This blog began as a school experiment really, something to show the tutors. I haven’t really kept up with it very well and it has largely remained something which I had to do, rather than wanted to do. All the same, I feel I have learned things from it. Also, follow the links for articles… […]
Andy Greenberg of FORBES reports on the newly launched “MelonCard” service in the US which attempts to universally opt-out users from personal data collection programmes. It does ask for payment for its premium service of $7.
Off-grid blogger TECHSTAR offers a somewhat depressing list of all the ways personal data is collected from everyday people. The article begins with the infamous Scott McNealy quote “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.”
A SURVEY by the Information commissioner’s office in the UK shows that 49% of the respondents were confident of the way businesses use their personal data in terms of security, as reported by V3. The accompanying article presents this finding as ‘less than half’ of respondants being confident, and notes that it underlines the importance for […]
LINK to Houston news LINK to FOX Verizon in the US recently came clean about on-selling personal data to third parties for marketing. The data being sold is collected through cell-phones and smart-phones to give a person’s location, downloaded smartphone apps and websites visited, as well as age and gender. The public statement says: “these […]
link (Digital Trends) A recent survey raises the issue of digital inheritance, with people leaving the passwords to personal information and data in their wills. This includes photos, videos, music and access to facebook accounts and other webpages. Although the survey was targeted at Brits, it would be unsurprising to find it happening here in NZ. […]
Spokeo, Intelius and ZabaSearch are three websites that allow you to search a wealth of information on anyone in the US. Searching my first and last name on ZabaSearch (free) offered over 1000 results from the US, an initialled middle name brought the number down to 64, most of whom had phone number, date of […]
“Ombudsman rules personal data in govt survey be destroyed” “According to the ombudsman, the bar code in the header of each questionnaire makes the sheets “unique and personal”, and respondents could be identified. Jori also said that the waiver attached to each questionnaire “would allow for nearly unlimited handling” of the personal data of respondents.”
Computer World writer Stephen Bell (NZ) takes a look at the way Google+ restricts usernames to something that sounds like a real name. “The company has displeased some potential users by insisting they use their real names or at least a name by which they are well-known and which looks like a conventional name.” Interesting […]
“it saves you a lot of time.” Apparently this application automatically fills out data for personal surveys, ostensibly to save time. Thankfully the video’s author advises not adding information such as your credit card details.
SellingYourPrivates 
March 8, 2012
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