OK, let's see how we can retain at least some privacy:

Facebook's meaningless settlement with the FTC

Don't post stuff to Facebook. That was easy.

Yeah, your cellphone is pretty much stalking you

Don't carry a cellphone. Again, a simple, low-tech, and money-saving solution.

Some judges are cool with cops accessing your cell phone

See above.

Oh yeah, and the Feds want to know what you're up to, too

Ditto.

That takes care of more than half the issues presented in the article. If you are worried about technology causing privacy violations, don't use it. You don't *NEED* to let everyone know what you are doing every minute of the day. You don't *NEED* to be in constant contact with everyone. There may be some exceptions to that (doctors on call, for example), but for the vast majority of us, it's just not necessary.

dittybopper: That takes care of more than half the issues presented in the article.

I am delighted to see that our benevolent courts have upheld our law enforcement officer's Constitutional Right to confiscate, search, and destroy lowly Citizen's personal property in order to manipulate and/or hide evidence.

Remember, Citizen, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. Your government has no obligation to show you anything, and if you ask for information, you'll be condemned for trying to usurp authority.

Want privacy? Eschew technology and/or don't do anything blitheringly stupid or illegal with technology already owned.

The only variety of privacy I'm aware of that is iron-clad is that between an attorney and client, or doctor and patient.

The rest is, unfortunately, quite fragile at best, nonexistent at worst.

Feepit: dittybopper: That takes care of more than half the issues presented in the article.

I am delighted to see that our benevolent courts have upheld our law enforcement officer's Constitutional Right to confiscate, search, and destroy lowly Citizen's personal property in order to manipulate and/or hide evidence.

Remember, Citizen, if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear. Your government has no obligation to show you anything, and if you ask for information, you'll be condemned for trying to usurp authority.

I actually agree with your sarcasm. The reality of the situation, though, is that even if there are strict legal controls on how the government can access that information, it's there for them to access eventually. If you don't want them to know where and what you are doing, don't give them a trail of breadcrumbs that they can look up later when they go through the legal motions.

In other words, don't voluntarily generate data that can be used to hang you later.

"We have finally defeated privacy!"

/also I am a drug addict. I would do them in a house, I would do them with a mouse...

You know...Facebook and Twitter were created by the gubmint so people would voluntarily give up their personal information. No need for warrants, permission, etc...you posted it, it's public knowledge.

/not serious
//but sometimes ya wonder.

Cinaed: Want privacy? Eschew technology and/or don't do anything blitheringly stupid or illegal with technology already owned.

The only variety of privacy I'm aware of that is iron-clad is that between an attorney and client, or doctor and patient.

The rest is, unfortunately, quite fragile at best, nonexistent at worst.

Physical privacy within the home is still quite robust.

You don't have to completely eschew technology, either. Want to communicate with someone but don't want to leave a record of where you are, how long you talked, etc.? Use radios instead of cellphones. Sure, they are more vulnerable to casual eavesdropping, but ironically they protect your privacy against the government more: There is no unique number that pegs a particular radio, so unless you use names, proving who talked to who is problematic. Government would need to have monitoring equipment in range, and tuned to the right frequency, in order to record your conversation. Unlike a cellphone, a radio doesn't generally broadcast it's location when it isn't being used, and even when it is, it requires special equipment at more than one site within range to get a 'fix' on it, and even then, the accuracy is much less than typical cellphone locations. Another benefit is that unless there is monitoring equipment within range of your conversation, once your communications are finished, they are gone forever. There isn't a record of them left on a computer somewhere, available to the government after the fact.

Whenever the distaffbopper and I separate (like at the mall, or whatever), I toss her an FRS radio. They are cheap, short-ranged, don't have ongoing access costs, and don't leave an electronic trail by default.

I travel frequently and often do exotic things.

I check in on facebook and upload mobile photos with geotagging to show off.

Nothing more.

Have to say that I never really felt that compelled to share my life online with a horde of unknown persons through online social media. Nor have I felt a need to obsess over a friend status with people I know or whatever. Seems like a huge waste of time and energy.

You know, having that personal info out there can cut the other way. There have been quite a few people falsely accused of crimes, and being able to provide a log of where you were and what you were doing at a specific time could theoretically save your ass if it provides you with an alibi, or at the very least creates reasonable doubt that you were committing a crime.

/Of course, of you are truly the master criminal, you have an accomplice create fake data.

dittybopper: Whenever the distaffbopper and I separate (like at the mall, or whatever), I toss her an FRS radio. They are cheap, short-ranged, don't have ongoing access costs, and don't leave an electronic trail by default.

You seem to be laboring under the delusion that anyone out there would give a damn about your trip to Bed Bath and Beyond.

We need social media & networking. Where else are we supposed to retrieve the data to reformat the universe after heat death of the universe?

I saw a flurry of activity in my Junk folder this morning, so took a look. I had 7 invitations to join FB...all from people I actually know.

/not joining...Fark is as sociable as I get

Mad_Radhu: dittybopper: Whenever the distaffbopper and I separate (like at the mall, or whatever), I toss her an FRS radio. They are cheap, short-ranged, don't have ongoing access costs, and don't leave an electronic trail by default.

You seem to be laboring under the delusion that anyone out there would give a damn about your trip to Bed Bath and Beyond.

Actually, for me, it's a convenience and cost savings measure.

In order for us to communicate, we'd have to each have a phone. I already carry a radio, so I'd have to carry *TWO* devices instead of just one. The distaffbopper has a phone, so if I were to get one, I'd have to pay for service for *TWO* devices instead of just one. Turns out it's cheaper to buy a couple of generic alkaline AA batteries every few months for the rare occasions we need to coordinate where we are.

As for who would give a damn about a single trip? No one, unless you were already under surveillance for some reason. And it's not like that hasn't happened without good reason before, or that it isn't continuing to happen. The real issue isn't that someone will know where you are, it's that they can look back and see all of your travels, day in, day out, for as far back as they can get logs from the cell providers, and they can couple those with calling records, and see who you talked to, and where they were at the time, etc.

Certainly, repressive regimes have embraced the technologies, because it helps them suppress their population. It's easier and cheaper to find a dissident via his cellphone then it is by putting him under 24 hour surveillance.

I don't use FB or Twitter because I think they're dumb, but I guess I don't really care if cops, feds, etc. can track my activities. I don't do anything illegal or even suspicious so it's irrelevant to me at this point. I guess it's a bit icky of a thought to think that businesses track me to sell stuff to me, but I still don't have to buy stuff from them if they try to sell it to me and anyone who's used a club card at a store should already be used to this sort of thing. I'd be more concerned with criminals tracking my comings and goings in order to rob my house or something. People who post that they're going out of town or take pictures of the expensive stuff they own and blast it all over FB are idiots.

People who share all their vital bits with the Facebook program deserve to have every bit of dirty laundry aired to the public. That shiat is just plain stupid.

I was very angry that those LOLcat pics were included in the article. It seemed the author was trying to scream "look, I'm totally hip to this internet thing!"

So unprofessional.

OK, I think I'm over it now.