When you finish reading your e-mail, how do you dispose of it?  Do you “Permanently Delete” it?  Do you just send it to the “Trash” folder or let it go to the “Read Mail” folder and have it sit in either of those folders until it disappears?  Well, if you don’t “Permanently Delete”, your privacy can be at risk because once those old e-mails reach 180 days old, any government agency can read them.  You don’t have to be notified and they don’t need a search warrant to do this.

The only time a search warrant is necessary to read old e-mails is if those e-mails were saved to your hard drive.  However, if you use an e-mail provider that stores your old mail in a cloud server (G-Mail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, Hotmail, etc), once that mail has been sitting unopened for 180 days, it’s considered “legally abandoned”.  When e-mail is abandoned, it’s there for the taking.

In 1986, ECPA (the Electronic Communications Privacy Act) was put in place.  Once enacted, it gave government agencies the right to seize old e-mails from the e-mail providers.  At the time, there really was not a big risk to privacy since in 1986, storage space was so small that as soon as an e-mail was read, it was deleted.  It was rare that any e-mail would sit in storage just taking up valuable space.  Things have changed a lot since then.  The cloud servers of today offer pretty much an unlimited amount of storage space so deleting old e-mail is no longer necessary.  The ECPA hasn’t been amended since it was passed, which means it’s pretty worthless considering how much technology has grown.

Citing the Freedom of Information Act, the ACLU questioned the IRS on their practices of obtaining the e-mail of ordinary citizens.  According to the IRS, their criminal investigation department does not get warrants when they request old e-mails. 

The ACLU then cited the Freedom of Information Act when requesting the same information about old e-mails to the FBI.  The FBI answered by implying that they, too, do not obtain warrants, however, they wouldn’t admit to it flat out.  The FBI did give the ACLU excerpts from two of their Domestic Investigations and Operations Guides.  Both guides (one dated 2008 and the other dated 2012) stated:  “FBI agents only need a warrant for emails or other electronic communications that are unopened and less than 180 days old.”

The IRS and FBI examples show that an amendment to ECPA is long over-due.  There has been a law in place since 1877 which makes it necessary for any government agency to obtain a search warrant if they want to read the mail of US citizens that has been sent via the US Postal Service.  Now we need protection like this to include any and all electronic communications as well.  Until that amendment happens, make sure you keep your privacy safe by always clicking on “Delete Permanently” when you finish reading your e-mails.  Some may think this is necessary only to cover criminal activities, but it’s not; it’s simply a matter of personal privacy.

Please take the time to download the Internet Privacy Guide located at the top of this page.  It’s completely free, yet it offers valuable suggestions on how to keep your privacy safe.

Millions of people, every day, depend on one piece of electronic equipment to do just about everything:  their smartphone.  Back in the day, very few people had cell phones, and those that did used them to make emergency calls every now and then.  Over the years, the simple cell phone has evolved into the smartphone.  The smartphone is a multi-functional device that allows a person to send e-mail, update social networking, shop on line, play games and do anything else that can be done on a computer.  Many cars have built in GPSs, but if yours doesn’t, that’s OK because you can use your Navigation app on your smartphone.  In fact, one of the least used functions of a smartphone today is actually the one that allows you to make phone calls.  It’s amazing that this one, small device can do so much, but what does this mean when it comes to privacy?  Because the smartphone holds a large quantity of personal information regarding our shopping habits, social networking, e-mail and even banking, it now makes it easier for you to be tracked and targeted for on-line ads. 

Every day, more and more people are downloading hundreds of apps made specifically for the smartphone.  If you’re low on gas, the GasBuddy app can tell you which station has the lowest prices with the shortest wait time (which came in handy during SuperStorm Sandy when gas prices went up and the lines were hours long!).  Banks now offer apps that make it easy to deposit a check from anywhere.  All you have to do is snap a picture of your check using your smartphone and it’s deposited into your account.  If you’re in unfamiliar territory, you can count on Google Maps to find directions to the hotel or restaurant where you are to have your business meeting, then after the meeting, you can use the e-mail function to check in with your office to let everyone know the status of that big project.  After your workday is done, you can relax in your room and read your local newspaper, watch your local news, update your social networking status, play games or even read a book.  If you’re feeling under the weather, just log onto WebMD and enter your symptoms to get a quick diagnosis or if you are having trouble with your toddler, you can check in with your favorite parenting site to see what others have done to remedy the issue.  You are never far from home or the office as long as you have your smartphone.

