Fitbit and privacy

[antbuko]

Originally Posted by suegy3

I agree. I'm surprised that people don't realize that a lot of information is already on the internet. One of my friends bragged about not being on Facebook so her privacy is protected. I searched her name on the net and started telling her all the information about her that I saw including her picture, address, home phone and work address.

I just googled myself, and couldn't find anything. Well I found two Google+ posts so I just made my Google+ content private and requested Google to remove the urls from their search engine, but other than that I couldn't find me. Yay!

One thing about Facebook, is they have all these privacy settings, but these websites lure people into relinquishing their privacy, clickbait I think it's called? For example, there will be "fun" quizzes that will tell you who your best Facebook friend is, or what your most commonly used words were; inane stuff really, but it hooks people and in order to take the quizzes you have to give the site permission to view your profile, your friends, etc.

[TinierTina]

I got on Ad Choices and unchecked NEARLY EVERYTHING from their categories on Facebook.
Tried to not click on anything I don't want.
Nearly threatened to Block and Unfriend marketers in the guise of their being new Facebook "friends". DID Unfollow [...] them with vocal provisos to Zuckerberg's handlers

A dead giveaway to this kind of intervention had been,
[...] ... my comments (trying to brook a discussion rather than kiss their a$$es) getting deleted one-by-one, for starters ...

Make Facebook work for you !!

[andtckrtoo]

Originally Posted by TinierTina

I got on Ad Choices and unchecked NEARLY EVERYTHING from their categories on Facebook.
Tried to not click on anything I don't want.
Nearly threatened to Block and Unfriend marketers in the guise of their being new Facebook "friends". DID Unfollow [...] them with vocal provisos to Zuckerberg's handlers

A dead giveaway to this kind of intervention had been,
[...] ... my comments (trying to brook a discussion rather than kiss their a$$es) getting deleted one-by-one, for starters ...

Make Facebook work for you !!

If you have Chrome - add on Ad Blocker. That stops a lot of that stuff.

[raeven]

Originally Posted by andtckrtoo

I guess the new Alta will do that too.

Oh I had to go see what this "Alta" was you were talking about. I somehow missed the announcement of it! Gasp! I like the looks of it. I like the idea of it and the Blaze. Currently hubby and I are using the Polar a360 and we both like it. I have a hard time resisting testing new trackers though..so we'll see

[videofit]

Fortunately I have a rather common name but when I've found myself, usually on one of those databases like Intelius and Spokeo, I've contacted them and asked them to remove my name and information. There is usually a link for you to do that. Be sure to search for every spelling and nickname you've ever used and every address you find so you can get them all deleted at once. I try to do this once a year.

[FitBoop]

Originally Posted by raeven

It is always amazing and funny to me just how cashiers at all the stores act like you are so insane when you don't want their store discount cards. Most people don't think about all these things that are so 'normal' nowadays and how they are used for tracking, and how easily and quickly people can be profiled by whomever when they want to. Think about how, recently, Facebook encourages people to report and call out people that use fake names and accounts on there. Most people don't realize how Facebook tracks all the websites that you visit when you are logged in and liking all those pages and pictures. They know what you're reading, researching, and buying. I hope they find their discounts worth their privacy. We don't, so we pass. To each their own

I'm convinced that Facebook is an advanced spy agency. I was on there for a month and then deleted my account. Google tracks our searches, and our cell phones and iPads have apps that track a lot of things, too. I turn off location services if I am not using an app that requires it. It wasn't that long ago when people placed a high priority on privacy. Now, it seems to be the opposite.

[barreboxbell]

Fitbit data has been used in court: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexan...b_7698764.html

[videofit]

Originally Posted by FitBoop

Google tracks our searches.

I use startpage.com because it searches for you in databases under its own "name" instead of using your information. Can be a bit slower at times and very rarely do I go directly to google for more results. I've made it my default search engine. They also offer a paid private, encrypted email service which one of these days I will probably subscribe to.

[FitBoop]

Originally Posted by barreboxbell

Fitbit data has been used in court: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexan...b_7698764.html

I think that the law will take a long time to develop when it comes to privacy and the use of devices. At this point in time, it seems like data from a fitness tracker would be inadmissible as trial evidence in many places, unless certain things can be proven with a reasonable degree of certainty. One of those things would be whether or not the person being investigated was actually wearing the device. I sometimes borrow my husband's fitness tracker, and there is no way to know whether it's him or me wearing it. Also, a lot of fitness trackers are not that accurate, so it seems unlikely that data from them would be admissible evidence for a trial (the same way that lie detector test results are inadmissible in most jurisdictions).

Originally Posted by videofit

I use startpage.com because it searches for you in databases under its own "name" instead of using your information. Can be a bit slower at times and very rarely do I go directly to google for more results. I've made it my default search engine. They also offer a paid private, encrypted email service which one of these days I will probably subscribe to.

That is interesting. Thanks for the tip.

[spotted zebra]

This may sound like a dumb question, but how do you go about requesting Google to delete search results attached to your name? I would love to know more. TIA!