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Privacy in the Digital Age...

Discussion in 'YachtForums Yacht Club' started by Beau, Mar 28, 2018.

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  1. Beau, Mar 28, 2018
    #1
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    This thread has been split from the Internet Privacy Tips thread

    I don't think I am hi jacking this thread because generally its about privacy. This discussion reminds me of a discussion Carl and some of us had about a year ago - privacy & drones. Then it was the subject of drones gathering audio video information without my permission while I am on the back of my boat. There is no button we can press to stop those intrusions, and that is one of the reasons I am a proponent of reasonable regulations. I argue there should be a privacy zone et al. Photograph my hull or wake, but not my personal activity while I am aboard. A quick pan is one thing, but suppose I chose to clip my toe nails in the cockpit some morning, should the world be free to photograph that ugly sight?

    Along this line, I am troubled by marinas that allow access to their video cameras. I wonder how many people at some of these dock locations realize that they are being zoomed in on by somebody every few minutes - and who knows who that voyeur is. The cameras are wide open to any user.

    I believe we American citizens have become too willing to give up the privacy rights this great country has guaranteed all of us, rights that citizens of other countries would die for - literally. Facebook just exploits our naiveté. When is the last time you really read the lengthy privacy agreement you accept when you join some of these sites? We allow the pernicious nature of these sites because its easy to share your pictures?

    Sorry about the rant....
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 28, 2018
  2. Fishtigua, Mar 28, 2018
    #2
    Fishtigua

    Fishtigua Senior Member

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    To be honest, my newest cellphone has got a colour screen now so must have been built in this century. Most of my texts just say "Your parts are here" or "See you in 10". I have clunky old Yahoo email and my Facebook pages involve boats and bikes.

    I buy the odd bike parts on Ebay and socks and jockey shorts on Amazon. I really can't see what all the fuss is about. No banking or life-changing decisions should be made online. Russia and Putin would be very disappointed with my input, my Cloud is just that, a rainy thing in the sky.
  3. YachtForums, Mar 28, 2018
    #3
    YachtForums

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    Beau, thank you for your guidance. We're lucky to have an attorney among us to keep this ship off the rocks.
  4. Beau, Mar 28, 2018
    #4
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    You guys do just fine without me - I learn a lot here and enjoy the discussions. Glad you're at the helm.

    Fish. you help me make my point. You use the technology conservatively and carefully. My children for example think nothing of giving a blow by blow description of what they are doing - including being on a business trip and therefore signal that their homes are vacant and unprotected. There is this false notion that if you push a button and "lock" these sites you're safe - faulty thinking as demonstrated by the recently discovered hack of more than 50 million user sites from Facebook.

    BTW, Amazon knows your sock size.... We let these sites use their famous "tracking cookies" simply because if we don't, they will deny access. Shouldn't we have to opt in not out?

    Another rant....
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2018
  5. SeaLion, Mar 29, 2018
    #5
    SeaLion

    SeaLion Senior Member

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    Thanks Beau! Great rants! I am always amazed when people post that they're at the airport headed away for two weeks. I'm waiting for them to post the alarm code. Of course the key is under the mat.
  6. YachtForums, Mar 29, 2018
    #6
    YachtForums

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    Gotta have cookies to feed the beast! ;)

    Not all cookies are unhealthy. They are relatively benign on forums, unless the admin is selling off your bio info, email & IP. That will never happen on YF. I think you'd find most forum admins are strongly opposed to the same. Many of us have worked tirelessly to build communities. The idea of sabotaging that work is simply inconceivable.
  7. Ward, Mar 30, 2018
    #7
    Ward

    Ward Senior Member

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    Speaking of cookies... I don't know if it exists for other browsers, but for Chrome I've found Vanilla Cookie Manager to be a good tool for wiping unwanted cookies. I have a fairly short whitelist of sites I want to keep the cookies from (including YachtForums) and it's easy to add a site to the whitelist. Then, whenever I think of it, it just takes 2 clicks to wipe out (almost) all of the other cookies. It's (almost) because it doesn't clear channel-IDs, which are something to do with authenticating cookies.
  8. Beau, Mar 30, 2018
    #8
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    Carl

