Newsletter Archives

• Have you done a privacy checkup?

  Posted on January 30, 2022 at 00:58 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Video here

  January 24 to January 28 was data privacy week. It’s okay if you missed it, rather we should have a privacy year. Start by reviewing this checklist to check out the privacy settings and in particular, their privacy disclaimers of the tech you use.

  While many recommend using VPN services to keep prying eyes away from their data, I was surprised by this listing of recommended VPN providers by consumer reports. It was not the vendors I would have thought would have been recommended. Furthermore  they suggested following “important safety steps, most of which are free, include using a password manager, setting up multifactor authentication, enabling HTTPS-only mode on your web browser, and blocking ads or trackers with a tool like Privacy Badger or uBlock Origin. ”  What did you do this week to increase your privacy?

  Links that I refer to in the video include:

  Data Privacy Week – Stay Safe Online

  Privacy Badger

  uBlock Origin – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US) (mozilla.org)

  DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US) (mozilla.org)

  No More Google

  Manage Your Privacy Settings – Stay Safe Online

  Privacy, Tech Help Patch Lady Posts

• Other Apple privacy practices

  Posted on May 17, 2021 at 01:03 CDT by Nathan Parker • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.18 • 2021-05-17

  APPLE

  

  By Nathan Parker

  Not all privacy settings are neatly contained in the main Settings app in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

  In my previous articles in this series on Apple’s privacy settings, I enumerated those found in what we might call the “usual places.” There are some others involving privacy that are found elsewhere. This final article in the series will help you find those “out of the box” controls.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.18.0 (2021-05-17).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.18.F (2021-05-17).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Apple, Apple privacy, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, privacy

• Take control of your Mac’s privacy

  Posted on May 3, 2021 at 01:08 CDT by Nathan Parker • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.16 • 2021-05-03

  APPLE

  

  By Nathan Parker

  Apple’s emphasis on privacy is focused on personal devices, such as iPads and iPhones. But Macs have privacy settings, too.

  In my recent article “Take control of your privacy — iPhone & iPad” (AskWoody 18.12, 2021-04-05), I discussed many of the settings provided by iOS and iPadOS to control the privacy and security of the device and the apps running on it. Although one might think all Apple systems would be in lockstep, I have noticed that the settings in macOS are not quite as granular, not quite as detailed, as those in iOS/iPadOS.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.16.0 (2021-05-03).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.16.F (2021-05-03).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, MacOS, privacy

• How to control the privacy of your Microsoft account

  Posted on May 3, 2021 at 01:02 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Lance Whitney

  You can review and manage a host of privacy settings and collected data for your Microsoft account via a dedicated account website.

  I know that some Windows users shy away from creating a Microsoft account because they’re concerned about the software giant siphoning up too much information about them. That’s certainly a valid concern. Like other tech companies, Microsoft will track many of your activities to “customize your experience” but also, sadly, to serve you targeted ads and other content.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.16.0 (2021-05-03).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Privacy AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Accounts, privacy

• Take control of your privacy – iPhone & iPad

  Posted on April 5, 2021 at 01:02 CDT by Nathan Parker • Comment in the Forums

  APPLE

  Take control of your privacy – iPhone & iPad

  

  By Nathan Parker

  Apple heavily promotes its devices and services as being focused on your privacy, especially for those who heavily use Apple’s built-in apps and services.

  Apple has a prominent page on its site devoted to its view of privacy.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).

  Apple, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Apple, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, iOS, iPadOS, privacy

• If you have an avatar (a picture) here on AskWoody, make sure Gravatar doesn’t have any personal data

  Posted on October 4, 2020 at 10:20 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Ax Sharma at BleepingComputer published an article that shows how a sufficiently motivated cracker can scan all of the entries at Gravatar.com and pick up personal information there.

  If you have an avatar here on AskWoody (or on any other WordPress-based site), you have an entry in the Gravatar database. That’s where WordPress (and other sites) pick up your picture. Your picture is indexed by email address – your username on AskWoody doesn’t make any difference. The picture gets picked up by matching the email address you have associated with your AskWoody account, with an email address in the Gravatar database.

  Gravatar is owned by WordPress.

  Since this new scraping technique can pull data from Gravatar, you might want to double-check and make sure you don’t have any sensitive info stored over there. It’s easy.

  Step 1. Go to Gravatar.com

  Step 2. In the upper right, click Sign In. Enter your email address and your Gravatar password (not your AskWoody password). Click Continue and Sign In.

  Step 3. Click My Profile. You see the settings in the screenshot.

  

   

  Step 4. Work through the entries on the right side and make sure there’s absolutely nothing there that you want to have snooped.

