We really are being spied on!!!

[Bullwinkle123]

I find it maybe a bit naive, when people think they can choose privacy in "settings".

Call me Paranoid, but I still think people with VPN are the ones being focused on. What a wonderful system to tell BIG BROTHER who is doing something they would like to hide.

That's why some of us use VPN vendors that aren't based in the US, so that logging, information requests, and other stuff are a bit more robust. That being said, the machines they use to provide VPN service to US customers are still located in the US where national agencies could set up man in the middle attacks, I'm sure. And of course legal requests from the US would still have to be processed in most cases. If you're hoping to hide your tracks from national spy agencies, nothing said in TBN is going to up your game enough to get away with it.

Meanwhile, for me, I'd just like it if google and US companies didn't know everything about me. Most people just don't think about the true extent of what can be inferred.
For example, the apps on your phone (or computers) know when you rise in the morning, when you go to bed, what your hours of operation are in general. If you get your Amazon order and shipping receipts sent to your Gmail or Outlook email addreses, google knows everything you bought, when you ordered it, when it was delivered, and so on. They know exactly what days and hours you're home, and when you're not. The list is endless.

They also know the size of MoKelly's wife's feet, whether she has foot fungus, and more.

It's really insidious.

 

[MoKelly]

They also know the size of MoKelly's wife's feet, whether she has foot fungus, and more.

It's really insidious.

Yikes!!! I don’t even know that info.

MoKelly

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's not that anybody cares. It's all automatic. BUT, if someone took to caring, there would be a lot of data there for them to look over. It could also probably be selectively sorted to present a totally wrong picture, if that was the intent.

 

[California]

I’m pretty sure you cannot flag (or tag) someone on Facebook unless they have set up an account.

I wonder if use of WhatsApp is considered having a Facebook account, after Facebook bought WhatsApp.

 

[MoKelly]

I wonder if use of WhatsApp is considered having a Facebook account, after Facebook bought WhatsApp.

I think the answer is yes.

MoKelly

 

[two_bit_score]

Ive noticed more people using email set up under their own website. I guess that may be to try and avoid the data harvesting from gmail and other email accounts? Does that help any at all?

 

[Industrial Toys]

NOTHING IS FREE! I hate even responding to people with FREE "JUNK" E-Mail accounts.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Ive noticed more people using email set up under their own website. I guess that may be to try and avoid the data harvesting from gmail and other email accounts? Does that help any at all?

A lot of people just associate their email account with a personal domain. So I could buy a domain like BullWinkle.org and associate it with my protonmail account, so even though I'm still using protonmail, you'd be sending mail to BullWinkle.org.

Note, I haven't checked to see if there is an active BullWinkle.org. I certainly don't own it. It is for example purposes only.

 

[KubotaCrossing]

A lot of people just associate their email account with a personal domain. So I could buy a domain like BullWinkle.org and associate it with my protonmail account, so even though I'm still using protonmail, you'd be sending mail to BullWinkle.org.

Note, I haven't checked to see if there is an active BullWinkle.org. I certainly don't own it. It is for example purposes only.

That's what we do ... in the cloud plumb somebody else's email service with our own domain. That way we can switch backend email services without having to give everybody our new email address. I like tutanota.com .... for now. They are not free.

PS
Clarification:Tutanota IS free if you don't tie in your own domain

 

[California]

But your friends, church members, etc do use Facebook. If anyone has [tagged] your name along with a photo of you, I think facial recognition means you can be forever identified by name in any Facebook photo subsequently. You're in Facebook whether you want that or not. Can anyone confirm this?

I wonder if use of WhatsApp is considered having a Facebook account after Facebook bought WhatsApp.

I think the answer is yes.

This Gizmodo article speaks to that. Not tagging photos, but more sophisticated. Facebook sees commercial advantage in promoting "People You May Know" and has filed several patents on methods they can use to suggest links. So there's a hidden part of your Facebook (and likely WhatsApp) profile describing you in ways they can use to match links.

I wonder if the FBI has requested Facebook to turn over their "People You May Know" files of people who participated in the assault on the Capitol.

Gizmodo article
...one thing Facebook is doing—and that it has filed multiple patents on since 2012 because it works so well—is building shadow profiles to connect users. Facebook collects all the contact information it can find for you from other users’ address books and then associates it with your account—though not in a place you can see or delete.