Protect your privacy
Please stop using Google. When you search on Google, it records your IP address and search terms, and stores them in a database. Google also scans your Gmail for keywords. This information is used to build a personal profile of your activity, linked to your Google account. Google then targets you with ads and search results based on the type of person it assumes you are. Google will sell your ad profile to other companies so they can target you with their products. Google is essentially a giant money-making panopticon, watching everybody and selling what they see. All of the information they gather is available to law enforcement with a court order.
What’s the alternative? Use the DuckDuckGo search engine! This search engine does not record your User Agent, IP address, or search history. Plus it automatically queries Wolfram Alpha and Wikipedia when you search. Follow these instructions to make DuckDuckGo your default search engine when you type something into your URL bar. Set the value to; https://duckduckgo.com/?q=
To further protect yourself online;
Install Do Not Track Plus. This browser add-on blocks websites ability to track your browsing activity on their site. It shows you when a website is trying to track you, and which companies it sells that information to.
Install AdBlock Plus. This browser add-on blocks all banner ads, Google ads, and YouTube ads. It makes browsing the internet a pleasant experience, without the constant intrusion of disgusting advertisements into your consciousness.
Install HTTPS Everywhere (Firefox only). When you browse a website that uses a limited HTTP Secure protocol, HTTPS everywhere expands the security to the entire site. This makes you much less vulnerable to attacks or traffic analysis.
Delete your Facebook account, or at least do not browse when logged into Facebook. When you give your personal info to Facebook, it becomes their property. Same with every photo you upload. If you’re browsing when logged into Facebook, information about what websites you visit is added to the advertisement profile attached to your Facebook account. And just like Google, Facebook sells this ad profile, all your information is available to law enforcement. Oh, and Facebook will keep your personal information after you delete it, just because they can. If you want to know what information Facebook holds on you, you can request an archive of it here.
Also; Here is a list of more anti-tracking software.
of course, i already have an Android phone so google has access to just about everything anyway. oops~
a warning to people who download stuff using chrome
From ars technica:
Google has also added some new security functionality to Chrome. Every time that the user downloads a file, the browser will compare it against a whiltelist of known-good files and publishers. If the file isn’t in the whitelist, its URL will be transmitted to Google’s servers, which will perform an automatic analysis and attempt to guess if the file is malicious based on various factors like the trustworthiness of its source. If the file is deemed a potential risk, the user will receive a warning.
Google says that data collected by the browser for the malware detection feature is only used to flag malicious files and isn’t used for any other purpose. The company will retain the IP address of the user and other metadata for a period of two weeks, at which point all of the data except the URL of the file will be purged from Google’s databases.
Users who are concerned about the privacy implications of this functionality can prevent the browser from relaying this information to Google by disabling the phishing and malware protection features in the browser’s preferences. You can refer to the official Chromium blog for additional details about the malware detection feature.
(Source: widowings, via ghostdrive)
Over 3 years later, “deleted” Facebook photos are still online
The problem: “deleted” photos never go away
When we first investigated this phenomenon in 2009, we discovered that photos “deleted” from Facebook seemingly never go away if you have a direct link to the image file on Facebook’s servers. Users who might have had second thoughts about posting a photo — whether it was because they didn’t want retaliation from an employer, wanted to avoid family drama, or uploaded a photo of a friend without their permission—could certainly remove the image from Facebook’s main user interface, but as long as someone had a direct link to the .jpg file in question, the photo would remain accessible for an indefinite amount of time. When we asked Facebook about it, we were told that the company was “working with our content delivery network (CDN) partner to significantly reduce the amount of time that backup copies persist.”
But when we followed up on the story more than a year later, our “deleted” photos were still accessible via direct link. That’s when the reader stories started pouring in: we were told horror stories about online harassment using photos that were allegedly deleted years ago, and users who were asked to take down photos of friends that they had put online…
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(photo:arstechnica.com)
(Source: shityoushouldcareabout, via gematriya)
And without the so-called piracy, you would never have discovered or gotten into it to begin with.
I often use YouTube as a place to check whether or not I want to buy a particular song. Also, Amanda Palmer’s stuff—I initially downloaded because she was…
IMPORTANT: ACTA is NOT official and has NOT been voted on.
( I’d like to ask that anyone who reads this to PLEASE reblog this so there isn’t a widespread panic and violent protests. Tumblr needs to stop posting partial information. It is counterproductive and we need to know the truth so we don’t give up and think the fight is over. )
There wasn’t a vote. It was a signing and the voting isn’t going to happen for a while.
“The committee will most likely hold its vote on the ratification of the treaty in April or May, with a full parliament vote expected in June.” - Source
“The countries signed the treaty, which aims to harmonise copyright enforcement across much of the world, in Tokyo on Thursday. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June, and digital activists have urged citizens to lobby their MEPs against voting yes.”
“”The signature ceremony in Tokyo was just another step in the procedure that allows ACTA to now be taken to the European Parliament for a free, open and vigorous debate that we fully support,” he said.” - Source
“The European Parliament will be debating ACTA and activists are urging people to contact their MEPs putting forward arguments opposing ACTA. The European Parliament and each of the member states must approve ACTA before it goes into effect in the EU.” - Source
“But the political atmosphere in the EU remains very much in flux. The key to the future is that, unlike the US, the EU has admitted that ACTA is a binding international agreement and therefore requires parliamentary approval. But Parliamentary approval in the EU is in doubt.” - Source
Please read this. It has a list of countries that have signed, the countries that have not, and links and information on what you can do to help out:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-01/26/eu-signs-up-to-acta
Once again, please reblog this wherever you can so the word gets around.
Finally a post with some fucking sources!!!
(via astroprojection)
