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With a little effort you can get on the road towards real online Privacy!

In a recent piece for Slate, Cyrus Nemati hems and haws over the complexities of creating a private online existence, ultimately choosing to give up on Internet privacy and embrace the convenience of sharing. While working at an organization that advocates for digital rights,
The truth is that most of us simply can’t protect ourselves from every threat 100 percent of the time, and trying to do so is a recipe for existential dread. But once we understand our threat model—what we want to keep private and whom we want to protect it from—we can start to make decisions about how we live our lives online. You’ll find yourself empowered, not depressed.
Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/02/14/threat_modeling_and_finding_the_right_level_of_online_privacy_for_you.html
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

Are you surprised that Samsung wants more details about your life?

Samsung may be interested in collecting user data from its devices as well, part of a “Context” service that will allow third-party services to offer targeted features to a mobile user based on what that person likes, The Information reports. Unlike Google and Facebook, which collect plenty of user data to deliver better ads to their customers, Samsung may use the Context features on mobile devices to improve app experiences.
Samsung would collect “what a person types, what apps they use, and what data their phone’s sensors pick up.“ However, it’s not clear when such a service will launch, as it has apparently been delayed by “disagreements over whether it would actually help Samsung sell more smartphones,” according to The Verge.
Read more:  http://bgr.com/2014/02/11/context-galaxy-software-feature/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

Demand an end to mass surveillance!
Make your voice heard today.

Since June, ongoing revelations about the NSA’s activities have shown us the expanding scope of government surveillance. Today is the day people around the world are demanding an end to mass spying.
A broad coalition of organizations, companies, and individuals are loudly voicing their stance against unwarranted mass spying—over 6,000 websites have joined together today to demand reform. EFF stands by millions of users—represented by groups like Demand Progress, ACLU, PEN, and Access as well as companies like Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and reddit—to reform governmental collection of innocent users’ information.
Read more: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/02/today-we-fight-back-against-mass-surveillance
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

Demand an end to mass surveillance!
Make your voice heard today.

Since June, ongoing revelations about the NSA’s activities have shown us the expanding scope of government surveillance. Today is the day people around the world are demanding an end to mass spying.
A broad coalition of organizations, companies, and individuals are loudly voicing their stance against unwarranted mass spying—over 6,000 websites have joined together today to demand reform. EFF stands by millions of users—represented by groups like Demand Progress, ACLU, PEN, and Access as well as companies like Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and reddit—to reform governmental collection of innocent users’ information.
Read more:  https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/02/today-we-fight-back-against-mass-surveillance
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

Data includes account numbers, passports, and information that can be used by brokers for investment scams.

Barclays is investigating the possible leak of thousands of documents that contain customer information, the latest in a series of blows to the U.K.-based bank.
As many as 27,000 Barclays (BCS) customer files with personal and financial information have been stolen, according to a whistleblower report published by the Daily Mail.
The files included details such as income, savings, mortgages, health issues, insurance policies, passport and national insurance numbers — data that brokers could use for investment scams. It’s unclear how the information was stolen.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/10/news/barclays-data-theft/
Published by Dont Mine on Me

More data breaches. This time it’s Barclays’s.
If this is proven this is disgraceful!

Investigations have been launched after a report that thousands of confidential files with Barclays Bank customers details had been stolen and sold.
The Mail on Sunday said an anonymous whistleblower had handed it a memory stick with the personal data of 2,000 Barclays customers, saying information on a further 25,000 was also available.
The files are said to hold passport and national insurance numbers, as well as money and health information.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26106138
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

It’s a myth that you have to track people to make money!

Small companies are showing that the technology we rely on can be redesigned to protect our data—and that consumers are interested.
Read more: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524046/phones-browsers-and-search-engines-get-a-privacy-overhaul/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

Now they are going to know exactly what we are doing in our homes, and it starts to get a bit scary!

The tech industry easily convinced the public to accept a myriad of free services for the price of some loss of privacy. But getting them to embrace the smart home is going to be a far harder sell.
For as long as people have envisioned the inevitable advent of smart home, critics and privacy advocates have warned how it might all go horribly wrong…
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57618006-83/how-big-brothers-going-to-peek-into-your-connected-home/
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

The new Australian Privacy Act will introduce a new and harmonized set of Privacy principles.
A guide to information that can be collected and when you should be notified about your data being sent overseas

New privacy laws will come into operation in Australia in March this year. The amendments to the Privacy Act will introduce a new and harmonised set of privacy principles. While there is still plenty of room for improvement, the new laws make some important steps in protecting privacy, particularly with the collection of data online.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/04/internet-privacy-how-new-laws-work
Posted by Dont Mine on Me

A social media platform the respects your Privacy.
That’s a breath of fresh air!

Upstart social media platform Vivaldi aims to capture tech savvy users seeking to avoid aggressive advertising and the prying eyes of governments, and hopes for a boost from the closure of a rival, founder Jon von Tetzchner told Reuters. Based in Iceland, a country known for its commitment to privacy and free speech, Vivaldi is luring users with strong data encryption and a promise not to use the content of private mail to generate advertising.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/icelandic-social-media-site-protects-id-2014-2
Posted by Dont Mine on Me