Computer Privacy Annoyances

Protect Your Privacy Online, at Home, and at Work.

Computer Privacy Annoyances: How to Avoid the Most Annoying
Invasions of Your Personal and Online Privacy

No one needs to tell you that personal privacy is an increasingly
rare commodity. Identity theft has become the fastest growing crime on the
Internet. Spammers fill our inboxes while scammers threaten to drain our bank
accounts. Left unprotected, a home PC can be turned into a hacker’s plaything in
less time than it takes to reboot. And that doesn’t begin to include threats to
our privacy from agencies with hidden agendas, eavesdropping employers, and an increasingly intrusive federal government.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, “Computer Privacy Annoyances: How to Avoid the Most Annoying Invasions of Your Personal and Online Privacy” (Tynan, O’Reilly), provides advice with attitude on what consumers can do to protect the privacy they’ve got left, and to take back what they’ve lost. Served up with liberal doses of wit and backed by rock-solid research, Computer Privacy Annoyances offers step-by-step nstructions for combating the worst privacy and security threats.

“History shows time and again that data collected for a helpful purpose invariably ends up being used for another, less benign one,” says author Dan Tynan. “But it also shows that when citizens raise hell and actively fight back, intruders will back down often enough to make it a battle worth waging.”

“Nobody knows more about privacy in the Internet age than Dan Tynan. This book explains exactly why the dangers are so real–and provides step-by-step
instructions for defending yourself, your information, and your money, ” says
Harry McCracken, Editor in Chief of PC World.

“Computer Privacy Annoyances” provides a wealth of information for protecting privacy, complete with a few lessons in hell-raising. The book is organized around the five areas where privacy is most at risk:

-Privacy at Home–Reveals how vulnerable your personal data is on your home computer, and tells you how to protect your information -Privacy on the Net–The inside skinny on erasing your browser footprints, rooting out spyware, winning the war on spam, shopping securely online and keeping your kids safe on the Net-Privacy at Work–How to figure out if your boss is spying on you, handle background checks, keep an eye on your personnel records, deal with surveillance cameras and desk searches, and avoid other privacy intrusions in the workplace
-Privacy in Public–Unveils what happens to your personal information when you
shop, use public libraries, enroll in school, travel by air or car, visit the
doctor, go to the bank, or even eat out in restaurants -Privacy and Uncle Sam–Exposes what kind of personal information local, state and federal agencies collect, who they share that information with, and what you
can do to seal records, access your files, detect wiretaps and cope with the IRS and other scary bureaucracies

It’s definitely a brave new world. “Computer Privacy Annoyances” is for anyone not quite ready to surrender their personal information in the name of convenience, technology, or homeland security. The book contains “all the tools you need to take back your privacy rights, delivered with snappy wit, “according to Dan Miller, executive editor of MacWorld. “Who knew fighting the Man could be so much fun?”

2 The Spy on Your Desk
2 Dawn of the Undead PC
4 Working for the Man
5 The Information Explosion
6 The Data Industrial Complex
8 Location, Location, Location
12 One Computer, Many Eyeballs
13 Foil Hard Disk Snoops
15 No Vault Insurance
15 Hide in Plain Sight
16 Complete Delete
16 Watch Your Backups
19 Microsoft Confidential
20 Cleaning up for Charity
21 Stop WiFi Drive Bys
21 Share and Unshare Alike
23 Spam to Go
24 Cell Phone Candid Camera
24 Moblog Rules
26 Wireless Wiretaps?
26 Don’t Ask, Don’t Telemarket
26 Do Not Call Does Not Work
27 Block that Scam
28 Just the Fax, Ma’am
29 Junking Junk Mail
29 Flag Mag Nags
30 Pick Your Mail
30 Foil Mailbox Miscreants
31 Check Your Reports
32 Stop, ID Thief!
34 Erase Your Browser’s Footprints, Part 1
35 Erase Your Browser’s Footprints, Part Deux
36 Make Web Forms Shoot Blanks
36 Rewrite Netscape’s History
36 Maximum Privacy, Maximum Headaches
39 Tell People Finders to Get Lost
40 Fend off Cyber Stalkers
41 Make Ad Weasels Go Pop
41 Spies You Should Despise
42 Die Spy Die!
43 Change Browsers and Dance
44 Shoot the Messenger
45 Spam Bam, No Thank You Ma’am
45 Whose Address Is It, Anyway?
46 Nix Those Nasty Pix
47 Declare War on Spam, Part I
47 Declare War on Spam, Part Deux
49 There Oughta Be a Law. Wait, There Is a Law!
49 Fight Fire with Water
50 Don’t Bank on It
52 Watching the (Digital) Detectives
52 Swat Web Bugs
52 Enquiring Minds Don’t Really Want to Know
52 Free Web Mail, Free Spam
53 Attack of the Data-Eating Zombies
55 Don’t Get Too Attached
55 Friends Don’t Let Friends Open Attachments
56 Antivirus Software Is Not Enough
57 Stop Spreading the News
57 Make Updates Automatic
58 Give Credit Where Credit is Due…
58 …But Don’t Take Undue Credit
60 They Know When You’ve Been Shopping
60 You Are What You Buy
61 Would You Like Spam with That?
62 99.44% Hacker Safe
63 I Share the Songs That Make the Whole World
Sing…
64 The Sue Me, Sue You Blues
64 Avoid P2P Vermin
65 Let Internet Explorer Play Web Cop
66 Hire a Nanny
67 Thanks for Not Sharing
68 I H8 IM
70 Whois Stalking Me?
71 Antidotes for Domain Poisoning
71 Bloggers are from Mars, Lawyers are from Venus
72 Usenet or Lose It
74 Surfing on Company Time
76 Visit NasteePix.com, Get Fired?
77 Out of the Office, But Not Out of Sight
78 Whose Email is it, Anyway?
79 Beware of IT Spies
79 Chewing the Fat on Chat
80 Do Your Hunting From Home
81 This is Your Job on Drugs
82 The Background on Background Checks
84 Bury the Dirt
84 Avoid Questionable Questions
86 When Personnel Gets Personal
87 Avoid Bad PR from HR
88 Beware Employee ID Theft
89 Dish the Dirt, Lose Your Job?
91 Medical Records May Be Hazardous to Your Job
92 Cameras, Cameras, Everywhere
92 The Searchers
94 Don’t Get Cashiered
96 Your Loyalty Is Not Rewarded
98 My Soft Drink Is Spying on Me!
100 My Identity Has Been Swiped!
101 Be Anti-Social
103 Improving Your Rental Health
104 Beware Public Net Terminals
105 Your Reading Habits Are Private …
105 …Except When the Feds Step In
107 So What’s Your Major?
108 Apply With Care
110 High School Confidential