allheart55 Cindy E

If one were to take Mark Zuckerberg’s words at face value, Facebook was created to bring us all closer together as a global community. To quote Zuckerberg directly from a recent post on Facebook in response to the emerging revelations around Cambridge Analytica’s alleged misappropriation, use and withholding of Facebook user data obtained through a third party application: “In 2007, we launched the Facebook Platform with the vision that more apps should be social. Your calendar should be able to show your friends' birthdays, your maps should show where your friends live, and your address book should show their pictures. To do this, we enabled people to log into apps and share who their friends were and some information about them.” The complete text of the post can be found here. At the center of this issue are the revelations that in 2015, Facebook was made aware through British journalists at the Guardian that Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm, had obtained data collected by an application hosted in the Facebook platform two years earlier. Under guidelines and frameworks established by Facebook in 2014, this data should have never been shared with Cambridge Analytica. In 2015, according to Zuckerberg, the firm was formally approached by Facebook and signed affidavits to the effect that they destroyed all copies of said user data. It has come to light that Cambridge Analytica not only lied about the destruction of the data, but that the data also fueled various political campaigns (allegedly, the Trump and Ted Cruz campaigns, among others) through the 2016 election cycle. I’ve been a data professional for close to 20 years. The majority of that time was spent in the healthcare industry, where securitization and stewardship of customer data is held in as high regard as is its use to save lives and preventing illness. Data security should be the paramount concern for any data professional--and the expectation of the people generating that (often sensitive) data. Indeed, from what I have seen from the insights currently available on this emerging issue is that users perceive a level of data stewardship on Facebook's part. However, that doesn't seem to exist within the company itself. Rather, Facebook demonstrates a continued reactionary approach to fixing issues inherent in the Facebook platform’s structure. In 2014, Facebook enacted changes to limit the amount of data apps were able to obtain from users and the data of friends of users, but it appears there was insufficient due diligence to ensure that existing applications were held to the same standards being enacted. Those changes are now being imposed four years later because of what has come to light with these recent allegations against Cambridge Analytica. Furthermore, when Russian campaign meddling in United States elections was alleged, the reaction from Facebook was precisely that: reactionary. And now we have the next round of reactionary changes being implemented as a result of the Cambridge Analytica issue. According to Zuckerberg in an interview with Wired Magazine’s editor-in-chief Nick Thompson, Facebook has to first deal with living up to its own run book from the 2014 platform changes: "The first action that we now need to go take is to not just rely on certifications that we've gotten from developers, but actually need to go and do a full investigation of every single app that was operating before we had the more restrictive platform policies--that had access to a lot of data--and for any app that has any suspicious activity, we're going to go in and do a full forensic audit," Zuckerberg said. "And any developer who won't sign up for that, we're going to kick off the [Facebook] platform." Zuckerberg went on to say: "That's the step that I think we should have done for Cambridge Analytica ... we're now going to go do it for every developer who is on the platform who had access to a large amount of data before we locked things down in 2014." My question is this: What's "a lot" of data? One million users’ records? One thousand? What if your data was one of those thousand records. I bet you’d consider that important to address. Facebook is walking a fine line. Zuckerberg is telling us what we want to hear as users, but at the same time this message is utterly contradictory to Facebook's business model. Simplifying the topic, Facebook states that it has a single product: its platform. I contend that the Facebook platform is the honey pot that attracts the company's true product: its users. We are Facebook's product, and our collective data is the company's most valuable asset. As Facebook found its footing and business model around advertising to users, it found even better financial success in providing targeted audiences for companies looking to market to hyper-detailed pools of consumers. This model pushes intrusion into users’ profiles, posts and relationships to the legal limits. That reality is at odds with what Zuckerberg continues to state publicly to assuage the user base of Facebook: The company is aghast that its user data is being misappropriated for political or economic gain. From an economic point of view for Facebook, our data exists only because it can be monetized for the company's paying customers. They, in turn, use it to target us where we spend an ever-increasing amount of time: on Facebook. I’m also a business owner and have used Facebook to target users for my Tech Outbound SQL Cruise events that meet certain requirements (for example, around interests and location). I’ve seen success with those targeted ads, and I believe there is a place for this business model. However, it absolutely requires controls to protect the users and their data--even if that means there are compromises in the effectiveness of the data mining outcomes. In addition to the retroactive analysis Zuckerberg proposed for apps with access to large amounts of data, isolating for suspicious activity and banning developers who don’t agree to audits of the data collected, he also vowed to: Restrict developers' data access further to prevent other abuse Reduce the required data consumers must offer up to an application when they register Increase the visibility of tools now available for revocation of access in specific applications These actions, again, are reactive and incomplete. There is no such thing as a limit on the size of the data. One account misappropriated is too much. Additionally, if apps are being allowed to request more data points than is necessary to serve the needs of executing the application, Facebook should have already monitored for such situations. In my opinion, much of this comes down to a corporate decision by Facebook to turn a blind eye toward these issues because limiting the sharing by users limits the profits to be realized by Facebook. Time will tell where any granted rights to data security fall in line against the rights of businesses to turn a profit in an age of unread terms and conditions, as well as GDPR and competing regulations in the works. The matter will likely be decided in multiple courts during the next decade (conservatively), and will face challenges every time there is an advancement in technology. Until then, Facebook and other like entities will continue to walk the line between altruism and capitalism. Source: IT Pro Today

