Welcome to the world of NO Privacy!

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and who knows how many more social networks are out there.

Very soon we will be able to see just what you post on Twitter! Yahoo! and Twitter give wings to your social world.

OK, that's what Twitter is about, but what about the secure way you set up your Facebook? Facebook Pages Now Part Of Google’s Real-Time Results.

Is it only a matter of time before your Gmail messages show up in searches? It could be if you didn't turn Buzz off!

I hope my ISP doesn't decide to be a social network!

Martha

The Internet and Trust?

What a contradiction! The Internet has taught me not to trust anything!

I learned a long time ago not to trust stuff in email, especially from strangers. Spam loaded my inbox and I quickly learned not to open it but to just delete it unopened. It's a good thing too because it wasn't long before email came bearing unwelcome stuff besides folks just trying to sell me something. Virus was first, then Trojans, worms, phishes, etc., ack! Email became dangerous!

As if that wasn't enough, so called trustworthy sites began to put stuff on our computers to spy on us. My favorite tax program put spyware on our computers! I will never use anything by that company again! Although they apologized, the trust I had in them is now gone.

I found out a music company did more or less the same thing!  They put a dangerous application called a rootkit on computers when a music CD was played on a computer. A rootkit is very hard to detect. That company also makes computers and how can we trust that those computers are not 'infected'?

I suspect those companies learned their lesson and probably won't try such tactics again, but I am suspicious. I tend to remember "fool me once, shame
on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me".

Since companies don't want to lose customers, they generally will not try stuff like that again.  But there are other things that can 'bite' us if we don't beware.

Some 'free' downloads are not free if you don't watch out when you install programs. When I installed my pdf reader (not that piggy Adobe), there
was an option to also install the Ask toolbar. The box was already checked to install it, so if I hadn't learned a long time ago to actually read what's
going to happen during the install I would have ended up with an unwanted toolbar. Other downloads have done the same with the Google toolbar.

Now Gmail has lost my trust with this thing called 'Buzz'.  I like Gmail, for email. Just email and nothing more. I don't want my email to be a social network.

I saw someone on TV talking about Buzz and how she likes it.  She can share so much like links and photos.  The first thing that came to mind was 'wow, a new way for scammers and phishers to suck people in to getting spyware, worms, trojans and the like, as if there isn't enough of this already'.

I turned Buzz off in my Gmail and I am going to go one step further.  I am going to remove all email contacts as well.  Who knows what Gmail may try
next?

Social Networking or is it Social Silliness?

After much soul searching and deliberation, some time back I finally decided to join Facebook. (And no I didn't give up my email password!) At first it seemed to be ok until my cohorts in common decided to join some of the games that Facebook seems to think we need. Everyday someone is planting something, cleaning something or finding something, all while playing in one of these Facebook apps.

One of the most annoying is the notice that someone commented on something someone else posted. Why on earth is that necessary? I really don't need to know about all those comments that are not very informative.

I finally found something I can become a fan of, it's 'I dont care about your farm, or your fish, or your park, or your mafia!!!'

I know I am perhaps a party pooper here and if some folks get enjoyment from all of the silliness, I guess that's okay, but I just can't see myself farming online or cleaning fish tanks!

Martha