Making life a bit easier for the privacy-conscious and separating different internet uses into different “boxes” Recently, I have been visiting Google’s AI offering – Bard – several times a week. I’m still curious about it and it has helped me out several times. However, to use Bard you have to be logged into a …
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Tag:privacy
E-receipts – a “convenience” open to abuse
What do you do when a shop assistant asks for your email address when you’ve just made a purchase? The reason they give is that they want to send you a receipt by email (an e-receipt). They will say it’s better sent by email because that way you have a permanent record, the receipt won’t …
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Windows 10 Keylogger
If you accept the defaults in Windows 10, Microsoft might be able to see everything you type If you install Windows 10 and accept its default settings (as you just try to get the job done in the shortest time possible), then you will be giving Microsoft permission to record every single keystroke you make …
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AVG to sell browsing history
AVG has re-worded its privacy policy, confirming that it will sell your browsing and search history Long-term computer support clients of mine may know that I used to recommend AVG’s free antivirus program, but that I eventually stopped doing that because I didn’t like their tactics in “persuading” (misleading?) users to install trial versions of …
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Mobile Wifi
Mobile wifi has been around for a while, but has its time now come? Do you remember the days before laptops had in-built wifi adaptors? It used to be quite common to buy a mobile data plan, with its own SIM, that worked by connecting a “dongle” (containing the SIM card) into a USB port …
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Firefox Add-ons for Online Privacy
We can make a stab at reducing the information we give away in our web browsing When my computer support clients ask me which internet browser I prefer I say “Firefox“. The main reason is that there is a wide range of “add-ons” to tweak how it works. In particular, I am interested in add-ons …
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Avoiding Websites’ “Cookie Policy” Windows
Tired of seeing the “cookie policy” over and over again? If, like me, you delete and block cookies wherever and whenever possible, you may have found that there is a downside to this – you have to keep telling websites that you have understood their cookie policy. Sometimes it is possible to ignore the “cookie …
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Doubts about LinkedIn
I’m having serious doubts about whether it’s a good idea to keep a LinkedIn account Regular readers will know that I’m no great fan of social networking sites. I think they are devious, manipulative, insecure, and can not be trusted with a tenth of the personal data that people entrust to them. Nevertheless, for about …
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Metadata
So, what is metadata? During the recent kerfuffle about how much spying the NSA and GCHQ are carrying out on absolutely everyone with a life in cyberspace, the word “metadata” kept cropping up. In this context, the word was used mainly with reference to emails. Email messages have metadata associated with them and the apologists …
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