Online Privacy & Social Media Marketing Blog

Apps, Cell Phones, Cyber Privacy, Tracking

What’s the privacy tradeoff for playing Words With Friends?

An ongoing game or two of Words with Friends, an app on my Android phone, has been a simple and guilty pleasure that I've enjoyed regularly. After an annoying upgrade option kept popping up on my screen, I read the privacy policy to learn exactly…

Apps, Cyber Bullying, Cyber Privacy, Internet Privacy

Private Lives

Tammy Minn's article below is printed in the October 2014 print issue of Inland Empire Magazine. I am honored and proud to share the article/interview here and hope that you will get a good tip or two out of it yourself! Until…

Apps, Cyber Privacy, Cyber Security, Facebook, Internet Privacy, Social Media

Facebook’s New Privacy Checkup – Thumbs Up!

When an alligator cartoon offering a Facebook Privacy Checkup popped up while I was using Facebook, I assumed it was fraudulent. Facebook hadn’t seemed concerned about making their privacy settings transparent before and with the unfamiliar…

Cyber Privacy, Internet Privacy, Private browsing, Remove online info

Keeping personal information off the Internet

Before I'm hired to remove personal information from the Internet, clients understandably want to know if it will stay off permanently. The reality is that multiple factors can cause personal information to come back. The purpose of this…

Internet Privacy

What You Need To Know About Spam Emails

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…

Apps, Cyber Bullying, Cyber Relationships, Internet Privacy, Protecting Children, Social Media

A teen’s take on virtual popularity

I can’t help but analyze the sometimes-dysfunctional way that people in my age group act online and on social media. Take a commonly used photo-sharing app like Instagram where one can follow a person and “like” their pictures. Just…

Cyber Privacy, Facebook, Internet Privacy

Impact of European Privacy Policy on the United States

Recently there was a groundbreaking case in The European Union about the right of an individual to be “forgotten” on the Internet. As anyone who has ever had an embarrassing photo shared on the internet can attest to, nothing is ever really…

Internet Privacy, Protecting Children, Remove online info, Reputation

The Right To Know vs. The Right To Be Forgotten

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.…

Internet Privacy, Opt Out, Remove online info

How to opt out of peoplesmart

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…

Cyber Privacy, Internet Privacy, Protecting Children, Remove online info, Social Media

Why adults must understand technology and social media

“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…

Cyber Privacy, Opt Out, Remove online info

Opt Out of BeenVerified in less than 2 minutes

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…

Apps, Cyber Scams, Facebook, Internet Privacy, Legal/Ethics

How apps sneakily steal your privacy

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…

Cell Phones, Cyber Privacy, Legal/Ethics

The Etiquette of Wearable Technology

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…

Cyber Privacy, Internet Privacy, Predators, Protecting Children, Reputation, Social Media

Generation Like – The Value and the Cost

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…

Apps, Cell Phones, Cyber Privacy, Email, Internet Privacy, Passwords, Phishing, Private browsing, Social Media, Tracking

Taking Control of Privacy

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…