Wakeup call for privacy

Interestingly, I am of @sinnerjohn’s mindset. I do follow some privacy steps, but I’m nowhere near where rizole falls on the spectrum. Although I won’t add just anyone and everyone as a friend/follower, I don’t really care about all the other in-depth stuff that’s being discussed. Just don’t have the time or patience to deal with or think about it, first, and I’m not doing anything illegal so..... <shrugs>

I think I started out more in this way of thinking. I didn’t want to look at any of the “be careful” warnings. I’m not doing anything illegal or expressing controversial opinions so the record will show nothing of interest. Right?

I am fairly astonished when I hear people are on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and a whole bunch of others in addition to MobiTog. Where do people find the time for all that? I have trouble doing MobiTog justice. Days I’m on MobiTog I don’t have time for FB and often not email. Too much time wasted online. There’s life to live, things to do. Better to be outside walking or making pictures. Maybe even some time for work.
I might get on FB once a week or longer. I used to check in more often, every couple of days. No more. I have not even put FB on my new iPad.
I don’t add any FB “friends” I don’t actually know. I often wonder why the FB “friends” system doesn’t give people the opportunity to introduce themselves to me and say why they want to be my friend. That would be the absolute minimum requirement for me. On FB now I mostly just post a picture and leave. Sometimes if I have extra time I “like” a couple of pictures posted by others. Not interested in much else. It is all just mindless entertainment keeping me busy doing nothing. Keeping me busy tied into the matrix.

It is turning out to be a real problem the way slanted information is used to shape public opinion. Even active legal cases have FB pages where insufficiently informed people express opinions of guilt.

But now, my feelings about a benevolent internet have changed. Those days have gone. Today’s internet is a highly competitive underworld trying to turn any slim opportunity into profit. Too many robots wanting to know my every move, like, opinion, and interest. Too much concerted effort to mine my personal information for meaning. Too much opportunity for personal information given in good faith to go “astray”. And also, too much potential for unfriendly data collection. Time to be more careful. The time to hope for the best has gone.
 
I think I started out more in this way of thinking. I didn’t want to look at any of the “be careful” warnings. I’m not doing anything illegal or expressing controversial opinions so the record will show nothing of interest. Right?

I am fairly astonished when I hear people are on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and a whole bunch of others in addition to MobiTog. Where do people find the time for all that? I have trouble doing MobiTog justice. Days I’m on MobiTog I don’t have time for FB and often not email. Too much time wasted online. There’s life to live, things to do. Better to be outside walking or making pictures. Maybe even some time for work.
I might get on FB once a week or longer. I used to check in more often, every couple of days. No more. I have not even put FB on my new iPad.
I don’t add any FB “friends” I don’t actually know. I often wonder why the FB “friends” system doesn’t give people the opportunity to introduce themselves to me and say why they want to be my friend. That would be the absolute minimum requirement for me. On FB now I mostly just post a picture and leave. Sometimes if I have extra time I “like” a couple of pictures posted by others. Not interested in much else. It is all just mindless entertainment keeping me busy doing nothing. Keeping me busy tied into the matrix.

It is turning out to be a real problem the way slanted information is used to shape public opinion. Even active legal cases have FB pages where insufficiently informed people express opinions of guilt.

But now, my feelings about a benevolent internet have changed. Those days have gone. Today’s internet is a highly competitive underworld trying to turn any slim opportunity into profit. Too many robots wanting to know my every move, like, opinion, and interest. Too much concerted effort to mine my personal information for meaning. Too much opportunity for personal information given in good faith to go “astray”. And also, too much potential for unfriendly data collection. Time to be more careful. The time to hope for the best has gone.
Amen!
 
I was just reading an article about free cloud storage for photos. iCloud is a paid service so apparently it doesn’t apply to iCloud. But, the main reason why companies offer to store your photos for free is that they mine them for data. Any data. Doesn’t matter what kind. Any large accumulation of data eventually shows some sort of useful pattern. Places you go. How often you travel. The types of things in your photos, ie family, kids, seniors, scenery, recognizable activities like sports, etc., etc. How that sort of thing is useful to anyone is a puzzle to the average person but worth gold to the right companies, or wrong companies, depending how you look at it.
 
