JesicasBlog
Social and File Sharing
Social networking and file sharing – cloud file sharing services, principally – are technologies that encourage people to put personal information online.
Where file sharing services are concerned, Dropbox got excellent reviews. They got the highest possible ratings from the EFF on being transparent about data requests and about informing users when data requests were made for that user’s data. They didn’t get high marks for fighting for user privacy rights in the court system, but they did get the highest possible marks for fighting for those rights in Congress.
Facebook, the social networking behemoth that currently dominates the Internet world where connecting with friends and family is concerned, got the highest possible marks for fighting for user rights in Congress and a half star for being transparent about government requests for user data. Use free vpn for mozilla if you need to protect your personal information. They got low marks for informing users of when their data is requested, however. Foursquare scored abysmally, getting the lowest possible marks in all four categories. LinkedIn, however, got the highest possible marks, save for fighting for user rights in court.
Twitter got excellent marks in every category.
Verizon, one of the largest ISPs in the nation, got very low marks in every single category. In fact, the ISP didn’t earn one single star in this assessment. Sonic.net, however, got the highest possible marks in every single category, perhaps giving people a reason to reconsider their ISP choice.
Unfortunately, well-known names such as Skype, Microsoft, Yahoo and AT&T generally got very poor marks. Comcast was also rated very low as far as being transparent about user privacy and about government data requests.
Enhancing your privacy online is more and more becoming a responsibility of the user. By utilizing services such as VPN providers and the HTTPS versions of popular websites, users can increase their level of privacy online. While some very well-known names that good high marks from the EFF, some of the most popular and well-known brand names proved to be very loose with user data and privacy, according to this report.
