How private are you on line?

[warmonger]

Facebook is changing its privacy settings yet again to give users greater control over who sees what. Privacy seems to be a much greater concern in Europe than in the US, both at the government and individual levels. European courts are enforcing the "right to be forgotten".

I'm interested to hear how OT manages their online life.

Me? - I'm borderline paranoid. I surf in permanent private mode; accept site cookies but not third party cookies; a firefox add on erases flash cookies after 10 secs; ad-blocker prevents any imbedded video, sound file, or banner ad from displaying or playing. All cookies are erased when the browser is closed. I surf in subject sessions; I might read some newspapers, then close browser; open browser, do some work related searches, close browser; open browser, waste time on CFC or Facebook, close browser. Work related sites don't know which newspapers or articles I read; Facebook thinks I have no interests; I haven't seen an on-line ad for anything in at least 5 years. Every time I visit a web page I'm counted as a unique visitor even if I've been there 5 times today (unless I deliberately sign in).

Am I alone in these habits or are we all a little bit paranoid? Discuss.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think that privacy on the web has by now become a quite serious issue. FB and such sites particularly can cause problems, if in some way they get to log/know any part of your web surfing. Of course they supposedly exist due to being helpful, but that doesn't mean they can't turn against the users/some of them.

I only use FB for some general announcements and business related (eg publishing houses) pms. It still is not the best thing to do, but currently it is practical enough to allow me to keep using it.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

You know that all those security measures you're taking only make you look more suspicious? I'm pretty sure NSA has you under constant surveillance

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Noscript, Adblock, sparse use of social media, and a Google account without my name on it.

 

[Camikaze]

Facebook is changing its privacy settings yet again to give users greater control over who sees what. Privacy seems to be a much greater concern in Europe than in the US, both at the government and individual levels. European courts are enforcing the "right to be forgotten".

I'm interested to hear how OT manages their online life.

Me? - I'm borderline paranoid. I surf in permanent private mode; accept site cookies but not third party cookies; a firefox add on erases flash cookies after 10 secs; ad-blocker prevents any imbedded video, sound file, or banner ad from displaying or playing. All cookies are erased when the browser is closed. I surf in subject sessions; I might read some newspapers, then close browser; open browser, do some work related searches, close browser; open browser, waste time on CFC or Facebook, close browser. Work related sites don't know which newspapers or articles I read; Facebook thinks I have no interests; I haven't seen an on-line ad for anything in at least 5 years. Every time I visit a web page I'm counted as a unique visitor even if I've been there 5 times today (unless I deliberately sign in).

Am I alone in these habits or are we all a little bit paranoid? Discuss.

This doesn't sound paranoid without explanation as to why you do this. It just sounds a little pointless. I mean, if I were to take measures to block cookies, there'd presumably be a reason for me to do so. What is it?

 

[Cutlass]

Moderately so. There are a few people and companies that have my name. My facebook has only a few contacts, and I don't post anything about myself. No other social media has my real name attached. Other than a couple companies I do business with, my name is not attached to my email.

 

[warmonger]

This doesn't sound paranoid without explanation as to why you do this. It just sounds a little pointless. I mean, if I were to take measures to block cookies, there'd presumably be a reason for me to do so. What is it?

In my professional career, I've been spied on by at least 3 Governments. I'm not being paranoid here; one told me directly; I found the FM receiver and recording device (it was that long ago) of the second; and the 3rd devulged information during discussions that they could only have known about through eavesdropping. There may have been others but I never found out about them.

The reason is privacy - pure and simple. I don't believe a government or a corporation has any right to know what I do so long as what I'm doing is legal.

 

[Camikaze]

In my professional career, I've been spied on by at least 3 Governments. I'm not being paranoid here; one told me directly; I found the FM receiver and recording device (it was that long ago) of the second; and the 3rd devulged information during discussions that they could only have known about through eavesdropping. There may have been others but I never found out about them.

The reason is privacy - pure and simple. I don't believe a government or a corporation has any right to know what I do so long as what I'm doing is legal.

Well that's an entirely legitimate reason, and not at all paranoid. But it's not going to be the case for most people, so others with the same habits maybe are being paranoid. What reason would I have for taking the 'precautions' you take, for example?

 

[warmonger]

Well that's an entirely legitimate reason, and not at all paranoid. But it's not going to be the case for most people, so others with the same habits maybe are being paranoid. What reason would I have for taking the 'precautions' you take, for example?

Are you comfortable with so many companies knowing so much about you and trading that info amongst themselves just so they can present you with customised advertising? I'm not.

 

[Hygro]

It's too late for me.

 

[Camikaze]

Are you comfortable with so many companies knowing so much about you and trading that info amongst themselves just so they can present you with customised advertising? I'm not.

What reason is there to not be comfortable with that? I'm happy enough for companies to profit from certain information about me in return for use of their online services, particularly seeing as I'm not actually losing any profit through them doing so. I'm happy enough to see customised advertising too; it makes sense for me to see ads that I'm more likely to be interested in.

 

[Farm Boy]

It's too late for me.

No one is beyond redemption.

Now go work for cash payments as a migrant laborer in the Shenandoah Valley for the next 20 years without a cell phone or internet access and I guarantee you most of the things big data thinks it knows about you are going to be wrong.

