Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with privacy and surveillance

Are LinkedIn surveilling us?

Elizabeth the Thirteenth — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 04:33:50 -0800

I've long suspected that the professional networking site LinkedIn may be using information such as my mobile phone records to make recommendations for connections. But today they really freaked me out. What gives? I regularly get recommendations to connect to people which appear to be derived from something other than my Internet behaviour. Usually it's to people within my immediate social network so it's not particularly out of the ordinary. But sometimes connections are much more distant, suggesting a different kind of intel.

This morning I was invited to connect to somebody I met randomly on a terrace in foreign country a few years ago, before anybody knew what a smart phone was. We talked for an hour or so and went our separate ways. This individual is way outside any of my networks, lives on another continent, and I had forgotten all about them until today.

I'd love to know how this has happened, as I refuse to believe it's coincidence. Also curious to know if any other mefites have had a similar experience.

Where is the line?

finite — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:08:43 -0800

What legal barriers prevent ISPs from violating their users' privacy? I was recently surprised to learn that companies like Hitwise and Compete are buying "clickstream" data from ISPs.
Assuming that their privacy policies don't, what legally prevents ISPs from selling other information about my internet use (IM logs, email headers, contents, etc) to 3rd parties?

My roommate has been watching what I do online- help!

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:17:43 -0800

My roommate has been watching what I do online- help! We are (were?) pretty good friends despite only knowing each other about a year.

As part of an argument, he made an angry reference to my blog, and quoted it. I have never told ANYONE about my blog, NO identifying details are connected to it, and until he said that I didn't know anyone but me had ever looked at it (I mostly just write gibberish there, sometimes I rant about things but again, with NO identifying details).

I asked him how he knew about it and he said "I know everything that goes through my network."

I know he was telling the truth because I had made some of my posts from school, and he pointed out which ones I had made from home.

I know absolutely nothing about computers. I know how to turn it on and use Firefox, and that's it. As far as what kind of network we have, all I know is that it's wireless and he has his own server.

Now I'm completely freaked out. I have no idea as to exactly what he can see. Can he read every email I send? Can he see every website that I go to?

Is there any way to block him from seeing what I do? Is there any way *I* can see what *he* does?

Moving out is not an option for several months.

I'm not afraid of him and he's not usually this weird, I just hate the idea that someone can completely spy on me like this.

Safe facebooking

poweredbybeard — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:49:01 -0800

Help me practice safe (ie. semi-anonymous) facebooking. I've been devoutly avoiding Facebook. I'm kind of curious to see what it's like, but I'd like to do it in a way that means as little information as possible ends up in others' hands (especially, but not exclusively, those interested in datamining).

I'm told that FB is very proactive, and not entirely forthcoming, about trying to get as much info about you as possible when you sign up/sign in... and also that a rookie might not be aware of all the sorts of information that become public, indirectly or otherwise, when they create an account and start using the site.

Please give me tips/insights in to how to keep a FB account as separate as possible from my actual life, while still being useable.

Tin-foil hat - looking for books on surveillance society and the loss of privacy

TheDonF — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:17:53 -0800

I've spent the last couple of weeks reading Everyware: The Dawning age Of ubiquitous computing, 1984 and Brave New World and now I'm in full-on tin-hat mode. What I'm after now is recommendations for books on government and surveillance, privacy and the loss off and so forth. Looking on Amazon, most of the books seem to have been written in 2000/2001, but I'd much prefer more up-to-date books as so much has happened in the intervening years. Bonus points if the books have a UK-slant. What's worth reading to make me further want to live in a cave, poke out my eyes and cut off my finger prints?

Is it legal for a employer to spy on employees?

Nik_Doof — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 10:40:59 -0800

UKWorkFilter: My employer is starting to place a lot a surveillance cameras around the building, with the possibility of spying on employees... Is this legal? Recently my employer has been cracking down on the company rules. We've had meetings and emails outlining exactly what the rules are and what is expected of us. Added to this the rumored appearance of small surveillance cameras in the store and disappearance of many of them a few days later.

I'm starting to feel uncomftable as when this sort of action happend in my last employement there was a mass culling of employees on disiplinary grounds in a attempt of side-stepping redunancy packages. While i'm not in breach of any company rules i feel my privacy is being breeched. My mind, body and soul belong to the company while i'm in the building...

My question is: is there any requirement for the employer to notify us that we're under surveillance, or would it be covered by a standard contract of employment? Also what right would they have to use it in any disiplinary proceedings?

Can police monitor cellphones even when their shut off?

swamperro — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 08:09:55 -0800

Cell phone surveillance... just heard what must be an urban myth: that police have the capability to use your cellphone as a listening device and that even if the power is off, that the device can be powered up remotely. The person who passed this information takes out his battery to ensure that his conversations are not monitored. I have heard of aliens monitoring brainwaves through metal fillings, but this seems over the top. Any truth?