XKeyscore – the claims According to newly revealed documents presented to The Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden, a surveillance program called XKeyscore enables the National Security Agency (NSA) to see “nearly everything a user does on the internet”. The Guardian article. with a somewhat flamboyant […]
XKeyscore: Another wide-reaching NSA surveillance tool exposed? Read More »
Tracing cookies, and particularly those emanating from 3rd party sources, have been well and truly under the microscope of late. In an effort to appease disgruntled users, ‘Do Not Track’ options and plug-ins have become part and parcel of many browser feature-sets. The issue with
Cookie Clearinghouse: An innovative road to privacy? Read More »
It’s official… I’ve finally dumped Google as my preferred search engine. With all the ramifications presented by recent disclosures regarding privacy and PRISM, the NSA, etc. it seemed a prudent move to make. I’ve been using Google search for many years. However, with privacy issues
Enhance your Privacy: The World’s Most Private Search Engines! Read More »
The news that Firefox 22 is set to block third party cookies by default has, unsurprisingly, not been well received by the online ad industry. On the other hand, I’d expect the majority of users to greet the decision with a modicum of… ‘way to
I’m an Internet privacy advocate (regular readers will now pause – laugh – and say – “no kidding!”), and while the fight to rein in Google, and others, might seem unwinnable, privacy advocates have not lost the battle – yet. Which is why, I have
Quick! Go check your to see if your Facebook dashboard looks like the one on the left or the one on the right. If you have the new new “lock and lines” icon next to the “home” button on your facebook dashboard, then you’ve already
Gone Social: Facebook rolls out privacy shortcuts Read More »
Reports are circulating that more than 7,000 free Android apps available through the Google Play store come embedded with an advertising module which is actively harvesting usage and personal details. The initial discovery was made by Tend Micro senior researcher Alice Decker when she inadvertently
Google Play apps harvesting personal information Read More »
There have been several different phishing attempts regarding Apple IDs lately. The emails attempt to get you to go to a nefarious website under the guise of a locked or suspended iTunes account or to get you to respond to some outrageous charge to your
You get to the stage where you think you’ve just about heard it all and then along comes something like this! What follows is the sad but true story of PC rental companies, a software called PC Rental Agent, and a serious invasion of consumer
To Block Ads Ever since I was a little kid watching Star Trek on TV I hated advertisements. I always saw them as an interruption of the ‘important’ things I really wanted to take in – like Mr. Spock. Now that I’m all grown up
To Block Ads or Not to Block Ads – That is the Question Read More »
I often get thoroughly disgusted when perusing through user comments submitted in response to items posted on certain sites. YouTube commentary, for example, is a veritable cesspit of vulgarity, obscenities, racism and flaming. I have to admit, it often makes me wonder what the world
Much has been written about the implementation of tracking cookies, and 3rd party tracking cookies in particular… which are primarily utilized to gather data for targeted advertizing. Some time back I mentioned the “Do Not Track” type feature which, when enabled, is supposed to prevent
Sophos, the highly regarded U.K. security software company, has just announced the discovery of a serious privacy leak emanating from the popular Firefox add-on ‘ShowIP’. According to the Mozilla add-on page, there are currently 169,000 people utilizing ShowIP. Here is ShowIP’s offcial description: “Show the
Popular Firefox add-on raises serious privacy concerns Read More »
The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) recently set out to answer this very question – how many people would be willing to give up more personal information in exchange for bigger discounts or a better price. ENISA conducted its research on a cross
Would you exchange personal information for bigger discounts? Read More »
