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dantynan

dantynan

Member since: March 2010

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Author Dan Tynan has been writing about Internet privacy for the last 3,247 years. He wrote a book on the topic for O'Reilly Media (Computer Privacy Annoyances, now available for only $15.56 at Amazon -- order yours today) and edited a series of articles on Net privacy for PC World that were finalists for a National Magazine Award. During his spare time he is part of the dynamic duo behind eSarcasm, the not-yet-award-winning geek humor site he tends along with JR Raphael.

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dantynan's Comments (20)

  • Commented on How to tell the NSA to go &*$! itself

    testing testing. this is the nsa speaking. anyone there?

    13 hours 34 min ago

  • Commented on Faking it on Foursquare: Beware of bogus beauties bearing spam

    fair enough. always better to be cautious on the web than not. dt

    7 weeks 11 hours ago

  • Commented on Faking it on Foursquare: Beware of bogus beauties bearing spam

    a few responses. first, using foursquare is not the same as "advertising to the world." only my 4sq friends can see my checkins. that's why the spammers had to friend me first. second, just because I'm not at home doesn't mean no one's at home. our house was never empty during that trip. third: someone would also need to know where i live and that I have stuff worth stealing. those are a lot of hurdles to leap. if you're a thief, it's much easier to just case a joint locally and do a smash and grab.  cheers dt

    7 weeks 15 hours ago

  • Commented on Need a music fix? Tune into Murfie

    I think the politically correct response to that is, 'no comment.'  off the record, though, I think she's just sick of them.

    9 weeks 2 days ago

  • Commented on Why is RapLeaf still tracking me across the Web?

    I suspect they're doing just fine w/o me. 

    9 weeks 4 days ago

  • Commented on Why is RapLeaf still tracking me across the Web?

    good question. you have to register at the site with your email address (because that's what all their records are tied to). then you get a verification email. click on the link in that, and it should take you to the page where rapleaf displays your info, if it has any on you. start here:  https://dashboard.rapleaf.com/see_your_info_signup good luck. dt

    9 weeks 4 days ago

  • Commented on Tech groups question new do-not-track bill

    Hey Grant, did you talk to any folks who support the bill, or just the industry lobbying groups that oppose it? Because this report is extremely one sided. Self regulation is definitely NOT working. 

    12 weeks 6 days ago

  • Commented on Giving biometric scanners the (fake) finger

    thanx. I am always mixing those two up. which is probably why when I try to go anywhere in silicon valley the cabbie always takes me to a strip club. for some reason I have been channeling rodney dangerfield lately. sorry. 

    13 weeks 5 days ago

  • Commented on Tesla knows where you drove last winter -- and a lot more

    well I have a few responses to that. 1. if you read my story all the way thru, you'd know that I have one of these tracking devices on the car my son drives. so I am not opposed to using this technology for safety purposes, in a limited way. 2. the police forensics teams are already pretty good at determining cause of accident and speed of the vehicles, so this tech isn't really necessary, even if that question were relevant. 3. would people drive differently if they knew their speed was constantly being monitored? perhaps, but I'm not convinced. england has spent the last 20 years installing a vast network of cctv cameras in public to reduce crime, but it's had little effect -- even on solving crimes, let alone preventing them.  see http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/06/ukcrime1 it is the old 'do you have to give up privacy to gain security' question all over aagain. I think we need to tread very carefully around the answer to that one.  thanks for engaging, dt

    17 weeks 1 day ago

  • Commented on Sex, spies & videotape: Seven things we can learn from the Pentagon sex scandal

    thanks. and I bet that's your real name, too.

    30 weeks 5 days ago

  • Commented on Tesla knows where you drove last winter -- and a lot more

    I don't like this data collection because it could be used in all kinds of unintended ways besides auto ticketing. that's the problem with data collection -- people find uses for it you may or may not like, and by then it's too late to do anything about it.  Tesla is just an example of the depth of data new computer-driven cars can collect, but the issue is bigger than them. dt

    17 weeks 2 days ago

  • Commented on Tesla knows where you drove last winter -- and a lot more

    you may choose to live your life in the open, and more power to ya. but it should be a choice. if black boxes are mandated by law, that choice might disappear.

