t have to but we feel that dropping support for the 1% will allow us to provide the best possible support to the 99%!

But don’t panic. We’ve got all the info on what you need to do next if you’re a Vista user (if anything at all).

Using a newer version of Windows? No problem. You can continue to install the latest versions of our software and we’ll continue to support them.

Currently a Windows Vista user?

No immediate action is required and HMA! versions 2.8.24.0 and 3.2b will continue to work as normal for you. The only difference is that any new releases in the software won’t be available for anyone using Vista.

Should I upgrade my Operating System?

As we mentioned, Microsoft are dropping their Vista support next year so our recommendation is to make the move to Windows 10 by then. For some advice on upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows Vista have a read of this article. Skip straight to the penultimate paragraph as that contains all the info you need.

So what happens if I don’t upgrade my Operating System?

In the short-term, nothing at all. You just won’t (sadly) be able to enjoy all the latest and greatest updates to HMA! Pro VPN.

There are a few more downsides. By continuing to use Vista you won’t be eligible for any security updates to our software which means you will not be protected against any new threats that compromise the security of the VPN connection. Severe security issues can be discovered at a moment’s notice and often require updates to our software to keep our users safe, so it’s best not to linger on older operating systems for longer than is necessary. After all, we want you to stay protected.

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ARE YOU GUILTY OF USING ONE OF THE ‘WORST PASSWORDS’?

Compiled by password management firm SplashData, the annual list consisting of the world’s worst password for 2015 has some shocking revelations. A great deal of internet users are still using a huge number of very weak passwords, among them being password, qwerty, and the number one spot going to 123456 – again!

Now I’m pretty sure you’re wondering why I’m talking about findings from a report conducted in 2015 in the middle of 2016 – but there’s good reason for this. People are still using weak passwords, and it’s not only us mere mortals who are guilty.

Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook King/CEO) this year had his Twitter and Pinterest accounts broken into by a group of hackers called OurMine, after his password was discovered in a breach of stolen LinkedIn passwords. Whilst he didn’t use a password quite as feeble as qwerty, Zuckerberg is believed to have used the equally weak dadada,(yes, really) which. According to The Telegraph “would take under 25 seconds for a brute force attack to crack it, according to one password checker”.

Luckily for Zuckerberg the group of hackers, OurMine, only wanted to let the world know how easy it was to break into his account as they didn’t expose or tweet anything harmful.

The findings from SplashData were compiled from over 2 million leaked passwords of American and Western European internet users during 2015, and while the list of worst passwords of 2015 found that users were using longer passwords, and changing, for example, an “o” in password to a zero – “passw0rd”, this still leaves them vulnerable to identity theft from hackers.

“We have seen an effort by many people to be more secure by adding characters to passwords, but if these longer passwords are based on simple patterns they will put you in just as much risk of having your identity stolen by hackers.” Chief Executive Officer SplashData, Morgan Slain  said in a statement.

Time to stop using the worst passwords of 2015!

Remembering a different, strong password for each online account is, admittedly, not always the easiest thing to do, even for the likes of Mark Zuckerberg. How many times have you entered an incorrect password over and over again? I get it. But it’s even worse to have a weak password because that puts you at risk.

How long does it take to crack a weak password? According to Mr David Siah, of Trend Micro Singapore, just “10 minutes”, by using one of the many cyber security tools available online. Siah says that by “adding just one capital letter and an asterisk increases the cracking time for an eight-letter password from 2.4 days to 2.1 centuries.”

So, what were the worst passwords of 2015?

Here it is. The full list of the worst passwords of 2015, from SplashData  enjoy and please, do no use!

123456

password

12345678

qwerty

12345

123456789

football

1234

1234567

baseball

welcome

1234567890

abc123

111111

1qaz2wsx

dragon

master

monkey

letmein

login

princess

qwertyuiop

solo

passw0rd

Starwars

1. And I’m going to add dadada to this list – just in case any of you are tempted!

Some other things to remember.

• – Create a strong, secure password. There are plenty of online tips to help get you started. You can, of course, check out our tips on how to create a strong password.
• – Don’t use the same password for each account. If a hacker gains access to one of your accounts, they would have the passwords for all of your others
• – Use a password manager tool and save your brain from having to remember a multitude of passwords
• – Delete any online accounts you no longer use. If a hacker breaks into it, and you use the same password for your active accounts, they could potentially gain access
• – Change your password regularly

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ONLINE DATING? WE CAN HELP KEEP YOU SAFE…

Those of you looking for love online may already know that Hide My Ass! can help. No, Jack the Donkey isn’t going to teach you chat up lines. (Although he is quite the ladies man.) But we can help keep you safe online!

Using Hide My Ass! Pro VPN will encrypt your online activity, keeping your personal information safe, and will give you a new IP address and location to keep you hidden.

Our friends at Datingadvice.com can tell you more.

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IS GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE ENCOURAGING INTERNET SELF-CENSORSHIP?