I haven't done it yet but I don't expect mine to big too big. I don't use Gmail or Chrome so.......

If you use Google GOOGL services, there's a really easy way to download everything you have stored on the company's servers. This is particularly important if you ever decide to quit Google and delete your account entirely, but still want a record of your Google Calendar, an archive of the pictures in Google Photos or a copy of everything in Gmail. It's also useful if you want a reminder of everything Google knows about you. We already showed you how to download a copy of everything Facebook knows about you . Now here's how to download an archive of your footprint on Google. A reminder: downloading your data doesn't delete it. Think of it as a backup. What Google Knows We've already published a pretty extensive guide on how to find out everything Google knows about you . It knows a lot, particularly if you use its services such as Google Maps or search. I discovered late last year that it knows my name, gender, birthday, personal cell phone numbers, where I work, where I've been over the past several years, the types of hobbies I enjoy and more. In the archive you're about to download, you'll get a copy of nearly everything Google has stored on its servers, including Gmail contacts, Chrome bookmarks, transactions from various Google services, locations stored in Google Maps, and more. You'll find all sorts of data, including (in my case, dating back to Nov. 8, 2013): Every single place I've searched in Google Maps. The apps I've opened on Android down to the exact second I opened it. Rewards cards I once used in Google Pay. Everything I've asked Google Assistant. Every comment I've left on YouTube and every video I've watched. Every Android app I've searched for or downloaded. Every news article I've read on Google News. Ads I viewed or visited in any of Google's products. All of my Gmail files including Spam and Trash. ... and more. How to download your Google archive You can download your own archive of everything you have stored in Google's services. Here's how: Go to Sign in - Google Accounts Select the products that you want to back up. I decided to select everything. Click 'Next' at the bottom of the page. Choose the file format - you can pick a .ZIP file and choose a maximum size. I recommend going with the full 50GB file to avoid having your data split into multiple files. If you choose 2GB and have a lot of information on Google, for example, you're going to have a lot of ZIP files. Choose 2GB if you're on an older computer, since ZIP files larger than 2GB require newer operating systems. Choose your delivery method. You can get a link via email or have the archive sent to Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Tap "Create Archive." Be patient. Google warns the archive may take hours or days to create. It took about 20 hours for me — and I then had about 148GB of content to sort through, which is a lot. Google will gather all of the information you've stored across its products and will send you an email with an alert including a link or notification that it's now in one of the cloud storage services mentioned above. You'll then be able to open that file to see all of your data, photos, calendar files and more. Source: Yahoo

Thanks, Liz! I loved all of the jokes!

Happy Birthday, Bob! I hope that you have an awesome day.

Very comprehensive. Great article!

Spamgourmet looks very interesting. I am definitely going to check it out. Thanks, Liz!

I've used Mailinator before too. I hate the amount of junk email I get after signing up for stuff.

