Staying Safe online and on Wattpad

>>PUPs>> ||||||| Layers|||||||

We cannot truly guarantee our safety and privacy online. We cannot protect ourselves from spies – whether government, criminal or commercial – nor stop the collectors building a profile of our online activities, and even our whole life, for sale to the highest bidder. Once we're online, data mining companies or advertiser cartels will always be desperate to track us and try to sell us crap. I'm not sure we're ready to shake off all the human conditioning we've endured this past fifteen years: likes, followers, selfies, tags, trending, 'free' competitions that require our information to enter, viral videos ... they're all carefully constructed reward systems whose real purpose is to make money for advertisers and data miners.

If we really want to keep our online activities private we can follow Ed Snowdon's example and download an unbreakable operating system like Tails (SEE LINK 1 Safest Operating System in the world?), which operates from a CD or flash drive, but we will have to change the way we use the web. We will have to surf safely. :)

But we won't. If things continue like this, in ten years, the internet will be a place where NOTHING will be private and we'll be instantly recognised, flagged and followed with every click we make. I am not here to make a judgement on anyone who has the wisdom to read these pages; how much you want give away is your choice. I simply offer possibilities: you can have an online presence that everyone from hackers to the kid next door knows is you, or be an elusive ghost even the security services have trouble pinning down. Criminals, be they local or global, will always exploit the weakest target. It's up to you if you want to be one of the scrawny little ones in the herd the predators have their eyes on. If not, let's uncover ways we CAN make it difficult for them. ; ~)

The next few chapters will look at the threats we may face and ideas I have to make us safer online if we want to be. I call them PUPs and Layers.

PUPs

PUPs is an acronym that stands for Potentially Unwanted Programmes, or programmes that end up on your devices and could damage them or compromise your privacy. They are also called PUAs or Potentially Unwanted Applications. But there are things out there that aren't progs or apps but actual people or practices we might not notice, or realise are unwanted or even dangerous.

For the purposes of this book's structure, which I want to be as simple as possible, we will be lumping them together and calling them Potentially Unwanted Problems.

We can restrict the disclosure of our information if we don't want it falling into the wrong hands, by doing certain things, or employing protective tools.

We can use LAYERS.

Imagine a washing line with a long sheet across it. It is a barrier between you and what's on the other side. It is flimsy. Now imagine your attacker. He comes in many forms, but for now, imagine he's wielding a sharp sword like someone outta Game of Thrones. He will slash that mother open in no time. But what if you had TEN layers, or FIFTY layers? He would still get through, but it would take him longer and might put him off or persuade him to look for someone with no layers – the weakest of the herd. The next few pages are about the different kinds of PUPs, or attacks we might get and different layers we can use to fight them off. You don't have to use all of them or any of them. Up to you.

More layers makes you safer, but you'll have to invest extra time and much fiddly clicking to improve your online persona's privacy and security.  You will have to make decisions about what or who to allow in, and because the internet is turning into one big zombie cookie, the collectors will make it harder and harder for you to truly stay anonymous. Then there is the love affair we all have with the internet as a concept. We adore it because we believe it has all the answers to our life and our sadness. But it is like Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility: he is gorgeous but he's only in it for the money. :)

These layers are there for you to use. You may think you'll never need them and never experience any kind of intrusion online, or you can get totally paranoid and wish to prevent any sucker finding out who you or your child is (tho if they want to, they will) or you can just apply the odd layer to be on the safe side. ;~)

Your call.

The next few pages will describe different PUPs and suggest a layer to limit their sword thrusts.

Please feel free to mention Potentially Unwanted Problems of your own and really helpful solutions or layers. :)

"I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public."

Ed Snowden