Answer Guy Central

If you got to this post by reading the description, you’re already nervous about what’s to come. Strap in.

I’ve mentioned before how little Google cares about your data security, and while you could read some of this as a “the sky is falling” rant, it’s nothing of the sort. Fact is, there’s no real security on the Internet, and the issue isn’t that you’re being watched so much as it is that you need to understand how, and have some idea what that means to you so you might protect yourself as best you can.

This week, a new browser plug-in that will keep you up to date on just how often you’re transmitting personal information to Google became available. It’s available here, and works with both Firefox and Chrome.

If you install this software, you’re going to spend an awful lot of time being jarred by flashing and noisy alarms. I suspect that very few people will use it for more than a few hours before they uninstall it, stop browsing the Internet, and hide underneath their beds.

OK, so you’ll just uninstall the software, but you’ll still be horrified. Allow me to repeat: there is no data security on the internet (and) Google is the prime perpetrator of that truth.

So What?

Actually, you can read the “so what?” a couple of different ways:

Say it like a child and it means “this has nothing to do with me; it’s beyond my control, it is what it is“. Fair enough, and ultimately correct; you aren’t going to stop using the Internet, so get used to and accept that information is being gathered about you and your habits.

Or, make a plan. A dear friend recently bought a paper shredder to make sure that her bills and other documents didn’t get used against her when she threw them out, and weeks later she’s still talking about how good using it makes her feel. She happens to be quite old and doesn’t use the Internet, so imagine what she’d think if she read this!

The Computer Answer Guy can help you with your data security. So can PC-VIP and any number of other technology consultants. Or you can do it yourself. But if your meaning for “so what?” isn’t the childish one, you need to do something.

Right Now.

This weekend news broke that the existing security laws in Finland making it a crime to leave your Wi-Fi signal open and unencrypted might be in on their way out.

Not being from Finland or an expert in their legal goings-on, my reaction was predictable: That’s ILLEGAL There ?!?!?

Yesterday, Starbucks announced that their semi-free Wi-Fi is about to become completely free. My first reaction was “it’s about time”. McDonalds figured this out last year, and others have known that the extra business gained by encouraging people to stay at your store is a no-brainer for quite some time. Sure, the Wi-Fi at Panera Bread is unreliable, but at least they have the good sense to offer it.

And then Starbucks upped the ante.

Soon, when you stop by everyone’s favorite coffee shop and use their Internet connection, you’ll get a bonus with your burnt cup o’ Joe: free access to paid sites, including The Wall Street Journal.

This is huge.

It’s huge business change for WSJ, which up until now was “pay only”. It pretty much ends anyone’s chance of charging for Wi-Fi. And biggest of all, it signals a clear adoption of the idea of coopetition.

I’ve been telling you that in the new business world there are only partners; nobody’s a pure competitor any more. Coopetition is the word for that, and Starbucks, the Wall Street Journal, and the other companies that are jumping on this bandwagon are bearing it out.

Of course, unless it’s legal in Finland, none of this will matter, right? <wink>

Every now and then I wonder just what and how much about me  is floating around in “the cloud”. And then I stop thinking about it because I realize that it’s a question without an answer. Oh sure, I Google myself from time to time to see how “important” I am, but beyond that I just accept that the Internet is not really within my control.

So I was intrigued to hear that Google had released  Dashboard, and was calling it a tool to help you keep track of what was “out there”.

Umm . . . wrong.

I’ve looked at Dashboard and checked out my account. And I like having all my “stuff” in one place. I even see that my address is wrong on one item, reflecting a home I moved out of several years ago.

It’s neat. But it’s just an aggregation of the services Google provides that I’ve attached to my Google account.

That’s it. Google Dashboard does NOT tell me “what they know about me”. It does NOT help manage my security settings. Reality: my user name and email address get me in, just as they always did. And everything is in one convenient place.

Which means that from a security standpoint, Google Dashboard is a huge step BACKWARD, as anyone who knows my name and password can now alter all my stuff from one, nice, convenient page!

What was Google thinking?

An amazing idea: the worst threat to security in your computer may not be a virus, or a piece of stray mal-ware. It’s your operating system.

Or so says Brian Krebs, blogging for The Washington Post. And he’s probably right.

The issue, says Krebs, is that most of the bad stuff that tries to infect your computer does so by mucking around in your operating system, and that your operating system gets harder and harder to protect over time. This is true.

Further, Krebs argues that Windows users have the biggest problems, because it’s Windows being targeted by a huge percentage of virus writers. This is also true.

What’s fascinating (and please remember that this is not truly a Windows issue; Macintosh and Linux computers get viruses, too) is his solution: you can completely avoid having sensitive data stolen by doing something that is becoming more and more simple: don’t type anything or use shopping or banking web site on a computer  unless you boot that computer from a clean, protected, pristine CD or DVD-based copy of the operating system.

This is almost a brilliant idea. Human nature being what it is (lazy) and technology understanding being what it is (low), the idea means very little here in the real world. But with Virtual Computers becoming more and more prevalent, it’s an idea that will lead to real solutions, and soon.

THAT’S Business Change.