From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2014 08:49:37 -0500 Ken, No quarrel with anything you have here, but you are looking at this from the point of view of the end-user, which is only part of the equation. What has caught my attention is that some organizations (and I am thinking in particular of universities and university presses) may be collecting data without knowing it or at least without their staff knowing all the implications. That's how I interpret Eric Hellman's earlier comment. I am still investigating this and would certainly like to know if anyone can cite instances of tracking and data collection by such organizations. Joe Esposito On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 6:52 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > From: Ken Masters <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:59:43 +0100 > > Hi All > > Eric is quite right. There are, though, several problems: > > 1. Not everyone knows that Google Analytics is running (how many > people on this list knew it?). > 2. Not everyone knows how to disable it. (how many people on this > list knew it?). > 3. Experience of social media has taught us that privacy policies are > not cast in stone, and can change at any moment. (Google and Facebook > are prime examples of this.) > 4. The data collected are not 100% safe. (No-one can guarantee that). > 5. While many information-gatherers anonymise data, there is no set > procedure or protocol for doing so, and the process of de-anonymising > data is advanced. There there are several studies showing how > successful this process is (and it requires nothing illegal, no > hacking, etc). > 6. Google Analytics is only one. There are hundreds. > > Unfortunately, the bottom line is simple. If you're doing any of these: > - using a standard browser (e.g. Firefox, IE, Chrome), without any blockers > - using a standard email account (e.g. gmail, yahoo, or your > university or company account) > - using your standard email address to access ANY public discussion > group (including this one), social networking site, blog or newspaper > comment page, etc. > - not using a secure virtual private network (VPN) > - not frequently and regularly running anti-virus and anti-spyware > software (ignore your institutional safeguards - install your own), > > Then you can safely assume that your activities are being tracked and > archived, either by the service providers (and then passed on to third > parties) or by third parties directly. > > George Orwell was an optimist. Be careful what you type next :-) > > > Regards > > Ken > > ------ > > Dr. Ken Masters > Asst. Professor: Medical Informatics > Medical Education Unit > College of Medicine & Health Sciences > Sultan Qaboos University > Sultanate of Oman > E-i-C: The Internet Journal of Medical Education