Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with secrecy

Unless he's keylogging me, in which case he gets what he deserves, the Grinch. ;)

kathrineg — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:51:45 -0800

I need a way to keep a browser state with tabs, cookies, passwords, forms all saved but password-protected and inaccessible. I have Mac OS 10.5.7 and I usually use Firefox, kinda hate Safari. This would be somewhat like Firefox's "Private Browsing" but instead of erasing my settings when I go out of the password-protected browser, it would keep everything ready and waiting.

So it would be like when you go from "private browsing" back to regular browsing, and Firefox restores everything automatically. Except that all the data associated with it would need to be password protected/hidden. No one should be able to access anything by clicking through folders, searching the drives, etc.

Switching logins is too onerous. I have some password protected documents but it's getting really old to move stuff from my browser to there, remember to close the document, etc.

I don't need anything with a force password, or anything completely invisible. It's okay if you can see the program/plugin and tell that I'm keeping something secret. It just needs a password so I can foil a certain Santa-hating member of my household who is adept with computer stuff, without going nuts trying to erase my tracks.

How to resist data mining offline?

finnb — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:13:17 -0800

PrivacyFilter: Can you think of examples of offline anti-data mining behavior? We can encrypt our activities, use Tor, etc., online, but how do people try to stymie data mining in daily life? I'm thinking of groups sharing a "loyalty card" (like these guys) to break up the patterns of their shopping habits, and putting incorrect information into surveys and forms to make things harder to correlate (in theory), tack-in-the-shoe style. Other examples? (And, if you know more about data mining, do these methods actually accomplish anything?)

What is the name and who is the author of this science fiction short story about a Utopian Transparent Society

y2karl — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:20:03 -0800

After looking everywhere and which a way, I am at a loss. I am looking for a short story with a near future high tech anarchy as background-- something that resembles David Brin's concept of The Transparent Society, Utopian Version, where every body knows everybody else's business--as opposed to, say, Police Surveillance State On Steroids Big Time where Big Brother knows your business and location as in 1984 meets The Minority Report. The story itself in part recounts the life of a young man coming of age in a world where the revolution is over and everyone's life is an open book in document and real time--in this world, teenage men have to find spaces under culverts or abandoned warehouses to stage their fights and duels as all else is on camera, being recorded and provided then to everyone else's examination.

At more than one point, the youth confides in an old man on a park bench. An old man who is a veteran of the recent Revolution, who can remember the penultimate moment of said Revolution as being there when the mountain fortresses of Zurich are breached and battle is joined hand to hand with the Gnomes in the caves beneath their vaults. Or something like that.

As part of the story's later action, said old man/war veteran on the bench draws out his younger companion in conversation and then later posts, to the local or universal public access channel, a not unsympathetic documentary about this youth, his life and his loves, along with supporting documentation and points of view from the all encompassing public record. Which is, as I recall, profoundly embarrassing to this sensitive young man.

The story ends with the report of death of this young man in a duel--which occurs offstage in every sense, at an undisclosed location without camera or microphone, and which is to that young man the only place in the world where a person could be free. Or so I recall now.

No doubt, some of you have had the answer since the opening paragraph but I have yet to find the story of which I speak. And it was a nominee, if not winner, for best short story or novella or something in some year or another. I forget which. I only read it once-- damn, where was I ? The dentist ? --and now I can't find hint not mention of it. Woe is me. Hope me please. What is the title and who wrote it ? I want to re-read it and see how my memory of it compares to the real thing.

I'll be pissed if it's Brin, btw...

Seriously this was a really good sandwich.

Dillonlikescookies — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:39:33 -0800

Can I patent a sandwich? I may have just invented the best sandwich ever, and before I reveal the recipe I want to know it's safe from those would attempt to misuse it's power for evil. Naturally, I would share it, but I want to protect my invention first. There are only two ingredients but pairing them is pretty rare. Turns out it tastes great. Can a sandwich be patented at all? Does it have to be weird enough before I can? Do I have to commercially exploit it in order to patent it? Is the cost prohibitive for whimsical patents? Is the world ready to accept a vegetarian candidate for the king of sandwiches?

I'm not even hungry and I want one now. I might go to the supermarket for more ingredients even though I don't need any other groceries. It's that good. My mouth is watering thinking about it. It's hard to overstate how good this sandwich was, but I like to think it was art

I could be rich from this. People would take out loans for these babies. We're talking devote your whole life to getting them because nothing taste good in comparison, living in the gutter begging for change to go buy one type good.

Naturally, after becoming independently wealthy I would donate profits to charity and allow certain organizations free use of the recipe, you know, pull a Paul Newman, I mean, there's only so much money one guy needs.

It would be kind of cool to have a patent as a conversation piece. I'm in New Zealand so our patent law might be a bit weird. Is there anyone I can call to get (preferably free) advice from?

And where can I order bulk quantities of cough syrup?

Hate the govenment, not the people.

dawson — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:35:13 -0800

Relaying potentially 'subversive' information to a friend in China via email. How can I best go about it? Would IM be better? Youtube is one of the new sites that are blocked. Can I somehow embed vids in email? How can I tell him about getting around the filters (in public cafes) without arousing suspicion? It's not like I'd be denied another visa or he'd be hauled off to jail, but it is a touchy situation, and I've found it's not cool for an outsider to speak disparagingly of governmental policy, even if the native Chinese does.
Bonus: if you are currently in China and can offer solutions. I have always been able to get around the filters there, but, only by using my own machine and downloaded software.
It occurs to me I probably shouldn't use china as a tag?

Major news outlets secret agreements?

MrBCID — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:29:40 -0800

Major news outlets agreed to keep Prince Harry's deployment to Afghanistan secret for security reasons; Dick Cheney's hunting accident was kept from the media for at least a day... What are other examples of these government & media secret/blackout practices?

I am signing an NDA what to look out for

maurice — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 11:07:08 -0800

My employer is going to be asking me to sign a new NDA in the near future. The original NDA that I signed nine years ago has a lot of holes. Anything in particular I should look out for in the new NDA? Should I be concerned about it at all? (Yeah, I know YANAL.)