 But what does all this convenience mean to your privacy?  Every site you log on to and every app you download requires you to enter some personal information, which is all saved to your smartphone.  Don’t forget that many on-line businesses share information gathered with third parties.  Is it worth risking your privacy in order to have the convenience of doing just about everything from this one device?  Surprisingly, most people choose convenience over privacy.  They feel that entering a birth date or zip code in order to have 24 hour access to websites no matter where they travel is well worth the effort.  They don’t realize how this can jeopardize their privacy since millions of people may live in a particular zip code and millions more can have a particular birth date.  One important factor isn’t taken into consideration:  only one person has that zip code and birth date on that particular smartphone.

 Each time you enter personal information for a smartphone app or download, you are risking your privacy.  On-line marketers can use your information in order to target you for specific ads.  They know what city your home is in from your zip code, they know your age from your birth date, they know which websites you frequent, and through the GPS function on your smartphone, they know where you are at any given time.  Add your e-mail address into the mix and these marketers can fill your inbox with ads for more apps, shops, products or anything else.  Your browser will also be giving you suggestions on apps or products you may be interested in because your history shows what you have purchased or downloaded.

 App developers claim that a consumer must give their personal information in order to really benefit from their apps.  There is, however, some debate as to what the risks to privacy are that has even Congress involved.  As of now, what is being discussed the most is a way for consumers to choose a “Do Not Track” option on the sites they frequent but, so far, there is no solution to the privacy issue.

The founders of Instagram were approached by Facebook in early 2012 regarding an offer to buy the then newly created company.  The price offered:  $1 billion.  It took a while, but in September 2012, just before Facebook went public, the sale was finalized in the amount of $750 million. Instagram’s founders and its few employees couldn’t be happier about this deal, but did they realize that it was about to become a privacy fiasco for the thousands of people who had photos posted to the site?  Shortly after the acquisition, a new policy was put into place that says Facebook has the right to sell any or all of the 5 billion-plus photos that were posted on Instagram’s site.

Just 3 months after Intstagram’s purchase by Facebook, on January 16, 2013, a new policy regarding photos was put in place.  Starting on that date, Facebook has the right to sell any photo that was posted on Instagram without paying, or even notifying, the users who posted those photos.  If you read the updated policy and deleted your Instagram account before January 16^th, this was the only way you could have stopped the sale of your photos.  However, if you didn’t read the update and your account with Instagram was still active as of that date, you are in danger of your photos being sold.  Instagram users certainly weren’t happy about this detail.

What all this means is that if you use Instagram to post photos and did not delete your account before January 16, 2012, you could be facing a huge privacy concern.  Any photos that you posted on Instagram after the effective policy date can be sold to any advertiser and used in any way.  You could be on your way to work or school one morning and see a photo of you and your friends partying at a local bar up on a billboard advertising that bar.  Or maybe the billboard is for a beach resort that you visited and the photo is of you lying on the beach in a very skimpy bikini.  Another possibility is that you could be skimming through a magazine in your dentist’s waiting room and see a print ad featuring you and your friends standing in front of the newest casino.  Would you be shocked at any of this?  Would you be even more shocked to know that everyone involved with creating this ad, except you, will be making money off of your images?  Does this sound like a good deal?

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has taken notice of this new policy.  “It’s asking people to agree to unspecified future commercial use of their photos.  That makes it challenging for someone to give informed consent to that deal.”  That was a statement issued by Kurt Opsahl, Senior Staff Attorney for the EFF.

Since it is unspecified what types of photos can be sold and used, the policy leaves an endless amount of possibilities.  Any type of business, hotel chains, cruise lines, airlines, bars, restaurants, etc., can purchase your Instagram photos from Facebook without asking you for consent.  Your photos can be used in brochures, television commercials, print and Internet ads…any kind of advertisement that the purchaser sees fit.  And because there is no limit on the types of photos used, your kids can be in danger.  One day, you may see a billboard of your kids running around on a beach used to advertise the kid-friendly resort you visited last summer.

If you want to avoid all this but didn’t delete your Instagram account before January 16, 2013, you can still delete your account to regain some control over your privacy.  However, keep in mind that any pictures you posted to Instagram after January 16^th up to the date your account was deleted can still be sold since there is no language in the new policy that protects those photos. 

