Living Tech
February 24th, 2022
A little relief from cross-app tracking? Maybe. It’s not all tech-doom and gloom here on Privacy Parent.
As noted by PC Magazine, Google has just announced it will no longer allow cross-app tracking on Android phones, which make up 71 percent of smartphones. In the ongoing effort to keep at least some of your personal digital information to yourself and out of advertisers’ hands, that’s good news. Google is hardly faultless, but this…... Continue reading >
January 26th, 2022
Blockchain has become a household name and a pop-culture staple. And yet, for many, it’s still a mystery.
In its simplest form, blockchain is a digital ledger. It keeps track of transactions and creates a permanent record of digital activity, leaving no dispute as to who owns something or to whom ownership has been transferred in the past. But blockchain isn’t the item, but it is an essential part of the package because it…... Continue reading >
January 11th, 2022
The Council of the European Union, the European Commission, and the European Parliament adopted the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) to protect people’s personal data and privacy when visiting a website. Through the GDPR, websites are now required to disclose to users when cookies are employed to track their digital footprint and allow users to opt out. Most users find it cumbersome to complete the process and disregard the option. There is also regulation that…... Continue reading >
September 2nd, 2021
You may not know about data brokers, but it’s their job to know about you. Creepy, right? Let’s even the playing field a bit.
You have to be constantly vigilant to protect yourself and your family when going online. A case in point is the issue of data brokers. Parents need to be aware of data brokers because they are companies that exist to gather a huge amount of information on people.
... Continue reading >
May 14th, 2021
You’re going to be traveling again soon. Here’s a reminder: Watch your wifi. And while you’re at it, start using a VPN.
Summer is approaching and pandemic restrictions are lifting. You and your family will be on the move again, which means you’ll be connecting to the internet through unfamiliar networks. Be careful and watch your WiFi.
Using public and semi-public WiFi networks can leave you vulnerable to “man in…... Continue reading >
July 15th, 2021
Every generation benefits from the advances and suffers from
the mistakes made by its predecessors. Many of the problems we face today were
created decades, if not centuries, ago. Climate change, social disparity,
racism—messes we didn’t make but messes we live with and try to clean up
nonetheless.
Our generation is no different, though the mess we’re leaving for our kids is entirely without precedent. The Digital Age, which dawned with the Internet and blossomed with the advent…... Continue reading >
March 17th, 2021
If you’re reading this from anywhere but China, you probably don’t have a Sesame Score. But if you care at all about internet privacy and security, you should know what it is.
The Chinese government has created a social credit monitoring system to look over every member of its population. It’s called Zhima Credit and is popularly known as Sesame Credit or China’s Sesame Score. It was developed by Ant Financial, which is…... Continue reading >
June 4th, 2020
If you think switching from one device to another makes you less track-able, then you haven’t heard about cross-device tracking.
You are already aware that when you’re online, companies are trying to learn all about you and what you’re doing. Most of the time, they’re looking for better ways sell you things that you might need as well as things you definitely don’t. That’s tracking. Cross-device tracking is, as they say, on another…... Continue reading >
February 18th, 2021
You probably assume AirDrop is safe. It’s built right into your iPhone or iPad: a feature that lets people quickly share information with each other in the same room wirelessly. No need to transfer it through an Internet server first (as one does through DropBox or iCloud). So simple, so convenient. So private and secure, too? If you’re into updates, yes.
The good news is, it’s been made safer lately. But the technology…... Continue reading >
December 22nd, 2021
The holiday shopping
season is upon us, and people are increasingly turning to the Internet to find
the gifts that they want for themselves, their family and their friends. With
every search for the perfect present and with every purchase, people are divulging
information about themselves, their family and friends to the Internet. This is
a problem for several reasons.
Devices are interconnected. Our phones, tablets, laptops—they’re all linked to the profiles the Internet (or the tech firms…... Continue reading >