Newsletter Archives

• Making the most of Signal on Windows

  Posted on March 25, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Signal is much more than just a phone app: you no longer have to give anyone your phone number, and you may not even need a smartphone for it.

  Last week, I looked at why you would want to pick Signal for secure messaging with real privacy and full end-to-end encryption — on your PC rather than just on your phone.

  In fact, besides giving you the same secure messages and group chats on your desktop as on your phone, Signal for Windows also gives you some extra features you won’t find in the smartphone app.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.13.0, 2024-03-25).

  Privacy Newsletters, Signal, Signal for Windows, SMS, tips, WhatsApp

• Secure messaging on Windows with Signal

  Posted on March 18, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.11 • 2024-03-18

  PRIVACY

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Signal is a smartphone secure-messaging app that also works in Windows. Here’s why you want it, and how to get started.

  Sometimes you need to send a message that you can be certain will stay private. Perhaps a friend urgently needs a place to stay while you’re out of town, and you must give them your alarm code (and maybe tell the neighbor who has your spare key how to recognize them).

  Or perhaps you want to discuss a medical condition, or something that’s perfectly legal but might still get you into trouble at work, such as whistleblowing or staging a protest.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.12.0, 2024-03-18).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Privacy Instagram, Mastodon, Newsletters, RCS, Signal, SMS, Twitter, WhatsApp, X

• Why do computers want my location?

  Posted on November 27, 2023 at 02:44 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  On a regular basis, my phone and computers ask whether they can use my location.

  iPhone apps, in particular, often generate multiple requests. To be fair, these annoying prompts are meant to alert you to the fact that the apps want your location for one reason or another.

  But why do these apps need location information? Are they spying on you?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.48.0, 2023-11-27).

  Privacy Location Services, Location Tracking, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Privacy, VPNs

• Keeping gadgets talking and secure

  Posted on November 27, 2023 at 02:43 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  I admit to being a lover of gadgets, from streaming audio devices to IoT sprinkler systems to dog-minding cameras.

  I use all sorts of gadgets in my house. But when I do, I understand two things. First, I must choose the device carefully, read the entire end-user license agreement, and determine whether I will accept the risks.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.48.0, 2023-11-27).

  Privacy EULA, Gadgets, Internet of Things, Networking, Newsletters, Passwords, Patch Lady Posts, Privacy

• Spying or helpful? You decide.

  Posted on November 27, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Years ago, my girlfriend had her first baby.

  Suddenly, I found myself sitting in front of my computer, searching only for baby bottles, baby clothes — everything baby-related.

  Milliseconds later (at least it seemed that fast), I was receiving mail for everything baby-related. Clearly, my online activity was being tracked, but I was missing the prominent online notices explaining how I could opt out.

  Then something really weird happened. That baby got a bit older. When he became a toddler, the marketing machine made sure I heard about the perfect baby pull-up pants. He hit kindergarten and I learned about all the books he needed to read.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.48.0, 2023-11-27).

  Privacy Ad Blockers, Newsletters, Notifications, Patch Lady Posts, Privacy, VPNs, Web Browsers, Websites, Windows notifications

• Hardening for privacy

  Posted on November 27, 2023 at 02:41 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Privacy means different things to different people.

  At the office, we want to keep our information private from certain individuals and certain departments, but not from ultimate business needs.

  In fact, we will often “spy” on our own employees. Want to know exactly what your users in the office do? Consider an analytics app such as ActivTrak to monitor the productivity of employees.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.48.0, 2023-11-27).

  Privacy DNS, DNS over HTTP, ISP privacy, ISPs, Mozilla Foundation, Newsletters, OpenDNS, Patch Lady Posts, Privacy, Quad9

• Have you done a privacy checkup?

  Posted on January 30, 2022 at 00:58 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Video here

  January 24 to January 28 was data privacy week. It’s okay if you missed it, rather we should have a privacy year. Start by reviewing this checklist to check out the privacy settings and in particular, their privacy disclaimers of the tech you use.

  While many recommend using VPN services to keep prying eyes away from their data, I was surprised by this listing of recommended VPN providers by consumer reports. It was not the vendors I would have thought would have been recommended. Furthermore  they suggested following “important safety steps, most of which are free, include using a password manager, setting up multifactor authentication, enabling HTTPS-only mode on your web browser, and blocking ads or trackers with a tool like Privacy Badger or uBlock Origin. ”  What did you do this week to increase your privacy?

  Links that I refer to in the video include:

  Data Privacy Week – Stay Safe Online

  Privacy Badger

  uBlock Origin – Get this Extension for Firefox (en-US) (mozilla.org)

  DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials – Get this Extension for Firefox (en-US) (mozilla.org)

  No More Google

  Manage Your Privacy Settings – Stay Safe Online

  Privacy, Tech Help Patch Lady Posts

• Other Apple privacy practices

  Posted on May 17, 2021 at 01:03 CDT by Nathan Parker • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.18 • 2021-05-17

  APPLE

  

  By Nathan Parker

  Not all privacy settings are neatly contained in the main Settings app in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

  In my previous articles in this series on Apple’s privacy settings, I enumerated those found in what we might call the “usual places.” There are some others involving privacy that are found elsewhere. This final article in the series will help you find those “out of the box” controls.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.18.0 (2021-05-17).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.18.F (2021-05-17).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Apple, Apple privacy, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy
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