 

[innonimatu]

European courts are enforcing the "right to be forgotten".

It is an impossible goal. Better everyone be aware that such right does not exist than believe it does.
Legislating such rights plays right into the hands of those few with the resources to keep collecting the data regardless of the law, giving them more leverage.

Me? - I'm borderline paranoid. I surf in permanent private mode; accept site cookies but not third party cookies; a firefox add on erases flash cookies after 10 secs; ad-blocker prevents any imbedded video, sound file, or banner ad from displaying or playing. All cookies are erased when the browser is closed. I surf in subject sessions; I might read some newspapers, then close browser; open browser, do some work related searches, close browser; open browser, waste time on CFC or Facebook, close browser. Work related sites don't know which newspapers or articles I read; Facebook thinks I have no interests; I haven't seen an on-line ad for anything in at least 5 years. Every time I visit a web page I'm counted as a unique visitor even if I've been there 5 times today (unless I deliberately sign in).

Am I alone in these habits or are we all a little bit paranoid? Discuss.

You are not alone but nearly so. Your measures will shield you from some commercial data collection, not from any determined private adversary nor from states doing spying on people in bulk. And the meanwhile it costs you a lot, socially, to maintain even those cautions.

The end balance for the paranoids is negative: paranoia makes you reduce your social connections, which makes you more vulnerable when "they" come after you. It also intimidates you into being socially passive instead of playing a part in controlling the world you live in.

The sooner the idea of privacy is universally dead and people know it, the better. Because that is the only thing that will deny the power of those few which not have the means to collect and use information about everyone else.
A world with strong privacy might have been better, or not; but modern technology has removed that option and there is no going back. We can only manage the world we have to reduce the new situation created by the new technology. Trying to legislate a right to privacy where little of it remains in practice is the wrong way to do it.

 

[Borachio]

I'm so private I'm not even going to tell you how private I am.

 

[Zelig]

Facebook is changing its privacy settings yet again to give users greater control over who sees what. Privacy seems to be a much greater concern in Europe than in the US, both at the government and individual levels. European courts are enforcing the "right to be forgotten".

I'm interested to hear how OT manages their online life.

Me? - I'm borderline paranoid. I surf in permanent private mode; accept site cookies but not third party cookies; a firefox add on erases flash cookies after 10 secs; ad-blocker prevents any imbedded video, sound file, or banner ad from displaying or playing. All cookies are erased when the browser is closed. I surf in subject sessions; I might read some newspapers, then close browser; open browser, do some work related searches, close browser; open browser, waste time on CFC or Facebook, close browser. Work related sites don't know which newspapers or articles I read; Facebook thinks I have no interests; I haven't seen an on-line ad for anything in at least 5 years. Every time I visit a web page I'm counted as a unique visitor even if I've been there 5 times today (unless I deliberately sign in).

Am I alone in these habits or are we all a little bit paranoid? Discuss.

I'm about similar in effect, but I use a method which is more streamlined IMO:

I block all cookies except for sites where I need them to login:

Cookie Controller for Firefox

Not much point in erasing cookies every time browser is closed if I whitelist cookies in the first place, wiping CFC login info just serves to annoy me when I need to login every time I visit the site. Also no point in subject sessions. I use a dedicated browser for services that are likely to track me across various sites. (Have a Chrome install that I only use for Google services and that stays logged in to Google services, don't log in to Google in any other browser, etc.)

Don't have Flash installed, don't allow ads.

Noscript, Adblock, sparse use of social media, and a Google account without my name on it.

Noscript is awful. Disabling javascript just makes your browser significantly less capable, with essentially no upside.

And the meanwhile it costs you a lot, socially, to maintain even those cautions.

It does?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Noscript is awful. Disabling javascript just makes your browser significantly less capable, with essentially no upside.

What can't I re-enable with the program? Also, if I just want to read the comments on an online article, I only need to enable the associated programs and not the dozens of other scripts on such sites. This selectivity works well for me.

 

[Commodore]

This doesn't sound paranoid without explanation as to why you do this. It just sounds a little pointless. I mean, if I were to take measures to block cookies, there'd presumably be a reason for me to do so. What is it?

Proactive information security instead of reactive? I don't get why people automatically assume someone is up to nefarious deeds if they seek to hide their online activity. I do it because the training I have received taught me to be proactive about all forms of security.

In short, proactive security is never a bad idea and reactive security is always a bad idea.

 

[AdamCrock]

Facebook sucks totally !!!! .... If You want to be public and not private it's the first place You should go "wannabe" "hero" !

 

[AdamCrock]

I'm so private I'm not even going to tell you how private I am.

Much appreciated - really !!

 

[Smellincoffee]

I run with Disconnect and such on to stymie intrusions, but once I made the mistake of letting a website's commenting software connect with my twitter. When I logged back in I was following hundreds of people around the world, from Korean shoe sellers to milk shops in Dubai. Websites don't get to remember my password or log me in automatically. When not on my personal computer, I always use Incognito, Private Browsing, or the equivalent. I tell Chrome to forget everything it's collected about me periodically. At the moment I'm looking around for the best alternatives to Google services.