Do you avoid voicing your opinions online? Perhaps you refrain from posting controversial political opinions in case of a potential backlash from friends, work colleagues or even strangers who hold a perceived majority view compared to your own view? According to a recent study, Under Surveillance: Examining Facebook’s Spiral of Silence Effects in the Wake of NSA Internet Monitoring, published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, government surveillance of the internet could be responsible for the self-censorship of online opinions.

Ever since the doors were flung open on the National Security Agency’s domestic snooping program by Edward Snowden in 2013, the vast majority of American citizens and overseas nationals are no longer strangers to their government monitoring and storing their online activities. According to the study, which uses the ‘spiral of silence’ theory (where people stay silent when their views are perceived to be the minority), government surveillance could be responsible for ‘stifling the expression of minority political views’ online.

Freedom of speech vs Government surveillance

255 people volunteered for the online study spearheaded by Elizabeth Stoycheff – assistant professor at Wayne State University. During the first stage of the study, all participants were asked about their political beliefs, personality traits and media use. Next, 121 out of 255 respondents in the group were reminded that their online activities are monitored by the U.S. government.

All participants were then shown a fictional Facebook post about US airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and asked to ‘imagine that they came across it in their news feeds’. They were then asked for their opinion on the story and to publicly express their views on it, and how they thought other Americans would feel about it.

If you thought the select number of respondents who were reminded that their online activities were being monitored by the U.S government suppressed their views publicly, you’d be correct. The study found that this ‘significantly reduced the likelihood of speaking out in hostile opinion climates.’ The study also found that respondents who believed they held the majority opinion were much more likely to express their opinions.

“The adoption of surveillance techniques, by both the government and private sectors, undermines the Internet’s ability to serve as a neutral platform for honest and open deliberations. It begins to strip away the Internet’s ability to serve as a venue for all voices, instead catering only to the most dominant,” says Elizabeth Stoycheff lead researcher of the study at Wayne State University.

A study by the Pew Research Centre conducted in 2014, entitled Social Media and the Spiral of Silence found that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter could actually encourage self-censorship. The study indicates that while people are very concerned about the NSA leaks, they aren’t comfortable with airing their opinions about the agency on Facebook. 86% of Americans surveyed said they were happy to discuss it in person, but only 42% of Twitter and Facebook users would post it online.

There have been other studies to back the fear that government surveillance programs are stifling freedom of expression and one study found that people ‘might stop visiting certain websites or not say certain things just to avoid seeming suspicious.’

This particular study Chilling Effects: Online Surveillance and Wikipedia Use by Oxford Phd candidate Jonathon W. Penney, ‘explores how traffic to Wikipedia articles on topics that raise privacy concerns for Wikipedia users decreased after the widespread publicity about NSA/PRISM surveillance revelations in June 2013.’ The study found that, due to the repercussions of the Edward Snowden document leaks, people have changed the way they used the internet.

The following is an excerpt from the study “Chilling Effects: Online Surveillance and Wikipedia Use:

‘Using the total article views as of May 2013 (2,960,778), this decrease represents an immediate drop-off just under 20%. This suggests that the revelations in June 2013 caused a sharp and sudden decrease in traffic that may be characterized as a chilling effect. More importantly, however, is that after June 2013, there is not only a large and immediate drop in views but also a statistically significant change in the overall trend in the month-to-month views of the Wikipedia articles. Rather than increasing on a monthly basis, the trend after June 2013 has completely changed. Due to the statistically significant decrease of 63,593 monthly views, the overall data trend has shifted an increase of 30,367 views per month to a decrease of 33,226 per month. This is important because it means that the NSA/PRISM surveillance revelations not only caused a sudden chilling effect, but also caused a longer term, possibly even permanent, decrease in web traffic to the Wikipedia pages studied.’

Speaking to The Washington Post, Penney said: “You want to have informed citizens… if people are spooked or deterred from learning about important policy matters like terrorism and national security, this is a real threat to proper democratic debate.”

How many times have you thought about airing your opinion online and decided against it? What stopped you? Fear of government surveillance, or that your view is perceived as a minority one? One of the hot topics that flooded popular social media sites, was the US presidential election. Whether you were in favour of Trump or Clinton why should you have to pull back in fear of what others will say? Shouldn’t we be able to voice our opinions, regardless of whether our friends or others agree or disagree with us?

Let’s not forget that we are lucky enough to enjoy freedom of speech unlike many of those living in countries such as North Korea. Why do we deny ourselves our fundamental human right to voice our own opinions?

Many internet users are still concerned that their browsing activity is monitored by their government, their ISP or other third parties. One piece of software that you can use to maintain anonymity online is a Virtual Private Network (VPN). When you connect to any one of +940 VPN servers we offer at Hide My Ass! Pro VPN, you are assigned one of our IP addresses, your connection is encrypted and you can browse the internet anonymously and securely.

  

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