Category: Privacy

Phones have become quite sophisticated devices recently, hence the term “smartphone”. They can connect to the internet, download programs, and keep track of your life. All useful features.

Phones can also be used to spy on you, as some people in United Arab Emirates discovered. In this case a network carrier (Etisalat) sent their customers an update that installs on their BlackBerry phones. They told their customers that the update was “required for service enhancements.”

What they didn’t tell their customers is that the update contains spyware made by a company called SS8 Networks. This spyware sent information to their company using the phone (which incidentally drained their batteries from uploading so much data).

It’s still unclear what this spyware actually does, or why it was installed on their customers’ phones. You can read more information on this incident here.

In theory phone spyware could activate the phone’s microphone and/or camera and send information to another site. Or it could intercept SMS’s and phone calls. And so many phones these days also GPS receivers in them so spyware could also theoretically keep track of your location. This is all scary stuff.

There isn’t much we can do about this threat at the moment, if your life or work involves privacy then consider using an old phone with limited features instead of today’s smartphones.

When you visit a web site then later visit another web site, your web browser keeps a history of these sites. You can see this history by going to your browser’s menu and clicking on History.

In the past this history was private because it exists only on your PC. But recently it’s been proven that it’s possible for web sites to get a peek into your browser history. This could be a privacy concern for some people. Here’s how it works.

Some people have come up with some clever code they can place on their site. It basically asks your browser if you’ve visited a particular site before. For a demonstration click here and click on the Get Started link in the centre. Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen, it’s just a demonstration.

So how does this affect you?

You just need to be aware that privacy on the internet is fairly limited these days. If you have something to hide (for whatever reason) or you’d just like a bit more privacy, there are steps you can take to prevent this. It’s a bit technical for beginners but with a bit of effort it’s achievable.

• Some browsers now have a “privacy” mode. For example, Google Chrome calls it “incognito”. Privacy mode doesn’t keep track of which sites you’ve been to.
• You can use Firefox and install something called the “NoScript addon”. This will block the code I mentioned above.

Limewire is a P2P file sharing program that’s been around for a long time. People use it to share files, and unfortunately most people use it to trade illegally copied music and movies (copyright violation).

When you install Limewire you need to turn some options off, otherwise it could also share your personal documents with everybody. Personal documents include Word files, your photos, etc.

If you use Limewire versions 4 or 5 click on this link and follow the instructions shown.

And if you’re wondering who would be silly enough to share private documents on a P2P network, here are some real life examples the article gives:

• An executive at a Manhattan production company accidentally leaked over 2,700 documents including the names, birth dates, and social security numbers of contractors, as well as scripts of episodes currently in pre-production
• A paralegal/transcription service leaked more than 5,000 documents including medical records and confidential attorney/client information
• A bookkeeper at a food service company leaked thousands of files including scanned driver’s licenses, social security, and insurance cards

AllFacebook has listed 10 privacy settings they recommend if you worry about how your personal details are shared with the public. The settings are listed below, together with my comments:

1. Use Your Friend List – This is just grouping friend according to your own social circles, and you can apply privacy policies to each group. Makes sense since not all friends are created equal.
2. Remove Yourself From Facebook Search Results – This prevents people finding you on Facebook, good for school teachers etc.
3. Remove Yourself From Google – This prevents Google indexing your details. I believe this is a good thing, sometimes Google knows too much about about people.
4. Avoid the Infamous Photo/Video Tag Mistake – This setting lets you control who can see photos of you.
5. Protect Your Albums – This is similar to item 4, it also limits who can see your photos.
6. Prevent Stories From Showing Up in Your Friends’ News Feeds – It basically stops gossip.
7. Protect Against Published Application Stories – Some Facebook applications are silly and embarrassing, this tip explains them.
8. Make Your Contact Information Private – You can control who gets to see your phone number, email address, etc
9. Avoid Embarrassing Wall Posts – You can prevent friends posting embarrassing things on your Facebook wall.
10. Keep Your Friendships Private – You can prevent others seeing your friend list.

The article explains these 10 things in great detail, with screen shots. It’s easy enough for anyone to follow. Read it here.