Also, I hadn’t decided what direction I wanted to take this blog. Was it going to be just privacy from 3rd parties and commercial entities? Or was it privacy from oppressive governments? Was I just contributing to providing resources for illegitimate gain and use? Or by shedding light on ways to remain private and anonymous, would these useful methods soon be eliminated or disallowed? Would these legal “loopholes” be closed by more attention being drawn to them?

Finally, the answer came to me. This is The Privacy Guy blog. The blog should cover all topics of privacy. Why pigeonhole it into one niche area? Having said that, I’m going to try and put together some ideas and topics to cover in the coming weeks. I have no doubt that the anonymous credit card topic will remain the most popular, however, I’m hoping the new content will be intriguing and useful. So, until next time, stay low.

While Facebook has released a couple statements detailing the what’s and why’s of this change, and frantically insisting that your privacy still supercedes all, I just don’t buy it. Looking back to a previous post I had written, Facebook and the Government, we are reminded of the possible government tie-ins that Facebook has. Plus, since this change was made without any notification whatsoever, what’s to keep them from changing it again with even more restrictive or invasive language? Granted, after this last change I’m sure people will be on the Facebook TOS like hawks. At least until they get complacent.

This also serves as a good reminder to all of us to be careful about what we put online. Do we really need a Facebook account? Isn’t an email or a phone call still sufficient? I’ll admit for a while I’ve let my privacy-paranoia mindset take a back seat. I’ve gotten lazy. I’ve said “It’s just so convenient having a Facebook page, or a Linkedin page, etc.” Now I’m reevaluating all of my online presence offerings.

Whether or not you were pleased with the 2008 elections, you have to agree that regardless of the party in office, government wants information, and more specifically your information. They can deny it all they want, but information and knowledge is power and Facebook is a gold mine of both. 1984 here we come.

The OSF Data Loss Database offers a number of reports detailing things like the latest data loss incidents and the most discussed data loss incidents. My favorite offering of this website is the RSS feed of latest data loss incidents: OSF Data Loss Database - Latest Incidents

The OSF DLD also has an interface on their website that allows you to drill down and see occurrences of data loss by data type (SSN, medical, financial), Sectors (Business, Education, etc) or Source of the loss (Outside, Inside Accidental, Inside Intentional).

This website not only keeps you up to date of the latest incidents, but it also serves as a reminder of why we should always be mindful when and where we give out personally identifiable information.

June 10th, 2008 via WWSB ABC Newsrent a car bulgaria

So here’s the list of Prepaid Credit Cards I will be investigating and detailing the conditions and requirements:

• GreenDot
• WebSecret
• Vanilla Visa
• Privacash
• All-Access Gift Card

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• Simon Gift Card

If anyone can think of anymore I should review, please let me know. Reviews on the above cards coming in January. I’m afraid however the news won’t be good. Most cards all appear to be checking for SSN’s and verifying them due to the Patriot Act.

I’ll keep you posted.

You may find many of Michael’s suggestions can’t be implemented in your own personal life without significant lifestyle changes, but don’t be discouraged just yet. This article can serve more as a general guide and as a good reminder of how we need to change our thinking and question every time someone - commercial or government - asks for information from us. No matter how small or unimportant a certain tidbit of information may seem to be at the time, you can be assured that it is being requested for a reason. A reason that

may or may not be supported by legitimate necessity.

There is no immediate cause for concern as there won’t be a huge amount of information available. However, for me personally, I don’t want any part of my Facebook profile indexed. So to ensure that your profile does not become available to the major search engines you can disable that feature by going to the Search Privacy page in your Facebook profile.

For more detailed instructions check out this blog posting from Of Zen and Computing.

Bad news:

Information such as email addresses, names, addresses and phone numbers was retrieved from this database and affects TD AMERITRADE retail and institutional clients.

Good news:

Client assets held in accounts with the Company remain secure as UserIDs, personal identification numbers and passwords were not stored in this particular database.

MSNBC Article: Some TD Ameritrade info stolen
TD Ameritrade Press Release

PassPub is a cool little website that allows you to generate all kinds of unique passwords. I do some private consulting and sometimes I need to come up with a new, unique password. Whether it’s a new WPA key or a router password I need, PassPub is extremely helpful for these types of situations.

PassPub offers predefined templates for creating passwords. It can create a random 6, 8, 10 or 12 character password. It can also create 64 and 128 bit WEP keys, as well as 256-bit WPA keys all with a single click.

For those times when you need a memorable, but still hard to guess password, there is a section entitled “Memorable Passwords” with a few cool choices. My favorite option from this section is the “Mnemonic” generator. This option creates an easy to read password, with alternate vowels and consonants and an appended 3 digit suffix. I like this one because usually it’s a lot easier for me to read and therefore easier to remember, but still hard to guess. I generally use Mnemonic when changing my login password for my PC, especially since I do that every 45 days. The Memorable Passwords section also offers password generators using keyboard combinations as well as chemical elements symbols that can be extremely useful as well.

As a personal example, when I’m configuring a new router or firewall password, this is when I use the standard 10 or 12 character password generator. I use this option because I want a very hard to guess, random password. Plus, I won’t be typing it in often, so I can afford to have one that’s not easy to remember.

Now many of you are probably asking why would I waste my time going to this website when I can just come up with some random letters and numerics on my own? This was the same reaction I first had when I looked at Martin’s product. However, I always try to commit to using a new program or application for a couple weeks before I totally disregard it, and I have to say that PassPub has come in very handy. You may find it’s not a great tool for your arsenal, but others might. I do know you need to check it out and decide for yourself. Thanks for a cool new tool Martin!

PassPub - Strong Passwords, Uniquely Generated