Google, and web sins

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Hi, every one. I just discovered how pernicious the web can get in sharing our information without our permission, and without our knowledge. We've all heard about web-programs that track our browsers, then that info gets sold to advertisers. Probably to hate-groups and political organization who we don't agree with. Found out how far that goes starting yesterday. Some websites and services require you to log in via FaceBook. I had deleted my old, almost-never-used FB account last year. To sign up with FB so i could sign up or use some websites, i created a throwaway Email address, on a different service than i use, used that to sign up with FB and use a throw-away name. Right. That was yesterday. By this morning, i was inundated on "my" FB page with "People you may know". Okay, some were people i couldn't possible know, i suspect, but i didn't believe how many i did know. I didn't befriend anyone or any business. I used that throwaway email account to sign up with FB, and nothing else. Didn't import my address book or anything else. Have my permissions and setting and profile at zeros or at the lowest, most restrictive choices. Guess what? My FaceBook page has posted content from some businesses i used in the past, and you-tube channels I'm subscribed to. My setting say no posting except for friends or me (The lowest setting possible), so how did they get there? They don't have NAFC, BUT: I went to Google, into my account, and found NAFC in "contacts", email, places I've visited, etc. I deleted everything they let you. I signed a petition, yesterday, against that state of Washington legislaturer who said that all nurses do is play cards. That got posted on my FB page with my real name. GRRRRRR. It intimidates. It attempts to scare us from using/visiting websites for political issues, policy, or even reading the news (clicking on a story) - and it makes me wonder who has our info and is selling it to advertisers or the hate groups and the prejudiced. We do face prejudice for our problem. In some cases, that's why we are here. I downloaded the Ad Blocker Plus extension, but that isn't the solution, really. Anyone have an issue with that for this site and our problem? Or a solution?

 

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@AlasSouth this is scary. I will keep a look out for strange emails as I haven't joined the social media world yet, thanks for the tip off, Phil

 

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I feel as a woman, strip searched physically violated through invasive doctor visits to airport public intimate pat downs. I feel strip searched on the web. Worse than i thought apoarently.

 

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Dear MayMay. Yeah. Try a search engine besides Google. I am trying "Duck Duck". They try for more anominity (darn it. If i only had a brain, maybe i could spell? How about "any mouse?). I'll bet most males have wondered what it is like to be a female. Maybe i don't want to try it out? It sounds like being a person of color, or a something besides a Christian, an immigrant, a new-to-english speaker. Some Alaska Native grow up with two languages, neither English. The Alaska legislature has members who are constantly punishing them for that. We can see the big picture of hurts - sort of. It is the daily increments of "small" hurts that add up, too.
I'm trying hard to avoid the sin of despair. Did you see the protest against that State of Washington Legislator who said all nurses do is play cards? I signed the protest petition. In one day, it is over 100,000 signatures.

 

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Actually the nurse thing struck me as ironic as my brother is a nurse and his daughter graduated nursing school in the midst of the kerfuffle. They will be so pleased to know what nurses really do.

 

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Ps Native peoples and native peoples women is a big hard thing yo wrap my head around

 

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AlasSouth-I have used DuckDuckGo for years. I also use Firefox, not Chrome or Explorer. I have several email addresses, including one that I only use for Facebook. I do find more "friend" suggestions lately, many for people that I have no way of knowing. I keep my logins as separate as possible (I do not "sign in using Facebook" for anything but Facebook.) DuckDuckGo grades websites (look for a little colored dot on the top right side of your screen. Google gets a red dot and a very low grade.) I have not noticed any ads for incontinence-related products, so I guess that I have escaped the FaceBook net for now.

 

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Often sites will use tracking cookies to tailor ads to what you’re looking at. There is also things like keyloggers that can capture vital information for credit cards and SS #s. I’d download and run malwarebytes and run it to be safe. Turn off cookie settings and make sure you know all your passwords.

 

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Diana: Appreciate the info. I have firefox. It has the same core as my Safari. That email will only be used for FB; if it gets out of control, it goes away. I had one site i really wanted to use. I had two more, including a newspaper. I unsubscribed and got refund on one. I was just flabbergasted. I signed up and paid for one of those Govt IDs - Global Entry - the one that puts you in the TSA fast lane. You apply on line, then go for an interview. Now there is an eye opener. They know the street address where i was born (70 some years ago). When i went to the city clerk, they laughed at my birth certificate - black background white printing, baby footprint, all hand written. They got me a new one (Looks just like a new one, not the old style) - pulling out a hand-written ledger. Okay, that and so much else, prior to the computer age, had to be entered by a human into the government data bases computers. How long did that take and how much money? I had to guess at some of the answers, but it was multiple choice. They taught it in High School: 2 answers are always ridiculous, a third usually has a clue it isn't it (hidden), and the fourth is it. The extent of their knowledge, when you've long forgotten the answer, is stunning.
I have already been denied use of a site because they detected i have an ad-blocker. Guess i don't need that site, huh?

 

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I would also recommend the use of some software called a VPN for virtual private network. It encrypts your network traffic and disguises your location. I use one called NordVPN, but there are others and as far as I know they all do pretty much the same things.

VPNs are especially important to use when using public or open WiFi connections as it is very easy to spy on your network traffic otherwise.

