Spam is an annoying online problem that can be found in emails, social media posts, group discussions, help forums and article comments. This article pertains to email spam only. Email spam ranges from pleas for financial assistance to seemingly harmless commercial emails to emails that trick recipients into installing malware or viruses on their devices. […]
Edward Snowden’s 2013 NSA surveillance revelations brought privacy concerns into the consciousness of more people than ever before and then last month’s European Union ruling against Google raised privacy awareness to an even higher level. While some perceive the EU’s highest court ruling that citizens can have objectionable links removed from Internet search results as […]
Opting out of directories can feel like fighting a losing battle, but I recommend doing it to make it harder for others to locate your personal information. I recently tested a couple of services that claim to remove personal information and it didn’t take long to determine they did not work adequately. Some directories require email verification and proof of identity in […]
“I’m not computer savvy!” “My kids know more than me!” “That’s why I don’t use social media!” I cringe when I hear this because I consider these to be excuses. Like it or not, technology and social media are here to stay. We have a responsibility to educate ourselves and to get comfortable enough with […]
BeenVerified is a search engine that provides personal information such as age, contact information, driving citations, arrest history, felonies, misdemeanors, bankruptcies, judgments, liens and more. There is no need to view a paid report in order to opt out so you will incur no fees by following the directions in this article. If you do […]
This is a very quick article (with lots of easy illustrations) to remind you that free apps often come with a tradeoff of privacy. Today I clicked on the video below because I figured it must be very good if over 15 million people had viewed it! Clicking on the video led to pop ups […]
After Sarah Slocum claimed she was attacked because she wore Google Glass (wearable computer in the form of an optical head-mounted display that looks like glasses) in a bar, volumes of people weighed in with their differing opinions. Many felt she had no right to infringe on the privacy of others by wearing her Glass […]
I was uncomfortable as I came to the end of a PBS documentary called, The Like Generation. As I reflected on the footage, I became aware of the roller coaster of emotions I experienced as I watched the Frontline video. What started out as excitement and curiosity soon morphed into concern over the warped value system […]
There is no doubt there are aspects of privacy that are out of our control, but as discussed in the last post called Privacy we Cannot Control, there are solid options for reducing the impact of privacy invasion. Today’s post reminds us there are many ways to take control of our privacy – it’s not time […]
There are moments when I feel helpless and hopeless as I watch privacy diminishing rapidly before my own eyes. Not a day goes by without one type of privacy breach or another and frequent news reports and articles make it feel like cyber attacks are rapidly increasing in frequency and magnitude. The recent Target breach […]
I found myself shopping at Target four times between Black Friday and December 15th when I wanted to buy diapers, spillproof cups, clothes and toys for my adorable 2 year nephew who was staying with me for 10 days. Then I learned that cyber criminals had hacked into Target’s computer systems during that exact same […]
It’s no secret that private information appears all over the Internet but the malice behind a solicitation email I received bothered me enough to want to get the word out to as many people as possible about ways to remove such information. Exploration of the offensive site (InstantCheckMate.com) revealed a connection to whitepages.com. I was […]
Follow Hayley on Social Media