MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

I guess we all are becoming aware that the internet providers and the various web companies are stealing and on-selling our data.



INTERNET PRIVACY



I like using Google and use it for blogging and searching for interesting stories and pictures.

Youtube is a great source for old TV series, sports events and older films.

I don't trust Facebook and deleted (as far as I was able) two accounts linked to our main email addresses and created another one using a gmail account that I use for nothing else. I won't create a profile on this Facebook page, don't post on it and have no desire to meet up with 'friends' I only have it so that I can link to local community pages. I don't use Twitter  Snapchat, Instagram or any of the other social media accounts.It pisses me off that I seem to get tracked and attacked by Russian bots and advertising companies.Do a search on Google for some ailment for yourself or the cat and forevermore there will be remedies and products offered to you.



In the article I put the link in above it summarises thus:

SCHNEIER: "Unfortunately, we live in a world where most of our data is out of our control. It’s in the cloud, stored by companies that may not have our best interests at heart. So, while there are technical strategies people can employ to protect their privacy, they’re mostly around the edges. The best recommendation I have for people is to get involved in the political process. The best thing we can do as consumers and citizens is to make this a political issue. Force our legislators to change the rules.
Opting out doesn’t work. It’s nonsense to tell people not to carry a credit card or not to have an email address. And “buyer beware” is putting too much onus on the individual. People don’t test their food for pathogens or their airlines for safety. The government does it. But the government has failed in protecting consumers from internet companies and social media giants. But this will come around. The only effective way to control big corporations is through big government. My hope is that technologists also get involved in the political process — in government, in think-tanks, universities, and so on. That’s where the real change will happen. I tend to be short-term pessimistic and long-term optimistic. I don’t think this will do society in. This is not the first time we’ve seen technological changes that threaten to undermine society, and it won’t be the last."

We are being forced into having to use our credit cards for on-line shopping for goods and services. Banks, government departments, utility companies and major retailers are cutting back on their face to face services and wanting - demanding that we deal with them on-line. The problem is that they have not put enough safety procedures in for us to be able to do this securely.

Recently our credit card was used for over $10,000 worth of fraudulent spending in Amsterdam. We had to cancel our cards and have new ones submitted along with all the hassles with automatic payment changes this entailed. It also took a couple of months arguing with the bank to get the charges reversed. We weren't sure how this happened but suspected PayPal, Uber and Ticketmaster.
Sure enough, last week I got emails from Ticketmaster apologising that several million customer accounts had been hacked and advising us to change or card details. Well we've changed the cards, no thanks to them but as we have two pending concert arrangements via them - Bob Dylan in August and David Byrne in November I'm waiting until these are out of the way before I totally cancel our account with Ticketmaster. We'll probably have to go back to the old manual system of queuing up at a ticket office and paying with cash in future.

A brave new world with convenient features?

Forget it.