COGIPAS.com Blog

According to this seemingly well-sourced MSN Money piece, Employers are asking for Facebook passwords!  If the employers are not outright logging into your account, they are asking you to log in and then they engage in “shoulder surfing”.  Outrageous.

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Complete Guide to Internet Privacy, Anonymity & Security eBook: Matthew Bailey (Kindle Store at Amazon.com).

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You may like ‘social logins’ as they cut down on the number of passwords that you have to remember, but you pay a price (a hidden and perhaps high price) when doing so.

Identity Companies: Paid to Know About You (via NYTimes.com)

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Google’s moves raise questions about its “don’t be evil” motto (via San Jose Mercury News)

Some highlights from a good, meaty article:

•  ”Google was simply using its search dominance, critics charged, to prop up a less popular product, Google+”
•  ”privacy … is emerging as a centerpiece of the debate about whether Google is willing to sell its soul for money.”

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As reported by EPIC.org, a Pew study found that users of search engines were pleased with the quality of search results but opposed targeted advertising and search results, and were generally anxious about the collection of personal information by search engines. Specifically, 73 percent of those surveyed were opposed to search engines tracking their searches, and 68 percent opposed behavioral advertising.

A whopping 83 percent of those surveyed use Google to conduct searches. Recently, Google began combining user data gathered from more than sixty Google products and services—including Google search–to create a single, comprehensive profile for each user.

http://epic.org/2012/03/pew-study-search-engine-users.html

EFF.org’s piece on the privacy problems posed by apps like Highlight which track the location of you and your friends in real-time.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/highlighting-privacy-problems-apps-need-respect-user-rights-start

This commentator from MakeUseof.com hates it when apps ask for permission to access his friends list, birthdate, and worse of all, post on Facebook on his behalf. If you feel the same way about Facebook apps and permissions, check out his recommended solution.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/concerned-privacy-opt-facebook-app-permissions-fprivacy-chrome/

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Anonymous, Decentralized and Uncensored File-Sharing is Booming (via TorrentFreak)

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How to Remove Your YouTube Viewing and Search History Before Googles New Privacy Policy Takes Effect (via Electronic Frontier Foundation)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/how-remove-your-youtube-viewing-and-search-history-googles-new-privacy-policy 

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Social networking apps may be accessing your smart phone’s address book and contacts without your consent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17051910

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