Safe Surfing Open Thread

Posted on February 27, 2012 by votermom

Thanks to recs from our smart crayfishing regulars, I’ve started using ixquick  for searching and installed Do Not Track Plus (there is an autoplay vidoe at this link, mute your speaker before clicking)  to block site trackers.  I know Ghostery is also recommended (and some say it is better).

On this blog DNT+ says there are any from 2 to 4 sites tracking  me when I read it (who knew?).

Talk about our Brave New World here and the stuff we do to protect our privacy. And don’t forget to wave to Big Sis Janet. She’s watching, always watching.

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25 Responses

  1. votermom, on February 27, 2012 at 12:11 pm said:

    Facebook is in your phone, reading your texts … :evil:
    http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/26/facebook-spies-on-phone-users-text-messages-report-says/?intcmp=trending

    LONDON – Internet giant Facebook is accessing smartphone users’ personal text messages, an investigation revealed Sunday.

    Facebook admitted reading text messages belonging to smartphone users who downloaded the social-networking app and said that it was accessing the data as part of a trial to launch its own messaging service, The (London) Sunday Times reported.

    …

    Other well-known companies accessing smartphone users’ personal data — such as text messages — include photo-sharing site Flickr, dating site Badoo and Yahoo Messenger, the paper said.

    It claimed that some apps even allow companies to intercept phone calls — while others, such as YouTube, are capable of remotely accessing and operating users’ smartphone cameras to take photographs or videos at any time.

    Security app My Remote Lock and the app Tennis Juggling Game were among smaller companies’ apps that may intercept users’ calls, the paper said.

    • DandyTiger, on February 27, 2012 at 2:05 pm said:

      Note the issues and examples listed are problems with Android phones. That’s the downside of being more “open”. iPhones certainly have their issues too, but the difference is actually astonishing. Android phones are pretty wide open and privacy is pretty impossible. Of course I’m biased. :)

      • elliesmom, on February 27, 2012 at 3:51 pm said:

        My phone is “stupid”. I guess that has some advantages besides only costing me $100 a year.

        • DeniseVB, on February 27, 2012 at 5:03 pm said:

          May I ask what phone/provider plan that is. I have a $10 flip phone, nTelos, that does nothing but send/receive calls and texts. For two phones, it’s about $60/month. And we only use them for travel, probably once a month?

          When we bundled Verizon Fios for tv and computer, the tech told us to keep this plan because Verizon is more $$$$ for our “needs”. Heh, I thought it meant we were too dumb for a smart phone ;)

        • elliesmom, on February 27, 2012 at 6:02 pm said:

          I have a Verizon phone that I pay $100 for on tax day every year. The first year I had 6 hours of phone calls for up to a year. I use my phone like you use yours. For travel, for emergencies, and to let my husband know that I’m outside the secure building where he works waiting for him. I give the number out to people I want to be able to reach me when I’m out of the house. At the end of the year I had about 2 hours of phone calls left on April 14th. I needed to give Verizon another $100 to continue the service for another year, but the 2 hours of phone service rolled over. I’m on my 4th year, it’s the end of February, and I still have 9 hours of service left on on my contract. Should I go over the time I have allotted, I would just pay the next $100 sooner. The number is registered just like any other Verizon phone. It’s just a pre-paid service plan. I used to have a Verizon cell phone that was bundled with my other phone service, but I sat down one day and figured out that I was paying as much as $10 a minute some months. I was going to dump the cell phone, but my family was worried that I’d get stuck on the highway some night with no way to call them. I went to the Verizon store and described my cell phone use, and the guy suggested this. I even got to keep the number I already had. He said that people associate prepaid plans as plans for people who have bad or no credit so if they’re good phone company customers, they only shop the monthly service plans. But if you can pay at least $100 upfront, there are some really good prepaid plans for people who don’t use their phones much. My husband’s deal is different. He texts more than he calls, and he wants more “gadgets”. He can call a phone #, and it will turn his phone into a GPS if he gets lost. And he only pays about $150 a year.

        • HELENK, on February 27, 2012 at 6:10 pm said:

          Denise VB
          have you checked out consumer cellular ?
          I pay less then $20 monthly for 300 minutes. you can get more minutes if you want. no contract and you can stop when you want and start again when needed.

        • DeniseVB, on February 28, 2012 at 5:37 am said:

          Thanks for the info elliesmom and Helen :D

  2. myiq2xu, on February 27, 2012 at 12:54 pm said:

    Lest we forget:

  4. DeniseVB, on February 27, 2012 at 3:46 pm said:

    The Facebook/cell phone snoop story has been debunked by Facecrooks who moniters FB for scams. Of course always with the warning don’t put anything stupid on social networks or in texts. :D

  6. votermom, on February 27, 2012 at 6:06 pm said:

    And I thought Dubya had foot-in-mouth disease

    Asked by the AP reporter if he follows NASCAR, Romney responded, “Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans. But I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners.”

    http://conservatives4palin.com/2012/02/the-latest-romneyism-i-dont-follow-nascar-but-i-have-friends-who-own-nascar-teams.html

    • JeanLouise, on February 27, 2012 at 7:54 pm said:

      He can’t help himself. Santorum and Gingrich have the same problem.

