Secure Surfing Organization

Reorganization, Refocus

Glenn Caleval — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:48:00 +0000

The Secure Surfing Organization is going through a complete re-think about what service it offers and how those services are offered.

At this point, we are genuinely in the “thinking” stage, but there will be major changes.

What is likely:

Trimming the array of subject areas covered. In covering everything, average users become disinterested in the contents of the site, depriving them of valuable, potentially disaster-preventing content. We never started out to be a site for experts and we have to get back to our main mission.

Moving some subject areas to their own independent sites, particularly those that evaluate and review software.

Keeping the forum function as a center of discussion and help for all related sites and any others who wish to establish user security, internet safety, identity ...Read the rest - Reorganization, Refocus

Scroogle back — for now

Glenn Caleval — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:41:26 +0000

The secure privacy-protecting search interface Scroogle.com is back in operation after the operator received some coding assistance from Scroogle users. It remains to be seen if Google will make additional changes leading to a permanent end to the much valued service.

Facebook disappoints, goes rogue

Glenn Caleval — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:59:11 +0000

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Facebook is the opposite of anonymous browsing or secure surfing.

Several of our readers have sent email questioning why the Secure Surfing Organization has not published on the moves Facebook is making in its collection, distribution, use and administration of Facebook member personal information.

Frankly there has been so much coverage in the mainstream media that it seemed reasonable to let all the experts have their say, since no credible sources have been exactly applauding Facebook.

On the other hand, we feel particularly betrayed. When Facebook did its first major overhaul of its privacy practices, we did applaud those changes. They improved users ability to control their privacy, most particularly in allowing users to completely delete their accounts.

So we publicly commended ...Read the rest - Facebook disappoints, goes rogue

Scroogle Closes Down

Glenn Caleval — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:39:52 +0000

In a discouraging development, the safest and most effective web search interface has been forced to end its service.

Scroogle has been operating a “Google scraper” since 2002. We have featured the search interface on all of our web sites and encouraged users to make Scroogle their first choice for Google searching. This was because Scroogle completely stripped IP addresses from searches, protecting users from profiling and surveillance.

Unfortunately, we will be removing all those links as soon as practical, as the service has been defeated by Google making changes in its interface. The changes are such that Scroogle cannot reliably respond.

You may read Scroogle closing for business note here. [Update: The service has been restored so we will leave all links in place]

All is not lost ...Read the rest - Scroogle Closes Down

Web of Trust Responds

Glenn Caleval — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:20:13 +0000

The following is the response (unedited, the typos are their own) by Web of Trust to Secure Surfing Organization’s complaint about their “we’re not responsible” reputation rating system. Below it you will find the original message we submitted and you can find our full assessment in the immediately previous SSO Report.

=====================Web of Trust Reply=====================

Sorry for my late reply. Your site’s reputation ratings are based on ratings from our users and we as a hosting service provider are unfortunately not in a position to validate them. We as an organization do not rate websites. Please also note that we do not remove ratings or comments unless they contain spam, profanities or clearly illegal material.

Your site’s reputation is not yet considered realiable in Web of ...Read the rest - Web of Trust Responds

Extortion Marketing: Web of Trust

Glenn Caleval — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:43:06 +0000

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Most people are familiar with the original form of extortion marketing on the internet. The scam was to register someone’s domain name and then try to sell it to the owner of the trademark or brand for a profit. That practice has largely ended with the application of policies and judicial rulings that prevent registering trademarks by non-owners of the trademarks.

But there is another form of extortion marketing that it is not going to be solved with laws or regulations.

The perfect example of this “business model” is the so-called “Web of Trust.”

The scam here is to try to force web site owners to become membership recruiters for Web of Trust.For example, this web site, securesurfing.net, has indisputably among ...Read the rest - Extortion Marketing: Web of Trust

Controlling you in your own home

Glenn Caleval — Sat, 08 May 2010 00:32:04 +0000

Some people thought we were exaggerating when we wrote Your TV will be spying on you next.

Well, it is happening much faster than even we anticipated. Today, May 07, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an order in favour of the corporate movie industry lobby, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The order grants movie distributors the right to take control of the set top boxes in your home.

A pdf of the order is on the FCC site here. As you read it, here is how the jargon translates:

“multichannel video programming distributors” is anyone who distributes any kind of video programming through more than one “distribution channel,” for example over television and via DVDs. Apparently the small companies that only produce for the DVD ...Read the rest - Controlling you in your own home

So you don’t think you’re being watched

Glenn Caleval — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:17:43 +0000

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Not being paranoid doesn’t mean no one’s out to get you.

Ah, for the days when that saying didn’t start with the word “not.”

As an interesting exercise, take a visit to Sysomos , which is one of many vendors in the business of watching you to the finest detail possible.

If you read their sales pitches, you will see that they monitor all communications on social media, blogs, forums and the rest of the internet, to such a degree that they promise their clients that people can be tracked by name, age, “sentiment” and dozens of other variables.

With Facebook extending its platform to the “regular” web, services like Sysomos will accumulate more and more data about you, specifically you.

To get ...Read the rest - So you don’t think you’re being watched

Usenet – more than you dreamed of

Glenn Caleval — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:58:03 +0000

This article comes from a similar Secure Surfing site.

Usenet is an internet system that provides great benefits to the people who know it exists and also know how to use it. In common language “Usenet” is now called simply “news groups” because the system started long before the world wide web and its primary function was to distribute news groups that are very similar to “forums” you might find on various web sites. One service has so completely surpassed all others that some people only new Usenet by the the service name, “Giganews.”

The difference between newsgroups and the web is that news groups were also being used to distribute “binary” files. A binary file is simply one that is ...Read the rest - Usenet – more than you dreamed of

Digital Dossier

Glenn Caleval — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:25:32 +0000

If you want an outstanding narrative on the challenges facing personal privacy, click on this link, Digital Dossier, a video that might make you think.

Consider that, for the sake of time and narration, the author is using a trivial number of examples to convey the ideas, but that the sources of data generated by and about you greatly exceed those cited. Just think of your loyalty or rewards cards, the warranty cards/registrations, the health club, the library… you get the point.

Check it out. Digital Dossier