  Step 5. If you changed anything, click Save Profile.

  To be clear, this hack has nothing to do with WordPress itself, nor with AskWoody. But if you’ve set up an avatar for use on AskWoody or any other WordPress site, you should make the effort now to ensure that there’s nothing in the Gravatar database that you don’t want scarfed up for posterity.

  A reminder that AskWoody maintains the absolute minimum amount of information necessary to keep the site going — your username, the email address you used to create the account, your Plus membership status, and any additional info you may have stored, including your signature if you created one. Your password is stored in a one-way salted hash, which means that anyone reading the AskWoody database wouldn’t be able to figure out your password.

  Of course, we don’t store any payment information on AskWoody.com, or anything else worthy of tracking.

  Thx @Microfix, @Kirsty, @PKCano…

  Privacy Gravatar

• Is there a DNS Blackhole in your future?

  Posted on August 9, 2020 at 23:05 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  By Richard Hay

  Managing your online security and privacy is a never-ending battle.

  There is a variety of tools for this task, but each has its limitations. So I decided to experiment with a somewhat lesser-known technique called DNS Blackholes. Here’s my report on a journey of discovery.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.31.0 (2020-08-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Anonymous mode, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, DNS Blackholes, Personal DNS, Raspberry Pi, VPNs

• Technology in a pandemic

  Posted on July 27, 2020 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums
  

  COVID-19

  By Susan Bradley

  We all have good years and bad, but 2020 has been rough on everyone.

  The pandemic has damaged world economies, caused untold disruptions to our education systems, put millions in financial peril, and tested our ability to socialize responsibly — and it’s not over yet.

  In the face of those difficulties, I’ve been impressed and encouraged by how people have adjusted their personal lives, their work, and their businesses. And much of that adaptation involves technology. Interestingly, quite a bit of that tech is not based on Windows.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.29.0 (2020-07-27).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy, Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Digital signatures, Online shopping, Video conferencing, Virtual socializing

• Patch Lady – would you opt in for tracking?

  Posted on April 26, 2020 at 22:08 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  I kinda know how this is going to go before I post it but I thought this was interesting.  So I know how everyone feels about telemetry.  Here’s the ULTIMATE telemetry:

  Tracking yourself.

  Australia is rolling out an app that uses bluetooth to track your proximity with others to show your risk of COVID-19.  China even has a tracking app that sounds even more impactful big brotherish.

  So what do you think?  Would you use it?  Are you using it?  IDG’s techtalk talks about what the apps do and what the intent is.

  If you want a big under the hood review of the Australian app, check out this twitter thread.

   

  Privacy Patch Lady Posts

• Thurrott: Frustrating changes to the Win10 version 1909 installation experience

  Posted on November 20, 2019 at 08:20 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I vividly recall writing around the installation process for Win10 version 1809 in Win10 All-In-One For Dummies. Microsoft did everything it could to convince you to set up your system with a Microsoft Account — and thus permanently brand your machine with your Microsoft i.d.

  I think that stinks. Most people are better off setting up a new PC with a local account (Microsoft calls it an “offline account” and, now, a “limited experience” account). MS setup should make it easy to keep this fundamental bit of snooping at bay.

  But it doesn’t.

  Paul Thurrott has gone through the maze with a fresh installation of the latest version of Windows 10, version 1909, and come up with some surprising results. Microsoft still plays a cat-and-mouse game with local accounts, but if you set up a machine while offline (thus forcing the installer to step you through setting up a local account), and then plug your machine back into the internet, Microsoft forces you to go through the installation process again.

  Of course, if you’re upgrading a machine to version 1909, you’re spared the indignity. But those of you setting up Win10 on a new computer are going to get pushed and shoved even harder into branding it with your Microsoft Account.

  Tell me again how Google snooping is so much worse than Microsoft snooping….

  Privacy, Windows 10 local account, Win10 1909 installation

• How to view and protect the privacy of your MS account

  Posted on October 28, 2019 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  By Lance Whitney

  Microsoft accounts are used to sign in to Windows, access Office 365 and other services, purchase Microsoft products, and manage devices. But those accounts are also used by Microsoft to keep tabs on us.

  Through your MS account, the company can track the websites you visit, the activities you perform online, and even the places you go in the real world via your mobile device. You can, however, limit and remove the data Microsoft collects about you — to some extent. Within your online Microsoft Account page, you can view and clear your browsing history, check your privacy settings for specific apps and services, review and control targeted ads directed at you, and even download an archive of your Microsoft-related activities.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.39.0 (2019-10-28).

  Privacy AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Collected user data, MS account settings