When you meet new people, how well do you know them before you invite them into your home?  Today, when most people hear about identity theft, they think of hackers stealing personal information over the Internet.  Sure, you have to protect yourself on-line, but you also must be careful of new acquaintances and friends that you meet in the real world.  How trusting are you?  Here is a scenario that was relayed to me recently:

My friend Pam had always wanted to take a class in pottery but there was never anything offered in her area.  One day, she received a class schedule from her local community college and saw the perfect class for her:  Pottery 101.  It was a 10 week course, close to home and the price was right, so she signed up.   The first day of class, she was early and chose a seat towards the back of the room.  Tony came in the room shortly after and sat next to her.  They had some time to talk before class started and found conversation very easy.  There was no romantic interest, but Pam thought that Tony would make a great friend.

Pam and Tony would go out for coffee every night after class, sometimes with a group and sometimes alone.  Either way, they really enjoyed each other’s company, so they started making plans to go out on weekends.  The first time Tony picked Pam up at her apartment, she gave him the grand tour, which included her home office.  Tony admired the antique safe that was in a prominent position.  Pam told him that she bought it at an estate sale and it was where she kept all her important papers.  She said she never had a combination for it, and jokingly added that she felt that it looked impressive enough to deter any burglar.  Because of this, she felt it didn’t need to be locked.

For months, they hung out together.  Pam talked about her family that was living in another state and how difficult it was sometimes to live so far from them.  Tony could sympathize since he had recently become a US citizen, but his girlfriend wasn’t yet able to come over from their native country.  Time went on and they became almost inseparable friends and confidants.

After knowing each other for a little over a year, Tony announced that he was going to visit his family and girlfriend overseas.  Pam was so happy for him because she knew how much he missed them all.  She drove him to the airport and saw him off.  She didn’t expect to hear from him during his trip, but she was to pick him up in two weeks.  Pam had all of Tony’s flight information and got to the airport a few minutes before the plane landed.     

SOPA (Stop Internet Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are two bills that came to a vote in Congress in January 2012.  These bills were supposed to help fight copyright infringement on the Internet, but, if they passed, the government would be able to block certain websites for most Internet users.  This gave the government far too much control.

At first, there didn’t appear to be a problem and it was thought that both bills would pass in the Senate and House.  A protest staged by some popular websites showed Internet users what their Internet would look like if the bills were passed.  Sites like Wikipedia blacked out their sites for a day.  This got people to understand that giving the government full Internet control was a dangerous thing and a letter-writing campaign began.  Thousands of letters were sent to state representatives telling them to vote “No” on both of these bills.  The campaign worked and in October 2012, the bills were taken off the table.

With that threat out of the way, Internet users thought it was safe.  Then, an international treaty, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) came up.  ISPs (Internet Service Providers) would have to “monitor and censor online communications” under ACTA.  Not only was this seen as a threat to privacy, it was also seen as threatening to our freedom of speech.  During the panel discussions on this, some of the points were leaked out to the public.  Citizens of quite a few European countries took to the streets to protest the passing of this treaty.  The protests worked.  In July, the treaty was voted against by the European Parliament and was taken off the table all over Europe in December.

During this time, lawmakers in Washington, DC didn’t give up on their plan to remove copyright infringing content from the Internet.  The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and the Cybersecurity Act (CSA) were brought up.  Though both bills caused concern, the one that was considered most dangerous was CISPA.  This was because so many who were set against SOPA were now supporting CISPA.  The bill was supported because companies found that under it, they could share personal information with the government without consent and not have to worry about litigation.  Even with this support, both of these bills were taken off the table by the middle of November.

Privacy is a big concern for all of us.  Every day, we hear about new things that will force us to give up at least a part of our privacy.  One of the newer things being proposed is the installation of “black boxes” (or event data recorders) in all light trucks and new cars.

The reasoning behind this is so that investigators will be able to understand what is causing car accidents, so the information could be used to build safer automobiles.  At this time, there are no policies in place regulating how the information will be used.  This is an issue for privacy advocates, who are concerned that the information will be used for other purposes.

What consumers don’t realize is that automakers have been putting these devices into new cars for quite a few years.  If a car is involved in an accident and the airbags are deployed, sensors in the car record and save information on the last 5 to 10 seconds before the crash occurred.  The information will tell investigators the speed of the car, if the driver made any sudden turns, or even if the driver and passengers were wearing their seat belts.

