Latest in online privacy

When using Firefox - or any web browser for that matter - one of the best practices you can develop is to always be mindful of your privacy and security. You never know when someone could be snooping on you or intercepting your data. Indeed, being vigilant about this could mean the difference between a blissful browsing experience and maliciously stolen accounts. Encryption is great but there are other considerations you need to make.
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It was only 15 years ago that the best you could do to find a person online was look for him on ICQ and hope you find his name. If you managed to do that, you were actually nowhere nearer to knowing anything about this person, except for the fact he owns an ICQ account. If you were very brave, you might have requested to add that person to your contacts, just to see what happens.
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However careful you may be about what you share on the Web, there is always a chance you're leaking information. Websites collect data about you, which is then used to present you with relevant adverts. Social networks store updates and comments you make, any of which could come back to haunt you later in life. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Which is why we decided to ask you for your views on this issue.
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As you look towards the final stage of your life, you may realize that there is a certain amount of paperwork must be handled. We've even covered a great deal of this information in one of our past articles, Your Last Will & Testament - What Happens To Your Data When You Die? Let's take a look at the condensed version of all this. What are the exact items that you'll need in order to handle your most important documents?
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If you use Twitter, you've probably noticed that by default your profile is set to public. Have you ever wondered how to make your Twitter account private or even why you should? It's probably safe to say that the majority of users have their profiles set up to be public, but there are many reasons you might want to make your tweets protected instead. In this article we'll explore how to protect your account so that only those you approve can see what you tweet.
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A nameless writer once remarked, “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.” While probably in reference to broadcast television, the saying also applies to Google’s recent introduction of several poorly implemented services in newer versions of Android. Over the past year, you may have noticed programs running on your device that you never signed up for or installed. These purported "free" services come with a hidden price.
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Online social profiles typically do not offer enough customizability to help users prepare for death. Of course, you can trust Google to pick up the gauntlet: the Inactive Account Manager is a brand new Google account feature that can help you keep your data out of the wrong hands when you die. It allows you to tell Google what to do with your information after your account has been unused for a certain period of time.
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Ever heard that quote about trying to explain how a television works to an ant? I'm not calling you an ant, even though you are hard-working and enjoy the occasional sip of aphid milk. What I am saying is that I'm going to explain how Windows BitLocker works, without you having to have a degree in computer science and cryptography experience.
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Mozilla has released Firefox 20 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android, and it's filled with new features that should bring great joy to users of the popular Web browser. These features include per-window private browsing, a new download manager in the toolbar, and the ability to force-close stuck plugins separately.
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Facebook is a publicly traded company. As such, its success isn't just measured in traffic or users, but first and foremost in revenue. In other words, Facebook is pressured to make more money. But where does this money come from? The social network is a free service and all its unique content is generated by its users. This does not leave the site with a whole lot of options to earn money.
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Encryption isn’t only for paranoid conspiracy theorists, nor is it just for tech geeks. Encryption is something every computer user can benefit from. Tech websites write about how you can encrypt your digital life, but we’ve all done a poor job of explaining why you should actually care. Now we'll get back to basics and explain the many threats encryption can help protect you from.
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Online privacy is important to everyone, whether you actively protect it or not. The problem with privacy is not that we don’t care about it, but that we don’t always know how to protect it, or don’t have the time and motivation to go scanning through the settings of every website we use. Whatever the reason, many users don’t take good enough care of their online privacy.
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Track the sites that are tracking you. Collusion is a free extension for Firefox that records every time you're tracked online, so you can see who is tracking you and try to work out why. The Mozilla Foundation says the extension is intended to help teach users about online tracking. "Not all tracking is bad," says Collusion's site at Mozilla.org "but most tracking happens without users' consent and without their knowledge".
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Ciphers have been used throughout history to maintain secrecy and security for sensitive pieces of data. Instead of leaving important information out in the open and available to anyone for reading, these ciphers kept knowledge and messages locked away behind puzzles. At one time, those ciphers may have been simple, but now we have extremely powerful forms of encryption. Think about all of the sensitive data you transmit on a day-to-day basis through your browser.
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Ah, Facebook. The grandfather of all social networks, where we all share all sorts of weird things without a second thought. Despite its horrible reputation when it comes to privacy, Facebook still manages to lull us into a comfortable and safe feeling, in which many of us forget ourselves, the world, and the fact that absolutely anyone can see what we post on Facebook. What is it about Facebook that makes it so easy to forget?
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