One of the ways websites track you is by your IP address which the VPN hides. Also websites use things called tracking cookies which can find you across different IDs and emails. Modern browsers are now giving you the option to reject tracking cookies. You can also regularly delete all of your cookies (the internet kind, eat the other kind) and browsing history.

While we're on the subject also keep your operating system up to date, most of the updates are bug fixes to holes that malware can use to get into your system. Also antivirus software helps but is not infallible. If a flaw hasn't been publicized yet no update or antivirus software will help.

Don't click on links from people you don't know, and even the email addresses of people you do know can be spoofed so that you may not be reading email from who you think you are. If it looks suspicious it probably is. If you get an email from your financial institution don't follow links in the email, got to their website manually yourself, or call them on the phone to check it out.

Sorry for the long diatribe, but the bad guys are getting very good and we all have to be on guard all the time.

 

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I feel as a woman, strip searched physically violated through invasive doctor visits to airport public intimate pat downs. I feel strip searched on the web. Worse than i thought apoarently.

Im a Man and I feel the same on the web. I have been a tech guru since the C64 days and trust me..... nothing is free on the web. All these social media site are "free" but they make money. Did you ever wonder how? Harvesting your information, targeting you with ads, and selling your personal info. ALL OF THEM!!! From Facebook to twitter to google.
Now... that does not mean do not use the web as it is the most useful tool since the light bulb. Just be careful. Dont put any information on your facebook page. Set up an alias email and name. Do not use your real name on anything. As said above a VPN is great. I use one most of the time and double so on my cell phone. They aren't 100 percent necessary and dont use the free ones. You dont want anybody tracking you... your ISP, the FBI.....lol... anybody. Also, use firefox with the duckduckgo plugin.

 

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What is a VPN snd how does one get it

 

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VPN stands fo Virtual Private Network. My son the programer introduced me to it. I haven't done it yet, but i guess this thread has convinced me. It does work. The organization my son works for is a charity and has a computer farm, has to protect client data, so they use it. A computer farm is just a way to have a huge amount of data and capacity by having a lot of computers all tied together. The really big outfits/companies use a "mainframe" - a vast computer, even today takes a lot of floor space.
I have had one anomaly on my "location". My computer thinks I'm in Seattle and I'm not. I'm in a different time zone, even. It was annoying, i don't know how it happened, and i can't seem to change it, but now i like it. It fools the tracking cookies, somehow, so the ads i get mostly are for Seattle area. Now, in the winter, i'd like to change that to somewhere warm: how about Hawaii?!?
I no longer accept those "The XXXXX company wants to know your location, accept or reject" popups we get when we visit a commercial site, or even some non-profits.
Like i said, so far, somehow, this site seems to have been able to protect us. I don't get ads for products for this. Or i don't think i do. I have yet to order the products we use via internet, but a VPN might protect us. I never click on an email from a company or service or person i don't know and want, or have been exchanging emails with, unless i know it is for real. Which isn't often.
Just "search" for VPN on web. I'm not sure which one we'd want, as i haven't looked for "reviews" yet. I know there is a charge (reasonable cost) for getting the software for VPN, and I don't know how much of a efforts us computer "civilians" have to do to set it up. The "reviews" might tell you.
Remember that supposed hack-job on EquaTrust - that company that does our Credit Rating? They are another place that keeps an incredible amount of data about us, right from our banks and credit cards. I'm one of the people they said was part of the stollen data - and i have gotten sort of proof by who had started to call me and email me. I'm not convinced that was hacking. Think how much money EqaTrust could have made selling our data.
So get yourself on a VPN. If a company you want to do business won't accept doing business with you because you don't allow cookies (as an example I've run into), then maybe you look for a competitor. Or have to use a longer log-in. Or order by phone. Or even by mail. Mail requires a "stamp". If you are under 30, look up what a stamp is! Or use a VPN.
Sorry for the rant.

 

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The cost of a stamp or cost of mailing is killing my pleasure of sending gifts and cards.
Forever stamp marked the end of the post.

 

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How come they raise us for a stamp so much, but only raise the junk mail and political mail by tenths-of-a-cent? (That's a rhetorical question.)
Except for something like Christmas cards, i don't mind cost of stamps. I stumbled on a sheet of Forever Stamp I'd bought long ago - at least two Price Increases worth, and had to laugh at the "discount" i got whenever i used one of those. Mail is tough for Limited Income folks, or if you are paying off Medical bills.
But the cost of shipping does kill me. Pay for shipping for $49.99 worth of goods, don't pay for shipping $50.01 worth of goods. Not sure any company we deal with does that, but order from a regular "drug-store" on the web and often get that sort of deal. Except they may not carry the brand/type you need. Or you just can't afford that big a expenditure that month.

 

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It's a new world out here. It's a lot like the old west, lawless, every man (or woman) for themselves. There's lot's of good on the internet, but you need to be careful, especially with sensitive information (credit card numbers for example) and remember not everyone is who they seem to be and don't believe everything you read on the internet.

 

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Squander: You mean there is something you actually can believe on Google or FaceBook? I had no idea. Live and learn, i guess.
Not the Old West? Huh. Consider the numbers of mass shootings (not all of which get in the news, either.).

 

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Normally I use the incognito tab when surfing for incontinence information. Supposedly keeps me hidden from the web and keeps me from receiving diaper ads and suggestions.