A good and very public example of this happened in April 2007.  Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey was involved in a serious car accident on the Garden State Parkway.  He was a passenger in an SUV driven by a State Trooper.  The recorder in the SUV determined that the vehicle was traveling at 91 MPH in a 65 MPH zone and that Governor Corzine was not wearing his seat belt, which is mandatory under New Jersey law.  Governor Corzine pleaded guilty to the seat belt ticket and paid the fine.

Another incident of this type involved Lt. Governor Timothy Murray of Massachusetts.  He was involved in an accident where his Ford Crown Victoria went off the road and rolled several times.  Murray walked away from that crash and told investigators that he was traveling at “around the speed limit” and was wearing his seat belt.  The black box evidence proved otherwise.  It showed that the Lt. Governor’s speed was around 101 MPH and that the seat belt was not in use.  Murray then changed his story to say that he must have “dozed off” and accelerated, but that was disputed by experts.  He was given several tickets and forced to pay over $500 in fines. 

This time each year we look forward to the holidays; the closeness with family, hot apple cider, decorating the house are all things we love.  A part of the holidays that most of us truly hate is the annual greed-fest at the malls.  People are pushing and shoving to be the first to get the latest hot toy or video game.  Television commercials are telling us that we must spend money on cars, diamonds and furs for our spouses…the more the better, according to them.  Years ago, it was a simpler time when the best present was a Tonka truck or a baby doll, but lately, the greed has taken over.  Unfortunately, scammers are feeding on this greed to steal from the holiday shoppers.

Each year, the crooks are finding new ways to scam people out of their hard-earned money.  This year, they are using cell phones as their weapon of choice.  This is a typical scam:    Random cell phone numbers are dialed and a text will be sent that appears to be from a well-known store.   This text will tell the person that they have been chosen to receive a gift card worth at least $500, and all they have to do to claim it is to verify their identity.  For verification, the person is asked for either their Social Security Number and/or the number of the credit card that was last used at the store.

Many of you reading this may be amazed that this actually works; that people are really willing to give up this information through a text.  Well, apparently there are enough people sending the information that it makes it worth the time and effort to text all those cell phones.  The scammers are hoping that an extra $500 or $1,000 will look very tempting.

You don’t text?  No problem!  The scammers are also calling unsuspecting victims and speaking to them about their “win”.  Caller-ID won’t stop them because they use pre-paid cell phones and can enter their identity as “Customer Service” of any store.  Before you know it, the scammer has your information, makes a few purchases using your credit card, then moves on to the next victim.  By the time anyone realizes they’ve been scammed, the crook has also moved on to a new pre-paid cell phone.

Don’t be so quick to give out your personal information.  If you get a call or a text telling you that you “won” something, sit back and ask yourself these two questions:

1. Did I enter a contest to win a free gift card?   If the answer is “No”, then this is a scam. If you give your information, the only “winner” will be the scammer, who will have a very happy holiday thanks to your credit card.
2. Is there any reputable business that would ask you to give sensitive, personal information to an unknown “representative” through a text or over the phone?

The answer to question 2 will always be “No”, but what about question 1?  There are contests offered by many stores.  If you did happen to enter a contest of this sort, please refer to question 2.  No reputable business will ever ask for this information over the phone.  Simply tell the person on the phone that you will visit the store location closest to your home and verify your identity in person.  Then hang up.

All over the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, there are millions of people signed on to Facebook.  They are there to keep in contact with family and friends.  They also use this social networking giant to find childhood friends they haven’t seen or heard from in years.   When there is any type of celebration…a birthday party, a wedding, birth of a baby…Facebook is where the pictures and videos are posted so friends and relatives far away can be a part of it all.  There is something you need to remember:  once published, those pictures and videos are public property and can be used without your permission.

Think about the photos and videos that you or your friends have posted.  Can any of them come back to haunt you years down the line?  That picture of you at a frat party, dancing around half naked could pop up as part of an advertising campaign years later.  Imagine being a CEO of a large corporation and one day, noticing the snickers of your employees as you walk by.  Could they have just seen you at your drunken worst as a Facebook advertisement?