Services such as Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix offer limited-time test runs, but if you’re ambitious enough, it doesn’t have to stop there. In fact, theoretically, you can continue using the service for free using a different email address after the trial period expires. Retailers — both online and off — also tend to demand an email address in order to take advantage of their offers, but that often results in an unwanted deluge of spammy corporate emails that you could otherwise do without. Disposable email addresses can help eradicate those irritating messages you’re still receiving from Ancestry and Match.com after several years. Some of these services will also allow you to create multiple email addresses and access them in the same window, while others will simply forward everything received at that address to your primary address, negating some of their usefulness. Below are some of our favorites sites for creating disposable email addresses, so you can remain anonymous and abstain from an inbox bulging with advertisements for male enhancers, online degrees, and whatever else you probably don’t need in your life right now. The Gmail option If you’re a Gmail user, there is an option to utilize your existing email address to receive emails from whatever service you’re signing up for, but then have them routed away from your main address later. Although Gmail doesn’t have a throwaway address system, custom email addresses give you much the same functionality. In order to use it, just add a “+” to the end of your the email address you give to a service, with a specific tag — in this example, we used “unwantedemail.” That way, when you receive an email from that service or company, it will have that additional moniker attached to it. Once you’re done receiving anything to that specific address, you can set up a Gmail filter to make sure that it automatically deletes any emails coming through to that address. To do so, type your particilar “+” tag in the search box at the top of your inbox and click the arrow on the right-hand side. Then put that tag into the “From” portion of the filter form and click “Create filter with this search.” On the following page, click the “Delete it” box and click “Create Filter.” You’ll no longer see any emails come through to that specific address. Non-forwarding disposable email services If you’d rather not using a forwarding feature, there are also plenty of stand-alone apps and services that let you create a disposable address you can use. Here are the five best that we’ve used: Maildrop Maildrop starts with a familiar premise: Make up an email address or choose an auto-created version. The service then generates a simple list highlighting any and all emails received at the address in question, with a basic refresh option that lets you check emails as they arrive. Maildrop offers a few other features, too. The service provides you with an “alias address,” or an automatic alternative that will also send emails to this page, but with an additional level of privacy. That said, you have to know the original email address to access emails from the alias address. Maildrop also provides cloud-based spam filtering courtesy of Heluna, so you’ll get less junk when you open your inbox. Mailinator When Mailinator boasts it’s “a different kind of email service on its site,” it’s not kidding around: Instead of relying on a signup process or built-in creator like other services on our roundup, Mailinator creates an account for whatever email address you use as soon as an email arrives for that address. For instance, if you register for a service with the address “boondocks@mailinator.com,” the site will create an account for that particular address if one doesn’t exist already. Afterward, you can navigate to the Mailinator’s homepage and type in your inbox of choice — as can anyone else since the inbox lacks any sort of password protection. Or you can make up an inbox on the fly, and use it as needed when you are worried about spam. Also, although emails are deleted from the system after a few hours, email addresses will remain intact indefinitely. However, keep in mind many mainstream sites like Facebook already block the well-known domain. Guerrilla Mail While technically disposable, GuerrillaMail email addresses are also timeless. Each address can be tailored using one of nine different domain names and a custom inbox ID, much like a standard email address, making address options virtually limitless whether you rely on domain names like “sharklasers.com” or “spam4.me.” Although the email address you choose at GuerrillaMail will never actually expire, recently-received emails that appear in your email inbox will automatically be deleted within an hour regardless if they’ve been viewed or not. Additional tools for encrypting your inbox ID and filtering unwanted spam are also built into the platform, as is a simple email composer. The service is capable of sending attachments up to 150 MB with little fanfare. Plus, if you’re on Android, there’s an app available for making faux email addresses on the fly. The only downside here is that Guerrilla Mail is looking a little dated these days, and could use an update, although it remains an excellent business-oriented option. 10 Minute Mail Ten minutes isn’t a lot of time, but it’s often more than enough to hand out your disposable email address to the masses. Ten Minute Mail isn’t swimming with features — it won’t even let you create your own custom address — but it instead revels in simplicity. Once you arrive at the site’s homepage, it will provide you with an auto-generated email address that will expire after 10 minutes unless you opt to extend it. Additionally, there are various inbox settings located at the bottom of the page for viewing messages and a link above your given email address for quickly copying the address to your clipboard. It’s an ultra-fast method that launches a temporary inbox the moment you open the site, which may be exactly what you’re looking for. If you just want a little more time, there’s always 20minutemail. Fake Mail Generator FMG is a lot like 10 Minute Mail in that it’s an ad-free site that automatically generates an email for you to use for various services and logins. This email account, however, comes with a couple features we really like. FMG lets you pick your own address, for example, or supplies you with one if you’re in a rush. Moreover, the site “waits” for emails to be sent to the disposable address, and then automatically updates to show you those emails. This means you can navigate to the site, use your fake address to log into an account in another window, and then hop back to FMG to see how many spam emails pop up. If you need to pull any registration or informational emails, you can then do so. Alternative browser extensions Both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have a broad range of service-specific browser extensions for crafting disposable email address caches. Trashmail and Crazymailing feature corresponding browser extensions for Chrome, and both TrashMail and Temp Mail offer like-minded Firefox add-ons. Of course, those aren’t the only services that feature browser-specific add-ons. A quick search on either the Mozilla Add-ons site or the Chrome Web Store will bring up a host of other options. Source: Yahoo