dan tynan on Feb 22 2010 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, Life, Privacy, Spy v spy
Sometimes even I am blown away by how mind-numbingly stupid people can be when it comes to technology. I’m not talking about people who can’t find the ‘any’ key. I’m talking about institutional stupidity, the kind you only get when you mix technophobic bureaucrats and geeks with no sense of boundaries.
In case you [...]
dan tynan on Jan 24 2010 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy, censorship, politics
Yes, "information imperialists." That’s what the People’s Republic of China is calling us now, thanks to Google and the US State Department. Hey, it’s as good a description as any.
The blowback against Google’s announcement that it was hacked by Chinese cyber agents– and in response would be lifting the restrictions that keep users of [...]
dan tynan on Jan 18 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy, censorship, politics
So far, 2010 has started off with a bang. Google decides to take on Apple in the ultra-smart phone market, while Apple appears on the verge of creating yet another new market for touchscreen tablet PCs. Google says "bite me" to China, after Chinese cyber-attackers target it and three dozen other tech firms. Yahoo [...]
dan tynan on Dec 08 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, National insecurity, Privacy, Spy v spy, politics
Location, location, location. It’s not merely the key to success in retail. It’s also the key to your privacy — or what little is left of it. And that too is rapidly disappearing, thanks to that wondrous gizmo you probably carry with you at all times: the cell phone.
Earlier this week, security researcher and [...]
dan tynan on Nov 06 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Google, Infoworld, Privacy
What does Google know about you and when did they know it? Those are the questions Google claims it’s trying to answer with the new Google Dashboard unveiled yesterday.
Simply put, the Dashboard gathers up almost every Google service you’ve signed up for and displays the most basic settings for each on a single page. [...]
dan tynan on Aug 31 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, Julius Baer + Wikileaks, Privacy, censorship
Google is at the heart of yet another Internet anonymity battle, this one between muckraking journalists and a Caribbean land developer. Will the search giant roll over and crush the little guys?
dan tynan on Aug 24 2009 | Filed under: (anti) social media, 15 minutes, Cringley, Infoworld, Privacy, Web 2.0
Have a supermodel and an angry blogger just killed anonymity dead the Internet? Is Google to blame? And does Cringely hate women? Readers share their thoughts.
dan tynan on Aug 21 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, Web 2.0, censorship
Model Liskula Cohen has forced Google to hand over the name of an anonymous blogger who slandered her. Is this the end of free speech on the Net?
dan tynan on Aug 14 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld
Changes to Federal Web sites may threaten your privacy — or bring our current cyber government into the 21st century.
dan tynan on Aug 04 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, politics
Flames are raging here in Cringeville after my post about Glenn Beck and the Obama ‘conspiracy’ to take over your computer. Here’s some more fuel for the fire.
dan tynan on May 04 2009 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Da Web, Infoworld, Privacy, Twit or Tweet, Web 2.0, politics
Is data privacy silly? Certain Supreme Court justices seem to think so — until it comes to their own data, at least.
dan tynan on May 01 2009 | Filed under: Copyrights and wrongs, Cringley, DMCA Madness, Google, Infoworld, Twit or Tweet
Got an opinion on Google profiles, Swedish pirates, our antiquated legal system or Twitter’s swine flu obsession? You’re not alone. Here’s the best of what Cringesters had to say on these and other topics.
dan tynan on Mar 25 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Infoworld, Privacy, politics
Monday’s New York Times has a doozy of a story about Savana Redding, a 19-year-old college student in Arizona whose case is coming before the Supreme Court on April 21. The outcome of that hearing could determine a lot about your privacy rights, or lack thereof.
Six years ago, then-13-year-old Savana was strip searched [...]
dan tynan on Feb 09 2009 | Filed under: Computerworld, Culture Crash, Da Web, Google, Privacy, Web 2.0
In what seems to be a weekly occurrence, Google has announced yet another new product seemingly designed to suck what little privacy you have left out of your life.
It’s called Latitude, and it uses your phone’s GPS chip and/or cell tower triangulation to locate you and your friends on a map. Sounds rather Big [...]
dan tynan on Jan 26 2009 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Computerworld, Culture Crash, Da Web, Facebook, Privacy, Web 2.0
Don’t look now, but you’re being watched. And now that I’ve signed up for Spokeo.com, I could be the one watching you.
Spokeo is a search engine that uses email addresses to find people across the social Web. Give the site your log-on info for Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, or AOL – or just [...]
dan tynan on Jan 18 2009 | Filed under: Fat's that, Privacy
It’s that time of year again when I look down and think: "My God, I can’t believe how much weight I gained over the holidays. I’m so stuffed I should have a meat thermometer sticking out of my ribs."
But this year, in addition to renewing our gym membership and feeding the last of the [...]
dan tynan on Oct 03 2008 | Filed under: Da Web, Microsoft, Privacy, Quizzes, Shameless self promotion, Video, yahoo
This is an interview I did with David Tortorelli, president of Book Premieres, which I did years ago and just found on the Ezinearticles Web site, for some reason. I’d hired David to promote my book, Computer Privacy Annoyances, and this appeared on the book’s Web site (now defunct). But the things I talked about [...]
dan tynan on Sep 19 2008 | Filed under: Identity Theft, Privacy, Womans Health Mag
When your medical identity is stolen, you may experience pain both fiscal and physical. Here’s how to avoid becoming a victim and recover quickly if you do.
A version of this story appears in the October issue of Women’s Health, which you can find online here, along with a strangely tongue-in-cheek photo (pun intended). What follows [...]
dan tynan on Sep 15 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Google, Infoworld, Privacy, Web 2.0
Google has magnamimously decided to halve the time it holds onto your IP address — or has it? There is less to Google’s latest privacy moves than meets the eye.
dan tynan on Sep 08 2008 | Filed under: Cringley, Google, Infoworld
It hardly seems possible that Google is now a tween. But it’s true: ten years ago, on September 7, 1998, Google Inc. was born.
Back then there were a dozen ways to search the Web — Excite, Lycos, Alta Vista, Hotwire, Yahoo, etc. — none of them particularly good. I would go from one to [...]