      • votermom, on February 28, 2012 at 7:52 am said:

        Well, at least it’s the real Mitt we see. He’d probably be better off sticking to being the unapologetically rich guy than pretending to be all these other things.
        The way Santorum does best in the polls when he’s being the strict Catholic one. And Newt when he’s being the hifalutin know-it-all.
        Still voting ABO. The Dems need to destroyed before they can be reformed.

        (I actually saw a shiny new ABO bumper sticker the other day)

  7. HELENK, on February 27, 2012 at 6:06 pm said:

    http://www.dailytopseven.com/readmore.php?newsid=NjYyMA==

    this thing sounds like a transformer
    phone to ipad to laptop

  8. myiq2xu, on February 27, 2012 at 6:27 pm said:

    I’m watching The Godfather on AMC.

    Can you believe the studio wanted Robert Redford to play Michael Corleone?

    • Three Wickets, on February 27, 2012 at 6:50 pm said:

      It was the first big studio film where Italian actors played the Italian gangster roles that Hollywood had been featuring for decades. This was Coppola’s difference, though he wasn’t comfortable with the potential for stereotyping and originally turned down the project.

    • JeanLouise, on February 27, 2012 at 7:58 pm said:

      Whaaaat? I never heard that. What a monumental mess of a movie that would have been.

      • myiq2xu, on February 27, 2012 at 9:39 pm said:

        It could have been even worse:

        Coppola’s casting choices were unpopular with studio executives at Paramount Pictures, particularly Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone. Coppola’s first two choices for the role were both Brando and Laurence Olivier, but Olivier’s agent refused the role, saying, “Lord Olivier is not taking any jobs. He’s very sick. He’s gonna die soon and he’s not interested” (Olivier lived 18 years after the refusal). Paramount, which wanted Ernest Borgnine, originally refused to allow Coppola to cast Brando in the role, citing difficulties Brando had on recent film sets. One studio executive proposed Danny Thomas for the role citing the fact that Don Corleone was a strong “family man.” At one point, Coppola was told by Paramount president Charles Bludhorn that “Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture”. After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to cast Brando only if he appeared in the film for much less salary than his previous films, perform a screen-test, and put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the production (as he had done on previous film sets).[10] Coppola chose Brando over Borgnine on the basis of his screen test, which also won over the Paramount leadership. Bludhorn in particular was captivated by Brando’s screen test; when he saw it, he exclaimed, “What are we watching? Who is this old guinea?” Brando later won an Academy Award for his portrayal, which he refused to accept in order to call attention to harmful hollywood stereotypes of native americans.[11][12]

        The studio originally wanted Robert Redford or Ryan O’Neal to play Michael Corleone, but Coppola wanted an unknown who looked like an Italian-American, whom he found in Al Pacino.[9] Pacino was not well known at the time, having appeared in only two minor films, and the studio did not consider him right for the part,[10] in part because of his height. Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Martin Sheen, and James Caan also auditioned.[10] At one point, Caan was the first choice to play Michael, while Carmine Caridi was signed as elder brother Sonny. Pacino was given the role only after Coppola threatened to quit the production; Caan stated that Coppola envisioned Michael to be the Sicilian-looking one and Sonny was the Americanized version. The studio agreed to Pacino on the condition that Caan was cast as Sonny instead of Caridi, despite the former’s Jewish heritage and the latter closely matching the character in the novel (a six-foot-four, black-haired Italian-American bull). Coppola and Puzo would subsequently create a role for Caridi in the sequels.[13]

        Bruce Dern, Paul Newman, and Steve McQueen were considered for the role of Tom Hagen that eventually went to Robert Duvall. Sylvester Stallone auditioned for Carlo Rizzi and Paulie Gatto, Anthony Perkins for Sonny, and Mia Farrow auditioned for Kay. William Devane was seen for the role of Moe Greene. Mario Adorf was approached for a role as well. A then-unknown Robert De Niro auditioned for the roles of Michael, Sonny, Carlo, and Paulie. He was cast as Paulie, but Coppola arranged a “trade” with The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight to get Al Pacino from that film. De Niro later played the young Vito Corleone in Part II, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role.

        • myiq2xu, on February 27, 2012 at 9:44 pm said:

          The studio originally wanted Bing Crosby to play Detective Columbo. I can’t picture that.

        • DeniseVB, on February 28, 2012 at 5:40 am said:

          I love movie trivia….just learned this goodie from imdb

          During rehearsals, a false horse’s head was used for the bedroom scene. For the actual shot, a real horse’s head was used, acquired from a dog-food factory. According to John Marley, his scream of horror was real as he was not informed that a real head was going to be used.

          http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/trivia

  9. HELENK, on February 27, 2012 at 6:59 pm said:

    I hope your day is not like this

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