Facebook is now a publicly traded company.  What this means is that their main goal is to make the largest profits ever to keep their current stockholders happy and to interest new investors.  Selling of user information to third parties is one of the ways that Facebook plans on making larger profits.  Along the side of your page, there are several different advertisements, each with the comment “Like this page”.  Some even have a notation that one or more of your friends “Likes” the products or companies, which is supposed to entice you to also “Like” them.  Well, each and every “Like” is registered by Facebook, who will, in turn, place that advertisement on the pages of your friends who haven’t already “Liked” that product.  With every “Like” that you click on, hundreds of people are being targeted for that particular advertisement.  Now, multiply that by the millions of users around the world!  If the information of all these people is sold for, say, $1 each, the profits would be huge.  Then, add in all of the new Facebook users that sign up daily.

Whenever you “Like” something, you are endorsing that product or company.  You are letting your friends know that you are going to purchase the product, are interested in purchasing the product in the future, or that you are a frequent shopper at that particular store.  Soon you will see that the pop-up advertisements on the right side of your Facebook page are mostly for products or stores you “Like”. 

Obituaries are published daily in every newspaper in the United States and every day, people look through them to see if anyone they may have known recently died.  An obituary is a good way for friends of the recently deceased to know of any funeral arrangements so they could pay their respects.   It’s also a good way for identity thieves, known as “ghosters” to gather information in order to resurrect that person; or, at least that person’s identity.  Think of all the information held in one, small obituary.  The name and age of the deceased, spouse’s name, number of children and their ages, home towns of everyone and close relatives who pre-deceased them all help a ghoster to rebuild a life.  The obituary is also helpful in letting the ghoster know when those closest to the deceased will not be at home so the houses could be invaded to gather yet more information.  After all, aren’t the times of viewings and funerals listed in these obituaries?

There are many people willing to pay for new identities for a number of reasons.  An experienced ghoster will find a wide variety of potential identities by looking through many different newspapers.  No one is safe.  What if a whole family wants to begin a new life?  Identities will be needed for a man, a woman and however many children they have.  Knowing what times a house will probably be empty, the ghoster will make an unannounced visit.  Neighbors will probably also be at the viewing or funeral, so there’s a good chance the ghoster will never be seen.  Going through the house of the deceased person could turn up a birth certificate, driver’s license and Social Security card.  In fact, if the ghoster plans things out ahead of time, he could get to quite a few houses in one day, gathering information from each.  The information doesn’t have to be used immediately; the ghoster has all the time in the world to wait for the need to arise.

Any information found can be used for anything from simple credit card fraud to something as involved as taking on that person’s full identity.  If Stella Oldman needs some new furniture, but doesn’t have the money, no problem!  With the Social Security number and driver’s license in the name of Carolyn Baines, she can apply for credit and never have to pay a dime.  Or, Stella could want to escape a criminal warrant, so with a Social Security card, driver’s license and birth certificate, she can assume Carolyn’s identity and start life over as an innocent woman.

I’m sure most of us know what “cookies” are by now, but what are web bugs?  Like cookies, web bugs go by other names:  web beacons and tracking bugs.  They are a form of spyware used frequently by spammers in order to confirm e-mail addresses and to let the spammer know when an e-mail was opened.

Web bugs are also used by advertisers to let them know which websites people are visiting and the frequency of those visits.  This helps the advertisers compile reports on individuals so ads relevant to the user’s website visits are placed on each browser.

You probably would never notice if a web bug was included in an e-mail you receive because they are cleverly disguised.  A web bug is usually a very tiny image (no larger than 1 X 1 pixel), formatted as a GIF, that blends in with whatever background it’s on.  Browsers can accept or reject cookies, but since a GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is widely used on the Internet, the browser generally accepts it.  Web bugs can also be disguised as an image of the site’s logo.  This way, it can be hidden in plain sight.

A good example of a web bug is the use of e-greeting cards.  Whenever you send one of these cards, there is an option that you can click on that tells you when the recipient has opened and looked at the card.  This is possible thanks to web bugs.

Web bugs can identify the IP Address of the computer that received the bug, it can identify the URL of the web page the web bug came from, it can identify the URL of the web page the web bug was “viewed” on, and it can distinguish what time the web bug was “viewed”.  Because web bugs used in e-mail usually come from spammers, this is what causes the most concerns about privacy. This will give the spammers too much information about a particular user.