[UPDATED: See the end of the article] Obviously, the corona virus (COVID-19) is on everyone’s minds these days – largely because you can’t avoid the super scary, 24/7 news coverage about death tolls, cruise ships full of infected people, global heat maps, and all the click-bait articles. But whenever there is a big, scary news
[Updated: Nov 30, 2019.] The holiday shopping season is once again upon us! And that means it’s time to update my annual gift guide. Unlike other guides, I’m not here to tell you about the hottest Black Friday deals or how to get free overnight shipping on Dec 23rd. My naughty and nice list is
I’ve written a comprehensive guide to choosing the best web browser (which you should definitely read), but the choice just keeps getting clearer. If you’re not already using it, you really need to switch to Firefox. Privacy vs Security The main point of my browser guide is that there is a big difference between security
It’s that time of year again! Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day and all the other gift shopping days between now and the end of the year. (Already missed Singles Day, though.) But you need to make sure that you’re not giving away your gift recipient’s privacy or giving hackers a means to rip off
It’s no secret that I’m a big Apple fan. I’ve bought Apple computers for literally decades. (Okay, I did once have a cheap, sordid affair with a Power Computer Mac clone, but I swear it was meaningless.) That said, I’ve used Windows and Linux machines professionally over those same years. While each systems has its
According to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), you can’t charge sick people more for their health insurance and you can’t deny people coverage due to pre-existing conditions. But given the current administration’s penchant for gutting regulations and their vehement dislike of the ACA, those protections may not be around much longer. If so, in
Ever since WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for a staggering $19B, the extremely popular global messaging app has been losing its focus on privacy. WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum (who grew up in the Soviet Union) has now left Facebook, and with him WhatsApp may have lost its last hope for retaining the user
Facebook, I’m breaking up with you… It’s not me… it’s you. In the last few weeks, Facebook has been rocked by one scandal after another. First the Cambridge Analytica thing, then the “Ugly Truth” memo, and then news that it’s been saving all your text messages and call info. But these are just the latest
There’s a new option in the Facebook mobile app called “Protect”. Click this will take you to the app store and point you at the VPN service called Onavo. Facebook bought this company back in 2013 and it’s very clear that the purpose of pushing people to use this service is to collect more data
[UPDATED 1/25/2020] I’ve removed the introduction to this list. If you’re not already convinced that privacy is a basic human right and that we (as consumers and as citizens) need to actively demonstrate our desire for privacy, read this. Action Plan Here’s your action plan for Data Privacy Day. You can do all of this
