Todd's Old Blog

Tag: privacy

  • HostGator – The Privacy Saga Continues

    HostGator: A friend after all? As I wrote yesterday, HostGator locked me out of my brand-new account because of “suspicious” activity.  I called back to push them further on it.  Do I really need to email them my personal data—scanned copies of  my passport or driver’s license, as well as my credit card—to prove I’m not a…

  • HostGator – The Privacy-Intrusive Web Host

    To proceed with this transaction, we require additional pieces from you. After spending quite a bit of time exploring an alternative web host, I chose HostGator.  The reviews were kind, the price was reasonable, and they were having a sale. Seemed like a good time to start migrating my 10 domains (soon to be 11)…

  • Ship with DHL at Your Own Risk

    Recently I shipped an order using DHL because the merchant didn’t offer FedEx or UPS as an option. I assumed the experience would be similar to their competitors, seeing as they’re such a big company. Lesson learned. DHL’s own Customs Collection division opened my package, decided I owed $7.20 in taxes for the goods inside,…

  • Facebook is Concerned about My Protection

    I closed my Facebook account about a year ago. While it had ceased to have any meaningful use or interest to me for a long time before then, it was ultimately Facebook’s recurring problems with privacy that prompted me to blank all of my profile information and request deletion. However… I’ve been a privacy analyst for…

  • Goodbye Facebook

    So, it’s a month to the day since I posted my most recent tirade against Facebook, but this time I’m writing to report that I finally kicked Mark Zuckerberg’s travesty to the curb.  Granted, there wasn’t much left there to delete… And that was the aspect that made it more difficult, actually. I didn’t have much…

  • Facebook Is My F-word

    “Facebook has devolved from a social networking platform to an operating system for third-party applications.” I cringe at the mention of it. It’s more contemptible than “free”, with all that’s been done to make that word utterly meaningless—if not borderline fraudulent—mostly from the lips and keyboards of marketers. It’s more despicable than “f*ck”, which despite…

  • Should the Canadian Government Pull the Plug on WebEx?

    Last month I attended the O’Reilly Gov 2.0 Conference from the comfort of my desk. It brought together attendees from around the world using WebEx, a web conferencing technology that includes audio and video conferencing, desktop sharing, and other valuable communication and collaboration features. Later this week, I’ll be attending a meeting with colleagues in…

  • Cloud Computing in Simple Terms

    Have you heard this term being bandied around in your office or in the media, but don’t have a good grasp of what it really means? This article might make the truly hardcore übergeeks wince, but then it’s not being written for them.  I’d like to help you get a grasp of the concept: a…

  • The Thousand Tiny Knives

    In privacy management, it’s the major data breaches that grab the big headlines.  In personal brand management, it’s the high profile embarrassments resulting from carelessness, ignorance and poor judgment that capture public attention.  Janine Krieber, Nathalie Blanchard, Stephen Fry, Tiger Woods… who’ll be next?  Not you, certainly. For most of us, risks to our privacy and reputation…