From the President President and CEO Marta L. Tellado
AS OUR LIVES have migrated more and more online since the onset of COVID-19, we have had to further wrestle with the concept of privacy and how it affects us every day. That means more than just the occasional worry that your child’s teacher or an office colleague will catch a glimpse of the breakfast dishes on the countertop behind you when you appear on camera. The bigger worry for all of us is learning that the online platforms we now use for work, school, and social gettogethers might not be keeping our communications or our data private. It’s far past time for privacy to be an ironclad right and not simply an optional setting on our devices. As Zoom ballooned from 10 million daily meeting participants in the months before the pandemic to more than 300 million in April, CR experts investigated, discovering a number of platform accountability and privacy concerns. To its credit, the company rectified most of the issues we unearthed. But its cooperation didn’t change the fact that hundreds of millions of people had just jumped into a boat without checking to see whether it was seaworthy. At CR, we want to ensure that you are making active choices about your data and your devices—and that companies that make smart products and platforms are designing them with your security and well-being in mind. We’ve helped win safeguards, such as the trailblazing California Consumer Privacy Act, to help provide you with stronger protections. And we will keep working hard to ensure that our nation’s laws and policies build greater trust and accountability into the marketplace. In this issue we have teed up some practical digital security tips that will allow you to protect your privacy, with “Your Essential Guide to Online Safety,” on page 24. I hope you visit CR’s new (and free) Security Planner, at SecurityPlanner.org, which will help you create an easy and personalized way to ensure that your online privacy, across devices and platforms, is yours alone to manage.
Marta L. Tellado, President and CEO Follow me on Twitter @MLTellado
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CR.ORG FEBRUARY 2021
Editorial Director, Print Ellen Kunes Deputy Editors, Print Amanda Lecky, Diane Umansky, Natalie van der Meer Design Director Matthew Lenning Creative Director, Brand Young Kim Associate Design Director Mike Smith Art Directors Tammy Morton Fernandez, Ewelina Mrowiec Photo Editors Lacey Browne, Emilie Harjes, Karen Shinbaum Senior Director, Content Development Glenn Derene Deputy Director, Content Development Christopher Kirkpatrick Associate Directors, Content Development Scott Billings, Althea Chang Enterprise Editor Kevin Doyle Senior Director, Content Impact & Corporate Outreach Jen Shecter Special Projects Joel Keehn, Director; Margot Gilman, Associate Director; Lisa L. Gill, Rachel Rabkin Peachman, Brian Vines, Deputies; Ryan Felton, Donna Rosato, Writers Editorial Director, Digital Erle Norton Senior Director, Product Testing Maria Rerecich Associate General Counsel Camille Calman Director, Lab Operations Lilian Kayizzi CARS: Editors/Writers: Keith Barry, Jeff S. Bartlett, Jonathan Linkov, Mike Monticello, Benjamin Preston Auto Test Center: Jake Fisher, Senior Director; Jennifer Stockburger, Director Product Testing: Michael Bloch, Steve Elek, Kelly Funkhouser, John Ibbotson, Chris Jones, Anita Lam, Gene Petersen, Ryan Pszczolkowski, Mike Quincy, Gabriel Shenhar, Shawn Sinclair, Emily A. Thomas, Joe Veselak HEALTH & FOOD: Lauren F. Friedman, Content Lead Editors/Writers: Trisha Calvo, Kevin Loria, Catherine Roberts Policy Lead: Brian Ronholm HOME & APPLIANCE: Eric Hagerman, Content Lead Editors/Writers: Daisy Chan, Mary Farrell, Paul Hope, Sara Morrow, Haniya Rae, Perry Santanachote, Daniel Wroclawski Product Testing: John Galeotafiore, Emilio Gonzalez, James Nanni, Testing Leads; John Banta, Susan Booth, Tara Casaregola, Lawrence Ciufo, Enrique de Paz, Bernard Deitrick, Cindy Fisher, Rich Handel, Misha Kollontai, Ginny Lui, Joan Muratore, Joseph Pacella, Christopher Regan, Frank Spinelli, Dave Trezza, Michael Visconti MONEY: Editors/Writers: Octavio Blanco, Tobie Stanger, Penelope Wang Policy Lead: Anna Laitin TECH: Jerry Beilinson, Content Lead Editors/Writers: Nicholas De Leon, Bree Fowler, Thomas Germain, Christopher Raymond, Allen St. John, Kaveh Waddell, James K. Willcox Product Testing: Richard Fisco, Testing Lead; Elias Arias, Antonette Asedillo, Steve Blair, Claudio Ciacci, Charles Davidman, Cody Feng, Henry Parra, Richard Sulin, Maurice Wynn Policy Lead: Justin Brookman Chief Scientific Officer James H. Dickerson Food Safety James E. Rogers, Director; Tunde Akinleye, Amy Keating, Sana Mujahid Content Operations Robert Kanell, Director Copy Editing Leslie Monthan, Copy Chief; Noreen Browne, Alison France, Wendy Greenfield Fact Checking & Research David Schipper, Associate Director; Tracy Anderman, Sarah Goralski, Christine Gordon, Karen Jacob, Jamison Pfeifer Premedia William Breglio, Associate Director; Eugene Chin, William Hunt, Anthony Terzo Production Nancy Crowfoot, Associate Director; Eric Norlander, Manager; Letitia Hughes, Terri Kazin, Aileen McCluskey Photography John Powers, John Walsh Imaging Francisco Collado, Mark Linder Chief Research Officer Kristen Purcell Consumer Engagement Testing Charu Ahuja, Director; Linda Greene, Dana Keester Statistics & Data Science Michael Saccucci, Director; Debasmita Das, Kristen Dorrell, Dina Haner, Keith Newsom-Stewart Survey Research Karen Jaffe, Simon Slater, Associate Directors; Dave Gopoian, Kendra Johnson, Debra Kalensky, Martin Lachter, Jane Manweiler, John McCowen, Adam Troy, Tian Wang, Tess Yanisch Consumer Insight Selina Tedesco, Frank Yang Member Support Sue Melfi, Director; Donna Murianka Marketing Dawn Nelson, Senior Director Procurement Operations Steven Schiavone, Associate Director Administration Decarris Bryant, Dawn Yancy Elleby VICE PRESIDENTS: Financial Planning & Analysis JoAnne Boyd; Chief Digital Officer Jason Fox; Advocacy David Friedman; Chief Intelligence Officer Esther Han; General Counsel Michael Hubner; Research, Testing & Insights Liam McCormack; Chief Human Resources Officer Rafael Pérez; Chief Marketing Officer Lauren Stanich; Chief Social Impact Officer Shar Taylor; SVP, Chief Financial Officer Eric Wayne
PHOTO: MEL ANIE DUNEA
Our Privacy, Our Rights
Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer Leonora Wiener Vice President, Chief Content Officer Gwendolyn Bounds
