Internet Privacy.

[Combwork]

I put the following on AK, but maybe its true home should be here.

Once again I'm getting offers to update Adobe Flash Player. These appear on the initial screen before I go onto the internet using Firefox 3.5 Beta 4.

I've read a lot recently about governments trying to check where people go on the internet, not just known questionable sites but browsing history via Google.

I reckon my political beliefs, sexual proclivities, debate about capital punishment etc. and whether or not I should have the right to carry a gun (I live in Scotland so I don't have that right. It's still a debating point though) are private.

My question is are automatic updates to Adobe Flash Player, Firefox etc to the users benefit, or to make it easier for authorities to snoop around and see what people are up to? I've been told there are flag words that automatically draw attention but that's always seemed completely pointless. Unless whoever (if anyone) have monitoring abilities that continuously monitor context of all emails sent by anyone, substituting one word that could draw attention with something that sounds innocent would seem to make universal monitoring pointless.

It's a matter of privacy. Reading other peoples emails is the same as opening other peoples letters; in general it's wrong.
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[JJIII]

The title of the thread in an oxymoron. Anything posted is subject to being misunderstood.

[merrylander]

Bing has an 'optional' history feature that you can at least turn off and clear out. Whether Google has this or not I don't know so I don't use it.

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Bing has an 'optional' history feature that you can at least turn off and clear out. Whether Google has this or not I don't know so I don't use it.

I'm not too concerned about browser history, I lead a surprisingly dull life but rumors have always fascinated me, where they start etc. That's why I was curious as to whether the commonly held belief that "Big Brother" is watching us all the time is true.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by JJIII

The title of the thread in an oxymoron. Anything posted is subject to being misunderstood.

And, it will usually be misunderstood by the likes of me.

[CarlV]

Originally Posted by Combwork

I'm not too concerned about browser history, I lead a surprisingly dull life but rumors have always fascinated me, where they start etc. That's why I was curious as to whether the commonly held belief that "Big Brother" is watching us all the time is true.

Carl

[Oerets]

Combwork, I also have wondered about the updates making it easier to follow internet activity. But in today's every increasing reliance on technologies I see our personal freedoms going to the wayside. Tracking the phone and the ability to listen to conversations of yours when not even on the phone. Have to pull the battery to completely stop this from happening.

So tracking your internet persona would seem like a piece of cake. They have a semi secret department of Government who run programs to pick up key words in conversations now. Richard Clarke was on a program a couple of weeks ago and stated the US has over 30K people listening to "Foreign Nationals" conversations. Then Hillary Clinton announced last week the program in use to infiltrate Blogs and input the U.S.'s point of view.


I personally believe the updates on the internet are two fold, security from viruses and to give the provider more info to sell to those who want it.


Barney

[merrylander]

I see there is a new "Worm" out on the net, estmates are that it is about 20 megabytes in size. Main use appears to be espionage and they think we (USA) wrote it.