Yahoo! - May 19, 2008
This Yahoo! article says hackers could use telescopes to view tiny reflections in glasses, teapots and the human eye and capture valuable screen information. Some researchers have found ways to correlate visual keystrokes to data. This sophisticated interception research is called side-channel research. Do we all need privacy shields on our computer screens? And, then type in the dark? Crazy.
WSJ - May 13, 2008 - D1
It’s easier than you might think. Googling someone is so 2007. These days publicly available information is free and at your fingertips. You may want to check out these services to see what dirt you can dig up on yourself before someone else finds it.
Many other online sites make some quasi-private information public by default. The list includes your Amazon.com wish list, Pandora.com personal music stations, Flickr.com photos, del.icio.us saved web site links and Google’s street view of your home. Many people opt-in to provide even more information to the public.
WSJ - May 5, 2008 - A13
The WSJ again raises good questions about how marketers track online behavior via web cookies. According to the author, the key questions remain:
Some advocacy groups contend we should allow surfers to “opt out” of cookie tracking just like we can now opt out of direct marketing phone calls with the No Call List. Still, the $20 Billion spent on web advertising is the engine that drives the “free” Internet. How many of us would willingly trade free use for enhanced privacy? No more free email or free web searching?
Is better disclosure the answer? One WSJ site offers its own model of full tracking cookie disclosure. Clearly, the tension between usability and privacy continues to frustrate web users and marketers alike.
Once again, the best interim answer seems to be to randomize your critical private financial data and accept the loss of complete anonymity.