Your Face in Google Ads

When it comes to developers of popular free tools, Google is king. Yet the tradeoffs for using tools like YouTube, Gmail and Google+ are becoming clearer. For instance, starting November 11, Google will be able to include Google+ users' faces, names and comments in ads. Configured as a default, the policy is one that users must opt out of if they do not want their images projected in marketing messages.

Here's exactly how to stop your face from appearing in what are being called "adver-dorsements" (at least for now, until Google+ changes again):

1. Navigate to Shared Endorsements in Google+ settings.
2. Uncheck the box next to "Based upon my activity, Google may show my name and profile photo in shared endorsements that appear in ads."

Understand that this will not stop your network from being able to see those companies and brands that you have liked (or in Google+ language, plus-one'd). If this makes you uncomfortable, simply stop hitting +1 and do not leave any reviews on Google products.  

What Email Activity Reveals about Your Relationships

Developers, even those who are open about their data-collection policies, often argue that even though they are collecting some information, they are keeping your personal information -- the kind that can identify you, like social security numbers -- private. Yet it's important to understand that assumptions on who we are and with whom we are associated can easily be made when that data is analyzed.

Take this story, offered up by a tech blogger who asked an MIT professor to analyze his Gmail activity, for example:

A few minutes after looking at my profile, he had my number. Like a fortune teller, he could immediately ferret out my closest relationships. 

Correspondence with my girlfriend put her right at the center of my profile. After sorting our emails by month and year, the professor could see that we met four years ago. He could see that things started out slowly, and as we became closer, messages flew back and forth at a faster rate.

The professor notes that even without identifying information attached to these communications, the patterns he sees are unique. Few people have the exact same communications pattern with my girlfriend, my son, and with my close friends. So that information could potentially be used to identify me.

Your Digital "Cloak of Invisibility"

It's always fascinating when societies are pushed to innovate to protect themselves from their own innovations. And that is exactly what two privacy-savvy individuals have collaborated to bring to the market. 

Called "Off Pocket," the tiny purse allows users to keep their phones on while blocking incoming phone signals, Wi-Fi, GPS and Internet connections. It's designed to replace the "old-fashioned" way of shutting out the world, which is simply shutting down your phone.

As this post by an NPR blogger points out, Off Pocket has not quite passed muster, so it'll likely be some time before we see it (or its knock-off) achieve mass adoption. Nonetheless, it's interesting evidence that people are investigating the capitalistic possibilities of protecting consumers from unwanted privacy invasions. 

Reader Question  

How do my Facebook friends know when I am online? I recently opened my Facebook and had a message that said: 

My mobile device shows me you're online. Are you here?

I had been away from my computer for three hours, and it had been in sleep mode. What kind of device provides my online status to my Facebook friends? Is there a setting I can use to disallow that?

This is a significant problem a lot of folks have complained about. Facebook is always changing how its site works, and how its data is shared, so it's understandably hard to keep up. Below are a few things to consider.

If you are using a mobile Facebook app:

These apps automatically show you as being online; that is one of their "beneficial features."  

Understand if you have Facebook's chat feature turned on, there will be an indicator next to your name, viewable by all those you have indicated you are open to chatting with (see image courtesy of Inside Facebook below). This will display in the News Feed whenever you do anything (e.g. like something or post a comment.) 

If you enable chat for only one person (Choose someone not likely to chat!), you will be unavailable to everyone except that one person.

If you are using Facebook via browser:

Turn off the Facebook chat feature. If you have this feature turned off, the only way someone will be able to know you're online is if you do something that will show up in the News Feed.

The only way to completely keep others from seeing that you're online is to avoid liking, commenting or posting, each of which automatically publishes your activity (often with a time and location stamp).

If you have a question like this one above from my friend Gayle Lin, simply reply to this email, and I'll do my best to offer an educated answer... or at the very least, my opinion. 

You Have My Permission to Share

I receive a lot of requests to repurpose the information contained in these Tips messages, so I wanted to drop a quick note in here to say, "Yes, I approve!" Please use the following attribution so that others will know where to find me if they have additional questions about the material you pass along.