The August 24 edition of 60 Minutes alerted me to the problem of data mining and the unintended consequences of my activity o the web. I strongly recommend that you watch this segment and take action to protect your privacy.
Some of the tools that are mentioned are:
The search engine, DuckDuckGo
Disconnect privacy products, and,
MaskMe, which allows you to create disposable email addresses, phone numbers, and credit cards. Here’s a review that appears in PC Magazine,
Hardly a day goes by without news of another organization suffering a data breach involving thousands or even millions of stolen user data records. If your email information appears in the mix, your antispam utility will probably see a spike in pointless mail. Abine’s free MaskMe service lets you communicate with retailers, discussion groups, and other websites without ever giving them your actual email address, so they can’t lose it in a data breach (or sell it to spammers). As a bonus, it also serves as a simple password manager. More…
Hopefully, we can prevent the internet from becoming a worse wasteland than broadcast TV. –t.h.g.
Tom's News and Views 