How to Take Control of Your Data
As I have said before, Mozilla products are essential for privacy enthusiasts. Check out their browsers and email software. They just added a screenshot app, too. Privacy and security are important to Mozilla and they work to improve the internet for all users. You've probably noticed more connected devices hitting the market every day that... Continue Reading →
Terrifying. As I read this article, I imagined my grandparents in that situation. That this is happening at all is reason enough to shut down data broker sites that include lists of relatives. We worked very hard to keep our names from being connected to our families, but it happened due to public information being... Continue Reading →
The problem with today's surveillance by companies like Amazon and Google is not capitalism. It's their theft of our personal information and data. Their business model is to collect and sell our data to their third-party service providers as well as "certain of your information to third party experts, advocates, and advisors." That little nugget... Continue Reading →
When you need ID, less is better. Yeah, a photo. Nah, your address. A US passport card is ideal to use whenever photo identification is required. The card is better than a driver's license, since the licenses include a physical address that you don't want to show total strangers. Also, it's Real ID compliant, unlike... Continue Reading →
Most privacy enthusiasts start with some basic steps to limit our exposure to spam and personal info leaks. A new article in Wired describes how frustrating it can be to realize how we're opted IN automatically when we share email addresses and other information with vendors. Have an email address ready to use for receipts... Continue Reading →
Websites that register members, accept donations, and other ways that take personal information put our security at risk if they are hacked. The most current headline regarding these hacks involved the FBI Academy Association's websites. When this story was shared online, commenters mistakenly assumed the hack was an FBI website and that the hackers achieved... Continue Reading →
Don't be naive about keeping your Facebook profile, posts, comments, likes, groups, etc... private by relying on your settings. You may think you have your account 'locked down' with your settings set to the most private possible. Follow the steps in this article first. I recommend you follow all those steps and recheck your... Continue Reading →
Have you looked at your credit card receipts? Your legal name- the name on your account- is printed on most of them. Watch this YouTube video to see how this can have some creepy results. If you imagine the worst, it's not hard to realize that leaving those little slips of paper all over the... Continue Reading →
In a previous post, I shared articles about an angry Congressional staffer who posted PII of conservative Senators and their families online. This week, he pleaded guilty to five federal charges and faces some serious and well-deserved jail time. This young man was angry about a Supreme Court nominee and retaliated against the Senators who... Continue Reading →
This article describes another data exposure for Facebook users this week. I'm not usually in favor of government intervention in corporate policies, but this case may call for it. If Facebook requires people to use their real names and suspends accounts that violate their identity policy, then they should be required to protect the data... Continue Reading →
Please, for the love of all things private, STOP using social media apps on your personal devices. The applications built by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc... are designed to suck up all the information from devices they possibly can access. In their Terms of Service, they include these permissions and most people don't read or understand... Continue Reading →
This recent article caught my attention. It's not the first of its kind and will not be the last as long as the radical ideology of ISIS threatens the western way of life. As military family members, we must do everything in our power to keep our names and PII out of their hands. Our... Continue Reading →
This. This article. Kyle Torpey @ Forbes, you said it! You never know who you'll TRIGGER-- online or in person. This is some scary stuff. Posts on social media with real names and some people sharing their phone numbers in line at CVS --- all very scary to me. *Soapbox Warning* Please don't share your... Continue Reading →
This week, C-SPAN was more exciting than anything the Kardashians were doing. Following months of activism by hundreds of military spouses, they finally had their day in court, or specifically, Congress. You can read about it here. If you have time, you can even go watch it here. It was EPIC! Military spouses confronted... Continue Reading →
Mentorship among spouse groups is essential to the military's mission. Nothing is as strong as the connection among military families in sharing this lifestyle. There are some significant ways you can share what you're learning. You can help other families protect their privacy and safety online. Attend an FRG meeting and offer to share how... Continue Reading →
*As much as possible Always assume that anything in your Facebook profile will be seen publicly. Keep this in mind when you upload photos, update your status, and post comments on other timelines. The developers at Facebook give us some ways to limit who can see some of our activities, though. Step-by-step method to make... Continue Reading →
While searching around the interwebs, I have learned a few new terms. One can also learn them following current events. This story comes out amid the hundreds of headlines about a new Supreme Court nominee. To most, it seems unimportant, compared to the hanging lib/con balance on the highest Court in our country. It seems... Continue Reading →
In a summer that saw the WORST nation-wide military moving results, I can say our move was not as bad as some I read about online. I did my homework, though. I printed labels for boxes, researched the area, and did the best I could to be ready. Privacy-wise, I absolutely took ultimate steps to... Continue Reading →
When military spouses have had enough, drastic things happen. When it's time to step out with your story to protect your family, privacy takes a back seat. I applaud these families who walked out into the public arena to fight for their families' safety. I've spent the last 15 years trying to stay below the... Continue Reading →
When A Stranger Decides To Destroy Your Life In today's world of public comment and conversation in social media, it definitely pays NOT to use your correct name in your online profiles. Many people like Monika Glennon have careers and work for companies that post their names and photos in marketing campaigns. In the last... Continue Reading →
Now Hide Me 