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PrivacyFix: a new add-on to fix privacy settings in Facebook and Google
I have never believed in reviewing security products. Even government-backed security tests can’t do much more than say this product is well-documented; and, if they’re particularly sophisticated, they might be able to say it stops everything in Metasploit at a particular point in time. All a reviewer can say is that I didn’t find any problems. No-one can say there are no problems.
With that in mind I’ve been playing with PrivacyFix on Chrome. It takes the hassle out of fixing your privacy settings on Facebook and Google, and helps you control cookie tracking. At least that’s what it says it does – and I’ve found no reason to doubt it.
Even though I left Facebook back in May 2010 I decided more recently that I needed an account if only to check products like this. I have no friends, am friended by no-one; I like no-one and nothing, and am liked by no-one; I have no apps and no timeline.
Nevertheless, PrivacyFix took me through the major privacy settings, asked me if I wanted to change them, and then helped me do it. This is how it finished…
My Facebook privacy after PrivacyFix
…and I particularly like
What Facebook earns off me
I guess it’s only fair that Facebook earns 3 cents per annum from me for the ability to run PrivacyFix. Google is different. I have an unspoken moral contract with Google. It provides me with free email and Google Apps, and I make frequent use of Maps to help get from A to B.
My Google privacy after PrivacyFix
What Google earns off me
$458 per annum is probably a fair price. What it does tell me, of course, is that I should buy shares in Google rather than Facebook.
On to tracking. I have my browser set to delete cookies at the end of each session, but it does mean that I accumulate tracking cookies between restarts. Perhaps you’ll take my word for it that there were five nasty tracking cookies tracking me right now before I clicked Fix. Now there are none. And its going to be more difficult for them to get back on.
Cookies gone!
But PrivacyFix doesn’t stop there. It also gives me a privacy health rating for the sites I visit. Intuitively, I have always felt more confident about my privacy with Twitter than with LinkedIn, and with LinkedIn than with Facebook. Now I have ‘proof’:
Privacy health on Twitter
Privacy health on LinkedIn
Privacy health on Facebook
[If you find an advert beneath this post, it's not because of me, and I don't benefit. It's because you haven't installed AdBlock. I suggest you go get it.]
Think before you tweet
I don’t particularly like the Guardian – it’s a squat for rich socialists who love the socialist idea in a luvvy sort of way. Rich socialists is a contradiction in terms. The Guardian is a contradiction in terms full of people more concerned with the cleverness of their ideas and semantic capabilities than the objective truth. Such people shouldn’t be allowed on Twitter; they tweet first and think later. Cameron was right: too many twits… make a twat.
Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, was seen with his 9 year-old daughter in a book shop.
The Guardian’s Deborah Orr tweeted: “It never occurred to me that this man had had sex.” Gove’s partner and mother of the 9 year-old, replied, “Cheap”. Deborah Orr removed the tweet. But as we all know, it’s not that easy to take something off the internet once you’ve posted it. Guido found it:
Courtesy of Guido Fawkes
It led to a little spat between Ms Vine and Ms Orr – one that Ms Vine was always going to win because it was cheap. Ms Orr claimed she never intended to offend; but on Twitter she describes herself as ‘Sarcastist’. In the right hands sarcasm can be a rapier-like weapon. In the wrong hands it’s just cheap; but either way its whole purpose is to offend.
The moral, of course, is that it doesn’t matter how clever you think you are: think before you tweet; and if you’re tweeting about someone else, persuade yourself not to. It won’t go away once you post.
[If you find an advert beneath this post, it's not because of me, and I don't benefit. It's because you haven't installed AdBlock. I suggest you go get it.]
Lloyds TSB – the king of mediation will need some serious mediation skills…
Just three days ago Lloyds Banking Group won the overall award for best mediation scheme in the National Mediation Awards 2012. The judges said, “Lloyds Banking Group demonstrated excellence in the running of their internal mediation scheme. Lloyds were found to be monitoring their scheme’s performance and undertaking a process of continuous improvement. Lloyds Banking Group was also seen to be undertaking innovative activities to promote mediation.”
I just hope they’re as good externally as they are internally. Have you seen Twitter today?
Just a random selection from hundreds and hundreds of similar…
Lloyds TSB has said it is suffering from a “temporary system error” which is causing “intermittent problems”…
Lloyds TSB has admitted the problem has affected both its internet and telephone banking service, “but we don’t have a definite time scale at this time [for solving the problem]“, it said.
BBC
It’s going to need some serious external mediation skills in the immediate future…