    17 weeks 2 days ago

  • Commented on Tesla knows where you drove last winter -- and a lot more

    most modern cars don't collect the amount and depth of data that Tesla appears to collect, and they certainly don't do it remotely. GM's Onstar tracks location and speed and diagnostic info remotely, as do some third party add-ons, but I don't think they collect as much as Musk outlined in his blog post.  bruce schneier calls it "a dizzying amount of data."  http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/02/automobile_data.html?nc=41#comment-1159076 question still remains how and when Tesla can turn this logging on, and for whom. still waiting for responses to my emails. dt

    17 weeks 2 days ago

  • Commented on Security is dead. Now what do we do?

    yes, that is a major problem for a lot of people. again though, if you have a public persona, the thing to do is split off a more private one, and use that for the stuff you need to keep most secure. starting with your email address, which is a pretty good unique identifier. 

    18 weeks 6 days ago

  • Commented on If you shop til you drop, will they track when you come back?

    stephani: I'd like to hear more about this. ping me on twitter (@tynanwrites:disqus) and I'll send you my contact info dt

    20 weeks 6 days ago

  • Commented on What’s the freakin’ deal with all these LinkedIn endorsements?

    guess we'll have to arrange for a demonstration then.

    23 weeks 1 day ago

  • Commented on What’s the freakin’ deal with all these LinkedIn endorsements?

    I notice you have yet to endorse my pole dancing skills....

    23 weeks 1 day ago

  • Commented on Online degrees with the greatest of sleaze

    first, umm, wow. thanx for the highly detailed clarification. I think you exceeded my word count for all three of the blog posts I wrote about this topic.  second, yes, I was using 'diploma mill' more loosely than I should have. apologies for that. I really meant 'academically substandard' in ref to most of these schools, a point that you succeeded in making far better than I. as I noted near the end, but not strongly enough, online education is a real boon, and really the future of education. I'm all in on that. my daughter is attending an online school now, and we'd have our son attend too, if we could convince him.  finally, just to be ultra clear, UOP usually refers to the University of the Pacific, an accredited, brick and mortar private school in Stockton, California -- NOT University of Phoenix, which you thoroughly dissect above. UOP in Stockton is a fine school whose graduates I count among my friends. the other one? don't know anyone who went there, and that's fine by me. cheers, dt

    25 weeks 9 hours ago

  • Commented on Online degrees with the greatest of sleaze

    I'll take what's behind door number three: Prosecute the schools that are engaged in outright fraud. Remove the accreditation from schools that engage in these practices. Force schools and all the other players in this drama to disclose exactly who and what they are, and how they profit from all of this. Withhold eligibility for federal money to any schools that don't comply.  Do that, and this problem will dry up virtually overnight. But, of course, the for-profit education lobby would never allow it. Higher education should be affordable and available to anyone who wants it, imho. It should not be yet another boondoggle for major US corporations to siphon off US tax dollars.  cheers dt

    25 weeks 6 days ago

  • Commented on Online degrees with the greatest of sleaze

    "To be clear, not all online schools are bad, and not all for-profit educational institutions are sleazy."  that's on page four of this beast. maybe you didn't read that far. in any case, congrats on obtaining a degree from U of P. glad it worked out for you. it doesn't work out for others, as you noted, just as regular non profit schools often don't work for some students.  the difference is that the regular non profit schools are not being sold like timeshares, used cars and ginsu knives, like the for-profits are. for the most part they aren't engaging in the sleazy tactics I've now spent 4000 words describing. (though some non-profits are starting to.) and the university of phoenix is a particularly ripe example. in 2009 it paid out $79 million to settle a case with the federal govt, which accused it of defrauding the dept of education by falsely claiming it did not pay commissions to recruiters for signing people up (when of course it did). that case dates back to 2003. read about it here:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20091214006155/en/78.5-Million-Settlement-Whistleblower-Lawsuit-University-Phoenix meant to include that in my post, but it was already too long. thanks for giving me the opportunity to do so here. cheers dt

    25 weeks 6 days ago

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