Re: On privacy and cloud services

On 7 June 2013 15:57, Evan Prodromou <evan@e14n.com> wrote:

>  (Originally from a note on E14N.com<https://e14n.com/evan/note/h165pF-0S1yKE1ieelXACg>
> ):
>
> *On privacy and cloud services*
>
> Like many Americans, I'm furious to find out that our government has been
> using massive data mining of cell phones<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/confirmed-nsa-spying-millions-americans>and cloud
> services<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data>to spy on citizens. I encourage people to contact their representatives and
> let them know that it's unacceptable.
>
> I think there are a few simple things that people can do today to mitigate
> the problems with data services and privacy.
>
>    1. *Disconnect*. If you're like me, you check out new services when
>    they come out, and maybe you never go back. It's a good idea to delete
>    these old accounts to prevent misuse. I've found the "apps" pages on
>    Twitter and Facebook a great way to find social apps I no longer use and
>    easily disable them.
>    2. *Minimize.* Take a look at your profile data on Facebook, Twitter,
>    Google+ and LinkedIn. *What's the minimum amount of data that you can
>    share and still have it be useful for friends?* Remember, privacy
>    settings only control what other users can see; the cloud service is still
>    storing all that data.
>    3. *Install.* If you haven't already, take a few minutes to set up
>    your own social presence on the Web. I* *of course recommend trying
>    pump.io, our great social networking software, but you can try
>    anything from simple blog software to one of the social platforms<http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/federatedsocialweb/wiki/Platforms>listed by the W3C
>    Federated Social Web community group<http://www.w3.org/community/fedsocweb/>
>    .* *Storing data on a system you control means spooks can't
>    requisition it from a big cloud provider.
>    4. *Share.* Let your friends and family know that they should be
>    careful with cloud data. (After all, the data they share is *usually*going to include something about you.)
>
> I think that if we take this opportunity to do some basic data hygiene,
> the privacy catastrophe that we're only just learning about can lead to
> something healthy for the Internet and for society.*
> *
>

+1000