The TrackMeNot lightweight browser extension that protects web searchers against surveillance and data-profiling has been upgraded with some important features: New in version 0.4.x Dynamic query sets ** Option to select search-engines Added statusbar context-menu New windows for log/query display…
Category: Internet
Opting Out of Online Data Vendors
The Privacy Rights Clearninghouse provides a very useful list of online data vendors along with URLs and instructions to remove your information from their databases.
Amateur Data Mining in Google Calendar
The Dumb Little Man blog reveals how easy it can be to figure out who a person is, where they live, and what their daily routine & activities are by simply searching through public online calendars (like Google Calendar) and…
FBI shows off huge, multi-source linked database
The Washington Post reports on the FBI's new counterterrorism database to help the war on terror: The FBI has built a database with more than 659 million records -- including terrorist watch lists, intelligence cables and financial transactions -- culled…
WSJ Search History/Privacy Debate
The Wall Street Journal has published a debate (well, an e-mail exchange) between Kevin Bankston, a privacy lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Markham Erickson, a lobbyist for Internet firms including Google and Yahoo, on the topic of the…
Amazon Plans “World’s Biggest Personal Data Stash”
The Register warns that Amazon.com is planning to create the "world's biggest personal data stash." Their source is this Seattle Post Intelligencer report on the detailed patent application Amazon filed with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: Amazon.com is developing…
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More Amateur Surveillance and Data Mining
The latest amateur surveillance and data mining story stars a suburban mom upset about the house being toilet-papered by area teens. She didn't want to involve the police, so she took the following steps: She canvassed local stores to see…
Others Online: Opt-In Web Surveillance
A new service called Others Online makes obvious what Google Toolbar and other browser tools do in the background: track users web browsing activities. From their site: Others Online is a free toolbar that shows you people relevant to your…
Audit & Remove Yourself from Data-Collection Databases
Wired's 27B Stoke 6 blog has posted some helpful info on how to audit and remove yourself from of some common data-collection databases (and annoying mailing lists): If you have ever applied for health, life or disability insurance on your…
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Municipal WiFi is Coming, and Why Privacy Advocates Should Care
Graham Longford, a postdoc at the Community Wireless Infrastructure Research Project (CWIRP) at the University of Toronto, has contributed a nice essay on the privacy considerations of municipal wi-fi over at the On the Identity Trail blog. Graham notes many…
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