Goggle has developed a new web browser called Chrome. We advise anyone who values their privacy to stay away from this browser. A look at the licensing agreement tells it all:

“[Y]ou give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display,”

Say what?

That’s right “Your browsing are belong to us”

Unfortunately, someday, somehow, someway, somebody may get a hold of your browsing history and your search history, possibly including “unique identifier” and IP address and exact time of the search.  Not good.

And Google is not alone in this,  as most search engines do the same. 

We recommend ixquick.com. The web search engine that respects YOUR privacy.

(awarded the European Privacy Seal)

Extra added bonus!  ixquick also provides access via secure server, so mot only do they not store your search queries, you can encrypt the connection with SSL.

http://ixquick.com  or

https://ixquick.com (SSL encrypted link)

And hey, it also works very well.  Quality seach results.

Hey, it’s “your privacy” after all.  And it is nobodies damn business what you search for on the Internet.

A few posts back, we introduced you to ixguick.com.  We have been using it and are very pleased with the quality search results provided.

Well, we have found another search engine that does not keep a search history.  Named Cuil, after an old Irish word for knowledge.

Find it at http://www.cuil.com/

Password Meter provides a good way to test your passwords for security.  Password Meter can be found at the following web site:  http://www.passwordmeter.com/

Your password can be tested online, or the application may be downloaded for use on your computer.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 =

 12,345,678,987,654,321

Didn’t know there was such a thing.  But sure enough, http://ixquick.com/ does not store any search information.  In fact:

On July 14th Ixquick was awarded the first European Privacy Seal.
Ixquick is now the first and only EU-approved search engine.

Goodbye google.

Go to https://privnote.com/

1. Write a private note (add a return receipt if desired).
2. Past the link to the note in an email and send.
3. It can only be read once and will self-destruct.

Maxwell Smart couldn’t do any better.

The 4th amendment of the US Constitution states:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The 5th amendment states:

  ”No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Here is why it is imperative that one does not use default router passwords!    A new version of the “zlob” Trojan will attempt to hijack routers by trying a list of default passwords,  If successful, it is not your router anymore.  You will find all your computer’s Internet traffic diverted through the attackers network.  This allows all manner of dangerous malicious mischief.

The good news:  After cleaning the Trojan from your computer, you can reset your router to the factory defaults by doing a hardware reset.  Some routers require you to insert the end of a paper clip into a small hole and hold it for at least ten seconds.  Consult your routers manual for the exact procedure.  Then immediately log into your routers control panel and set a secure password.

For more information:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/06/malware_silently_alters_wirele_1.html

Did you know that any email address can be spoofed, impersonated, forged - so that it appears to have been from you?

Yes, spammers can, if they wish, impersonate your email address and send spam that appears to be from you.  This is forgery, and it is illegal.  Only by analyzing the email headers can one determine that the email was impersonated, or spoofed.     But even the headers can contain falsified information, so this is not always a help.  And if they were able to hijack your email server, it may not be possible to identify the source.

We are not going to go into the technical reasons for this at this time, but suffice it to say that the email system is basically broken, and no Internet-wide fix is in sight.  Not that fixes aren’t being considered.  It just doesn’t look like any will be implemented in the near future.

You may want to employ authentication technology such as digital signatures, to authenticate your email.

This can be used to prove the email was from you, but still does not prevent spoofing.

For more information:

http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/email_spoofing.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spoofing

Also, see our previous post about fighting email spam.