    Its not you I'm concerned with, it's the guys who break into your site. Dunno what the remedy is, but "burglary" on the net has become an art form?
  9. YachtForums, Mar 30, 2018
    #9
    YachtForums

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    Forum memberships aren't a high value target unless you have something to sell that is of specific interest to that database. In a worst case event, our members would get some junk email. The information we maintain is limited, at best. The information that Big G and FB have been harvesting is whole 'nuther thing...

    The more immediate concern is not your browsing interests, location, time spent at a destination or you're heart rate on an app. Most of us don't care what a computer algorithm spits out about us. The real threat is WHO has access to this information and HOW it could be used to sway markets, predict trends, invade proprietary knowledge or disclose sensitive information. In fact, the information that Google and Facebook have been harvesting and maintaining could bankrupt businesses, collapse economies or sway elections.

    If someone thinks this is just simple conjecture or extrapolation, I would point you to Cambridge Analytica.
  10. Kevin, Mar 30, 2018
    #10
    Kevin

    Kevin YF Moderator

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    Just think of the business side for a moment: companies have private jets for several reasons... besides the perks of luxury and the ease of travel, it also lets them go places and meet people without everyone else (read: competitors) knowing about it. It's why most corporate jets aren't covered in logos and full company colors. But if anyone can gain access to the movements of these executives, knowing where they're going, who else is at the same meetings, and how long these meetings are... well, that could handily be used to the advantage of others.

    Some people think this is just small inconveniences... but others see this all adding up, quickly.
  11. leeky, Mar 30, 2018
    #11
    leeky

    leeky Senior Member

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    For those that might not know, Chrome is developed by Google.
  12. Beau, Mar 30, 2018
    #12
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    My only point is that all sites are susceptible. A forum may be low value, but let's not deny it susceptibility. If the government made it a real high penalty crime, instead of hiring the best of the best hackers, maybe some of it would stop. IMO the whole system is biased toward the collector, not the user. Think of the "old" banking rules, which were tighter than a virgin's.... If you got caught breaching those rules, you sat in a small cement room for a long time, unless of course your were one of the "robber barons" - a different story, maybe not?
  13. SeaLion, Mar 31, 2018
    #13
    SeaLion

    SeaLion Senior Member

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  14. Beau, Mar 31, 2018
    #14
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    Apologies for the gamey metaphor.
  15. Beau, Mar 31, 2018
    #15
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    Is it called corporate espionage? Goes on all the time. We would never read their thoughts on the net. Their stuff is so heavily encrypted, the NSA has difficulty reading it.
  16. GhostriderIII, Apr 12, 2018
    #16
    GhostriderIII

    GhostriderIII Senior Member

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  17. chesapeake46, Apr 6, 2019
    #17
    chesapeake46

    chesapeake46 Senior Member

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  18. Beau, Apr 6, 2019
    #18
    Beau

    Beau Senior Member

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    Unfortunately, the guy who uses it to protect his privacy probably gets into more trouble than the guy on the other end of that drone camera.
  19. GhostriderIII, Apr 7, 2019
    #19
    GhostriderIII

    GhostriderIII Senior Member

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    Forget the net, 00 buck takes it down!
  20. Capt J, Apr 7, 2019
    #20
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I agree with the privacy thing. Also with technology (ie drones, camera phones, etc.) privacy can be invaded more easily. But even back 30 years ago, you still had people with zoom lenses and other people peeking over their neighbors fence. I think anything done out in the open, IE in the cockpit of your yacht at a marina is on public display and anything you choose to do should be based upon the fact that other people could be watching at anytime. So whether it's through the windows of their yacht or a camera at a marina, is there a difference. NOW, if you're anchored away from everyone and doing your own thing and suddenly you have a drone 50' above your head, that is NOT ok.
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