Tag Archive
Police Using Fitbit Data Against You?
I’m not talking the fat police either. I’m talking about someone going to jail based on what a fitness tracker told police. The details are explained here . It should give everyone pause for concern. The obvious thing is “don’t do anything wrong,” but the problems go deeper than that. For example, given that people know […]
Should You Use Your Fingerprint to Unlock Your Phone
I was a little late to the fingerprint unlocking game. Due to my extreme iPhone case, the fingerprint unlock didn’t work. I love it, but I’m inclined to turn the feature off. While you can’t be compelled to give up your password due to the Fifth Amendment, you could be compelled to give your fingerprint. […]
Customer Privacy Again in the News
Apple should be ashamed of itself; recently employees were caught stealing photos from client systems. I don’t think companies like Apple quite understand the intimate and personal nature of the information they’re entrusted with. I’ve written about our strict privacy policy, but it’s worth mentioning again. We realize people’s entire lives are stored on their […]
Your Privacy and Computer Repair
When we do computer repair, we see all sorts of personal stuff. It’s not just your Facebook profiles and bank accounts. We can see your browsing habits, who else you know, every password. It’s everything that’s on your phone and more. We take that responsibility seriously, some providers don’t Recently, national news outlets have covered […]
Should You Worry About the Repeal of FCC Privacy Protections?
This past week, lots of clients in Lawrence have asked DoctorDave Computer Repair about the privacy of their internet connection. They’re asking if they should get a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or another method of protection. Our short answer is “not much has changed”, but we’re always for privacy. When you cut through the ad-selling […]
Our Policy Towards Password Resets and Password Recovery
One popular question we get at DoctorDave Computer Repair in Lawrence is “Can you recover my password?” Many times it’s an innocent problem, but we always play it safe. Photo by IntelFreePress – http://flic.kr/p/dxdmTX Why Do You Get Locked Out of Your Computer? The most common reason is plain forgetfulness. You haven’t used it in […]
It’s not just the NSA reading your email, it’s the IRS too
Although the NSA has given us quite the scare with PRISM and the controversy around it, a less known, but equally important violation of privacy is the fact that the IRS can and has been reading our digital communications as well. This is has nothing to do with terrorism or national security, but is all […]
Can you be compelled by law enforcement to give up your password?
This is a good question in our modern era: can the government force you to give up your password to your laptop, iPhone or other electronic device? As with so many other aspects of our society there is a balance between privacy and security. It would be great if laws could be written to only […]
Your children and “faux” privacy online
This recent article in the Wall Street Journal really annoyed me. Customers ask me all the time about children’s safety online. My general opinion is that “parental control” software is ineffective and a poor substitute for parental supervision of computer usage. This article reinforces my opinion. Even on “kid-safe” websites, your children’s’ privacy is at […]
Remote Computer Repair and your privacy
I’ve written about this before, but I’m still pretty amazed that customers allow complete strangers to control their computers without any supervision. The business model, of course, makes sense. Have a bank of technicians working from anywhere in the world fixing a long list of computers simultaneously. While waiting on something to load on computer […]
Welcome to my blog!