[Tech1] Tech Ops website?

[David Brunt]

If you go into Facebook settings, you can set it so that you're not
tagged in any posts.  Same with much staying out of much of the data
gathering you're worried about.  You could also sign up to a FB group
with any false name you wish to use.

Private group posts can not be seen by everyone on Facebook. Only
those *in* the same group.

In any case. Several existing Tech-ops site pages can be found in a
google (or other engine) search, so privacy isn't even an option
there.




On Sat, 30 Dec 2023 at 13:47, Alan Taylor via Tech1
<tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
>
> I’m a reluctant user of Facebook because our village uses a private FB site to communicate stuff about village life. The only info that FB have about me is a misleading name and false DoB.  I try to dissuade people from posting pictures of me on FB and strongly object to having my name tagged against a picture.
>
> FB offers some advantages in that any member of a group can add postings, pictures etc rather easily.  It’s also good for propagating the latest news rapidly.  Where it falls down for me is scrolling a long way to find older posts.  The search feature is OK if you know what you’re searching for, but not so good if you need to scroll around associated postings. To my mind, the Tech Ops site should be more of an archive rather than a news site and isn’t well suited to FB.
>
> As for the big tech companies, I would not put all of their data gathering operations into the same category.  Much depends on why data is collected and what it’s used for.  Many convenient features on smartphones are only possible if data is held centrally.  However if that data is anonymised, or encrypted so that only the user’s devices can access it, then I don’t have a problem with that.  Where I do have massive reservations is with the companies who gather data about people and then sell it to third parties.
>
> I’d rather spend a small amount of money to buy online storage ( in my case £2.99 for 200GB, shared between myself, my wife and one child at uni ), rather than use ‘free’ services where the user becomes the commodity. Similarly I use a browser which respects privacy ( DuckDuckGo ) and never Google.  Neither do I use Google Maps or Google Mail.  All the apps I use have to declare exactly what data is collected from users before they are allowed into the App Store. If an app needs to know my location, I have to specifically allow it to do so, including options such as ‘never’, ‘only once’, or ‘only while using the app’.  There is also usually an option to only pass on vague location data ( nearest town ) rather than your precise position.
>
> It’s difficult to be online without leaving some sort of footprints, but there are ways to minimise those footprints.  In simple terms, if a service is free, then you are likely to end up paying for it in some other way.  On the other hand, if you pay for a service, or that service is provided as a perk for buying certain hardware, then there should be no justification for monetising the data gathered from those customers.
>
> Alan
>
>
> > On 30 Dec 2023, at 11:17, Chris Woolf via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > 
> >> On 29/12/2023 19:48, Peter Fox via Tech1 wrote:
> >> Pat, agreed, facebook is to be avoided
> >>
> >>
> > Agreed in principle, but unfortunately it isn't feasible to have no connection at all with the likes of Meta (behind Facebook, WhatsApp, Workplace, Instagram, etc); or Google (too many platforms to name); Microsoft, Apple etc, all of which collect your data and try to use it wherever possible. But then the UK police do too, having just quietly incorporated the database of passports and driving licences into facial recognition libraries. You can't go into a supermarket without leaving a trace somewhere.
> >
> > The only answer is to use such services carefully. Never accept full sets of cookies, always "manage" them. Use tangential interfaces such as Duck Duck Go, lie inconsistently about date of birth, gender, racial characteristics. Save stuff to the cloud by all means, but keep changing the account. Use lots of different looks - FR has terrible problems with hats, sunglasses, women's make-up etc - where there are high levels of CCTV - that really isn't paranoia. You'd be amazed at how inaccurate the facial recognition stuff is, and how it guesses the top 10-20% of matches. "But sir, the cameras saw you in Leeds at the scene of that rape - it's no good telling us you were in Bristol that day..."
> >
> > I do find the Tech Ops site useful, and not just because of its history stuff and park-bench stick-waving. But I have to admit to not having the time to run it - too many other calls on my time and grey cells.
> >
> > Starting afresh with one of the simpler list systems is probably the best approach to keeping things running. Trying to understand someone else's one, cobbled together over several years is usually harder.
> >
> > Bet there's someone with sufficient skills and time out there....
> >
> >
> > Chris Woolf
> >
> >
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>
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