I'm probably most at odds with people on here, as I think its mindless paranoia and Instagram bashing. Instagram may be owned by Facebook but its a photo sharing site, that's its purpose.
The first line on there is 'Go to system settings, tap on Instagram, and disable access to Photos' WHAT !!
Why not just delete all the apps on your phone and better still power off the phone and put it in a lead lined draw ;)
Lets disable photo access on MobiTog too and look at blank space.
Do I care if someone sees a photo of what I had for my dinner last night, nope. Do I really care if Facebook knows I rang my wife to tell her I love her, nope.
If you don't agree with what Facebook has done just delete it and have done with it.
I know an IT guy at work that actually re-installs Windows every time he uses on-line banking, now THAT is paranoia :rolleyes:

Not paranoia, it's the principle... Zuckerberg is not to be trusted IMHO. The seriousness of what has transpired... I won't go into it, no one seems to care anyway.

BTW, I am an IT "guy", have been since 1992; reinstalling Windows every time is so ridiculously extreme, seriously. Makes no sense by any stretch.
 
Not paranoia, it's the principle... Zuckerberg is not to be trusted IMHO. The seriousness of what has transpired... I won't go into it, no one seems to care anyway.

BTW, I am an IT "guy", have been since 1992; reinstalling Windows every time is so ridiculously extreme, seriously. Makes no sense by any stretch.
Have you deleted Facebook Dee?
 
Not paranoia, it's the principle... Zuckerberg is not to be trusted IMHO. The seriousness of what has transpired... I won't go into it, no one seems to care anyway.

BTW, I am an IT "guy", have been since 1992; reinstalling Windows every time is so ridiculously extreme, seriously. Makes no sense by any stretch.
Quite. My first thought was "what a waste of effort". If you had to destroy your OS each time you bank then run it in a trivialy cloned virtual machine and destroy that. You can spin up a new clean image in minutes or less. If you're extra paranoid, run your vm on Linux.
 
Have you deleted Facebook Dee?
Yes I did! I deactivated it over a year ago as I said. Thanks to the EU's GDPR (right to be forgotten), I could. I received notice a week ago my connection from Facebook to PayPal was cancelled, which was two weeks after I entered my delete request.. I take that as a good sign they actually started the deletion process. (I did download a copy of my profile before I did!)

Here is a good read to maybe explain the larger reason I left Facebook and why I don't trust Zuckerberg:
"WHY ZUCKERBERG’S 14-YEAR APOLOGY TOUR HASN’T FIXED FACEBOOK"
 
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Quite. My first thought was "what a waste of effort". If you had to destroy your OS each time you bank then run it in a trivialy cloned virtual machine and destroy that. You can spin up a new clean image in minutes or less. If you're extra paranoid, run your vm on Linux.
If one is that paranoid, they should not have computers, Internet, smart phones... etc. Why anyone in IT wouldn't know how to secure their connection(s) is beyond me.

The key is - BE SMART!
 
To be sure, what others know about us is not necessarily culled from the likes of FB, Instagram, or Google. We all use credit and debit cards, checks, and online banking. We apply for jobs, credit, access to clubs or gyms, etc. Everything we do offline has been, and is, monitored one way or another, and profiles have long been established for just about every human being. I gave up a long time ago trying to hide online from industry, the government, and the world. There are many things beyond our control and there’s no point worrying about something we cannot influence or change. I too agree with John: it is the cost of admission to all of the benefits we derive from the convenience of being able to do things from where we are at that point in time. I use a secure VPN for everything I do online, not because I’m overly paranoid but because I have to tickle the underbelly of the Internet from time to time during my work day and I don’t want any surprises... Elon Musk shared an incredibly interesting video on Instagram the other day about AI and Deep Learning. It’s every bit as scary as we think: and then some: http://www.doyoutrustthiscomputer.org/watch
As MsDee said, be smart. :)

