Bruce Schneier - "The Internet is a surveillance state"

[sir pball]

The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we're being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads. One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period.
...
Sure, we can take measures to prevent this. We can limit what we search on Google from our iPhones, and instead use computer web browsers that allow us to delete cookies. We can use an alias on Facebook. We can turn our cell phones off and spend cash. But increasingly, none of it matters.
There are simply too many ways to be tracked. The Internet, e-mail, cell phones, web browsers, social networking sites, search engines: these have become necessities, and it's fanciful to expect people to simply refuse to use them just because they don't like the spying, especially since the full extent of such spying is deliberately hidden from us and there are few alternatives being marketed by companies that don't spy.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/16/opinion/schneier-internet-surveillance/index.html

I take great pains to try and at least maintain my anonymity on here, never linked to any personally identifiable information, nor spilled very much of my personal life - but I bet somebody with a bit of curiosity and free time could probably figure out who I am. First person who can (privately) tell me who I am gets a peanut butter cookie fresh out of the oven! There's 15 minutes on the timer, I bet you can do it by then.

And of course, before the shills get here, it's not just one particular company responsible for this - Every. Single. One. Is. Doing. It.

[PETRUS]

1. Kick - this is worth clicking through and reading. (nt)

[randome]

2. And most of us really don't care. That's the truth.

[sir pball]

3. For me, it's more that caring is impossible

I'm not a fan of the idea, but I realize that we're past the point of no return. I try to be conscientious that it's all being tracked and only ever release information accordingly (I unfailingly reply to privacy whines on Facebook with "I don't put anything on here, anywhere, that I don't want the world to have hold of.&quot ; at least I get some crumbs in exchange for my complacency to the Almighty Google et al.

[sir pball]

4. I just installed Collusion..

Yowza.

DU is worse than CNN, btw.

[randome]

5. Ah. Now we know you use Collusion.

Think I'll send that bit of info over to Google. They pay a finder's fee for that kind of stuff, you know!

[sir pball]

7. Beat you to it!

I added it from the Chrome Store while signed in, I gave them the information upfront...so HA!

[IDemo]

12. Ghostery may be more useful

It will list the trackers and give you the option to block their scripts.

http://www.ghostery.com/

[jsr]

6. Schneier is a good guy

He's worth listening to.

[riderinthestorm]

8. Yup. Be careful out there.... K&R nt

[bemildred]

9. Correct. And that's by design, the internet is not about privacy, and it never was.

If you want privacy, stay away from the internet.

[randome]

10. Which is why it will NEVER be entirely secure.

You can't have a system that is open to the world and yet maintains privacy. Those are two diametrically opposed ideals.

[sir pball]

11. Across the board, no, but it's OK for small-scale

I have no concerns with online banking, or bill pay, or such - that's a limited point-to-point situation with limited vulnerability. Trying to maintain security on a large scale, that's a different story, and I'll never go for single-sign-in or anything like that.

[bemildred]

13. Industrial strength crypto does fine, but without it you got nothing. nt