Privacy tips – LarrysWorld.com

I’ve also seen people post publicly on Facebook or Twitter when they meant to send a private message. Both services allow for private messaging, but you had better learn how to do it so it’s really private.

Be careful when replying and forwarding

Another thing I’ve experienced is accidentally forwarding emails to the wrong person or having private information as part of a thread of a message that eventually gets shared with others. A number of years ago I got a slightly unpleasant email from an editor, which I forwarded to my wife with a comment but instead of hitting forward, I hit reply. Remarkably, my career at that newspaper didn’t end that day, but it could have.

Tools

There are tools we can use to protect our privacy and security, but we need to know their limits. Most browsers have a private or “incognito” mode which prevents the browser from keeping a history of what you do, but that doesn’t prevent the servers you interact with from recording your activities.

A virtual private network such as ExpressVPN or NordVPN can make your computer look as though it’s located in another city or country through a secure connection. VPNs go a long way toward protecting your privacy and security, but if your machine is infected with a keylogger, that data can still be captured. VPNs can sometimes affect performance, although my recent experience with ExpressVPN has been pretty good as long as I route my communications through a city in the U.S. When I routed through Europe, it got noticeably slower.

While some aspects of our privacy are under our direct control, some aren’t, which is why it’s important to try to deal only with reputable companies, know their privacy policies and hold them accountable. There are also privacy policy issues that individuals can weigh-in on but not control such as Congress’ recent act that gives internet service providers more rights to use our data. To influence those important privacy policy issues, we need to be vigilant and make our voices heard.