Caveat Scriptor
I've written before about being careful of your personal data, what you post and 'skewer tea' (security.) Now the whole 'Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data-capture and possible selling on' affair has blown up.
Dear Reader, when you go online and just browse the web, someone, somewhere, is tracking you and cataloguing the sites you visit and things at which you look. Even LJ.
How do I know? The ads that come up at the top of the LJ page when I'm posting. If I've looked at a yarn website recently, the ads will be for yarn, from that website. If I've looked at clothes, they'll be for that/those clothes sites and the styles I've been looking at. Not, I add, that I'm about to buy those dresses. Not at those (even Sale) prices. I just look for ideas. Then, when I can get across the back bedroom to my dress pattern collection (now there's a job we still need to tackle, Hi H) I'll see what I've got and what I can create with them. Meanwhile I tried on an old dress the other day and it was too big for me! Hmmm.
Ahem! The point I'm trying to make is that my online viewing is being monitored and ads are being 'tailored' to it. Surprise, surprise. This account is still free. LJ has to make it's money somewhere.
So something to bear in mind and to teach to your children and other people you know who are 'always' online - your browse history is being monitored. 'They' will be sending you ads and articles they think, based on your browsing history, will a) interest you and b) get you to spend money. And we've all heard horror stories of people who've tried to buy things online and ended up with virtual turkeys. It's caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) in spades!
It's also caveat scriptor (let the blogger beware) and also in spades. So, Dear Reader/Fellow Blogger, watch what you write, about whom you write (particularly if it means you/they can be identified easily) and watch where you go browsing. And if you're on Social Meeja, eg: Facebook, watch what you post, particularly personal details. Have you checked your privacy settings recently? Did you know there were privacy settings? Do young Social Media users you know know there are privacy settings? And are they set?
Caveat Scriptor!
Right, off to peg out as the forecast is for dry today, then to raid the market. Hmmm, is that TM(commercially valuable)I too?
Y'all have a good, and protected, day now!
Dear Reader, when you go online and just browse the web, someone, somewhere, is tracking you and cataloguing the sites you visit and things at which you look. Even LJ.
How do I know? The ads that come up at the top of the LJ page when I'm posting. If I've looked at a yarn website recently, the ads will be for yarn, from that website. If I've looked at clothes, they'll be for that/those clothes sites and the styles I've been looking at. Not, I add, that I'm about to buy those dresses. Not at those (even Sale) prices. I just look for ideas. Then, when I can get across the back bedroom to my dress pattern collection (now there's a job we still need to tackle, Hi H) I'll see what I've got and what I can create with them. Meanwhile I tried on an old dress the other day and it was too big for me! Hmmm.
Ahem! The point I'm trying to make is that my online viewing is being monitored and ads are being 'tailored' to it. Surprise, surprise. This account is still free. LJ has to make it's money somewhere.
So something to bear in mind and to teach to your children and other people you know who are 'always' online - your browse history is being monitored. 'They' will be sending you ads and articles they think, based on your browsing history, will a) interest you and b) get you to spend money. And we've all heard horror stories of people who've tried to buy things online and ended up with virtual turkeys. It's caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) in spades!
It's also caveat scriptor (let the blogger beware) and also in spades. So, Dear Reader/Fellow Blogger, watch what you write, about whom you write (particularly if it means you/they can be identified easily) and watch where you go browsing. And if you're on Social Meeja, eg: Facebook, watch what you post, particularly personal details. Have you checked your privacy settings recently? Did you know there were privacy settings? Do young Social Media users you know know there are privacy settings? And are they set?
Caveat Scriptor!
Right, off to peg out as the forecast is for dry today, then to raid the market. Hmmm, is that TM(commercially valuable)I too?
Y'all have a good, and protected, day now!