Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [privacy]

37 questions
37
votes
4 answers

Should MVC/REST return a 403 or 404 for resources belonging to other users?

When working with a resource-based site (such as an MVC application or REST service), we have two main options when a client tries to GET a resource that they don't have access to: 403, which says that the client is unauthorized; or 404, which says…
Aaronaught
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29
votes
4 answers

Zero-knowledge code hosting?

In light of recent revelations about widespread government monitoring of data stored by online service providers, zero-knowledge services are all the rage now. A zero-knowledge service is one where all data is stored encrypted with a key that is not…
HighCommander4
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17
votes
3 answers

How do I comply with the EU Cookie Directive?

On 26 May 2011, a new EU directive comes into force that users accessing websites should now be asked for permission to allow the website to store cookies containing information about them and their visit to the website. How have you have tackled…
Rory McCrossan
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16
votes
4 answers

Why do certain sites prevent spaces in passwords?

It seems less common with newer websites, but many websites I need an account on (like for paying bills, etc.) prevent me from creating a password with spaces in it. This only makes things more difficult to remember, and I am aware of no database…
Ian Hunter
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12
votes
2 answers

Saving critical data in (third party) databases

How do you save important(privacy-wise) user data like SSN, Credit Card Numbers and Addresses in databases? Scenario: Only data which needs to be available is saved. For eg, SSN is saved because the app uses the SSN to identify a particular record.…
abel
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11
votes
1 answer

Is there something like Creative Commons licenses for privacy policies?

I've recently read Reading the Privacy Policies You Encounter in a Year Would Take 76 Work Days and was pretty shocked that it was that bad. So I thought how this could be improved. Creative Commons licenses are nice, because they are modular: CC:…
Martin Thoma
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8
votes
2 answers

Is XACML actually used and implemented?

I have been working for quite a lot of time on a research project at University focused on Access Control. More specifically, I am studying how to protect unauthorized access to personal data in a distributed system and in general in the…
giada
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7
votes
3 answers

Git philosophy: public vs. personal files: is there hybrid versioning?

I often find myself puzzled with such a questioning. I need to version my projects for two reasons: publish source code with its whole history so that people will be able to get into it, explore it and make use of it. archive my project with its…
iago-lito
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7
votes
2 answers

Is tracking Android OS.Buid/Manufacturer info a privacy issue?

On the Android operating system details about the phone are available via the Android.OS.Build class. These details include things such as the phone manufacturer, model, version, etc. The customer may want us to collect this data and save it to our…
Alex Wiese
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6
votes
3 answers

Is there any legislation requiring how we store passwords?

Given the Sony data breach and other events recently, is there any actual laws or regulation regarding how to store passwords? I think there are with credit cards, you're not allowed to store the 3 digit key or something. Is it illegal to actually…
RoboShop
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5
votes
2 answers

Is there any risk of web browsers spying away localhost applications on an Internet-connected PC?

Despite what it might look like this is a serious question. After that story with Android OS and Chrome browser submitting to Google the details of the WiFi access points they see in the neighborhood which has nothing even remotely to do with their…
user8685
5
votes
3 answers

Hide, obfuscate or otherwise prevent the harvesting of email addresses

I am developing a public repository webapp for my organization. It will be public webapp, exposed to the internet. All people and organisational units can be queried and its contact data will be displayed. It is developed as a single page app…
Pierre Henry
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5
votes
1 answer

Hide authentication information on Github

When your creating a project that has some sort of information that needs to be private (authentication details, etc), but you want to use some public repo like Github, are there anything that can be done to keep these things private? All I can…
TMH
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4
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3 answers

Crash and error report to developer [from user perspective]

I have some questions regarding whether to crash or report errors to the user. We are developing a web site and mobile clients in which we allow our users to report any bugs and crashes through e-mail. We require the user to send the e-mail from…
Prasham
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4
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1 answer

How easy is it to alter a browser fingerprint?

I am researching this question for a possible paper. Given the exploitation of user identities for risk management and market tracking, how easy is it to alter a browser enough to throw off fingerprinting techniques? My current sources are: EFF…
JFig
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