Cybersecurity and Privacy
 

I was doing some reading on technology just now, and I ran across an article about this. Do you think we’re trading too much privacy for convenience? That’s what the article was pretty much talking about.

A lot of people willingly trade privacy for the ease of using services like Google Maps, smart assistants, and social media platforms. How many of y’all think the convenience is worth the potential risks?

SS# ended our privacy long before technology did.

This is what I do for a living so I deal with this daily. Yes, we are definitely trading too much privacy for convenience. The amount of information people can find out about you already, or that companies have about you, is downright scary. How many people just click "Accept all" to the popups about cookies that come up? Almost everybody, because if you don't, you have that annoying box there. If you click another option, you often end up knee deep in settings you don't even understand.

Same with apps on your phone. You accept all those permissions, tell it your location, etc. all the time because the app won't really work if you don't.

I’m one of those that accepts all cookies. What happens with that?

They just have more information about you. They typically use it to advertise things they think you'll like, but it's data about you.

They really don’t have any privacy policies because of the way they always word it. They’re lengthy, confusing, and written in legal jargon, making it hard for users to know how their data is being handled. Should be illegal.

Very true, and there's no national privacy law. Many states have created privacy laws but it makes it very difficult for companies to follow because they have to meet the criteria for all the different laws. California, Nevada and Massachusetts have some of the best privacy laws. The European Union does also.

The problem there is that the internet is a thing which respects no borders. We could have laws hamstringing data brokers in the U.S., but that would probably only deprive our own intelligence and crime fighting networks of vital information while allowing our adversaries to go on collecting anything they wanted.

The cat's out of the bag when it comes to individual online privacy and certain kinds of data.

There are still some things I do personally which I can only say at this point, that I **think** may make a difference, and honestly, I'm sure, bless my heart on this, but I use Apple products because they at least claim to have better privacy features than Amazon and Google. I have my own domain and own email service and don't send sensitive emails through free services.

I don't think I ever accept all cookies. Yeah. Bless my heart, right?

I made the switch from Android to Apple for that reason. Even with Siri’s speech recognition, it’s processed directly to the device, minimizing data sent to external servers. At least that’s what the tech told me at the Apple Store, haha.

Apple is actually a leader in consumer privacy. But technically no system is really entirely impervious to vulnerabilities tho.

Android is Google and their business model is selling your information. Apple charges a bagload of $$ for their products and their business model is a lot more simple that way.

I used to have Nest thermostats in our old house and since Google bought Nest, I just left the Nest products behind. They made a really nice smoke detector, but I refuse to have their products in my home.

My house alarm is through ADT, and they use Google products. My cameras and doorbell systems use Google. So far, I haven’t had any problems with them.

Apple products are worth the money. Most of the time we get what we pay for. These phone companies are usually giving Androids away with their promotions. I see why.