Edit: Elon Musk said this video is free to watch until midnight tonight. Clicking on the link seems to produce the page, but not the video :(
 
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To be sure, what others know about us is not necessarily culled from the likes of FB, Instagram, or Google. We all use credit and debit cards, checks, and online banking. We apply for jobs, credit, access to clubs or gyms, etc. Everything we do offline has been, and is, monitored one way or another, and profiles have long been established for just about every human being. I gave up a long time ago trying to hide online from industry, the government, and the world. There are many things beyond our control and there’s no point worrying about something we cannot influence or change. I too agree with John: it is the cost of admission to all of the benefits we derive from the convenience of being able to do things from where we are at that point in time. I use a secure VPN for everything I do online, not because I’m overly paranoid but because I have to tickle the underbelly of the Internet from time to time during my work day and I don’t want any surprises... Elon Musk shared an incredibly interesting video on Instagram the other day about AI and Deep Learning. It’s every bit as scary as we think: and then some: http://www.doyoutrustthiscomputer.org/watch
As MsDee said, be smart. :)

Edit: Elon Musk said this video is free to watch until midnight tonight. Clicking on the link seems to produce the page, but not the video :(
That’s why I avoid loyalty cards. The benefits they give are minimal.
 
Yes I did! I deactivated it over a year ago as I said. Thanks to the EU's GDPR (right to be forgotten), I could. I received notice a week ago my connection from Facebook to PayPal was cancelled, which was two weeks after I entered my delete request.. I take that as a good sign they actually started the deletion process. (I did download a copy of my profile before I did!)

Here is a good read to maybe explain the larger reason I left Facebook and why I don't trust Zuckerberg:
"WHY ZUCKERBERG’S 14-YEAR APOLOGY TOUR HASN’T FIXED FACEBOOK"
Good article. Thank you for sharing!
 
That’s why I avoid loyalty cards. The benefits they give are minimal.
I was just about to mention AirMiles, Optimun and all the other cards that track our purchasing habits. Even your library card keeps track of your book borrowing history. Then there’s your supposedly private medical history, stored online in the doctors’ medical history database, and your medication history with the pharmastists’ database.
So when you look at the accumulated profile that is created, what do think is missing? For instance if someone was determining your Profile as a Human Being, not connected in any way with your posted opinions or your purchasing history, would the real you show up? Does it show up if you are helpful to strangers, care about the homeless, volunteer now and then at the homeless shelter or food bank, your basic code of morality, how much you love and care for people, what about your never spoken thoughts about spirituality, whether you believe in Santa Claus, or UFOs, etc. Whether you find crop circles interesting or frightening. Whether or not you believe the TV news is free and unbiased.
 
Yes I did! I deactivated it over a year ago as I said. Thanks to the EU's GDPR (right to be forgotten), I could. I received notice a week ago my connection from Facebook to PayPal was cancelled, which was two weeks after I entered my delete request.. I take that as a good sign they actually started the deletion process. (I did download a copy of my profile before I did!)

Here is a good read to maybe explain the larger reason I left Facebook and why I don't trust Zuckerberg:
"WHY ZUCKERBERG’S 14-YEAR APOLOGY TOUR HASN’T FIXED FACEBOOK"
The article is sobering. Thanks for this.
 
Yes I did! I deactivated it over a year ago as I said. Thanks to the EU's GDPR (right to be forgotten), I could. I received notice a week ago my connection from Facebook to PayPal was cancelled, which was two weeks after I entered my delete request.. I take that as a good sign they actually started the deletion process. (I did download a copy of my profile before I did!)

Here is a good read to maybe explain the larger reason I left Facebook and why I don't trust Zuckerberg:
"WHY ZUCKERBERG’S 14-YEAR APOLOGY TOUR HASN’T FIXED FACEBOOK"
This is the way of the world now. How awful that our privacy has been converted from a right to a feature :(
 
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