What with all this GDPR regulations, lots of people are making noise about personal data on websites.

This website, https://rangerovers.pub, does not store any personal data that you haven't put on here yourself (like in your user profile). At a minimum, it stores your (probably pseudonymous) username, your email address and an irreversibly encrypted version of your password. This data is not disclosed to any third party, and is handled as securely as is reasonably practicable.

The site uses cookies to identify your browser, which is a pretty standard way of ensuring that things like logging in works. There's a very stupid law written by non-techie people that requires you to be told this. Ideally there should be a popup warning you that this site uses cookies and giving you the option to reject or accept them. If you do not want a browser-identifying cookie, use your browser settings to block cookies from https://rangerovers.pub. This will break logging in, and you won't be able to post.

Under new GDPR rules you have the right to request that all data about you are removed from the site. If you choose to leave the rrpub community and would like a Stalinist purge airbrushing from history, please send an email to gordonjcp@gmail.com and I will arrange it. This probably won't remove cached copies from Google, you're on your own with that. Oceania is at war with Eastasia; Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

So far there have been no requests from shadowy government agencies for copies of the website database.

No requests you're allowed to admit 😆

The statement about requests is currently true. I wouldn't put in on there if it wasn't true. Do with that what you will ;-)

Have to admit I am not a big fan of cookies, particularly the third-party variety, and some of this stems from RRS.net several years ago.....
whereby I had realised it was actually trying to set 37 of them.... and just how this would "enhance my web site experience" eluded me...

Most would not be too worried about (primary) browser-identifying cookies etc but it has all 'developed' much further beyond that.

IMHO the main problem with GDPR legislation is that it is probably 15+ years too late......

At the end of the day, if they really want your details, there find them somehow, unless you shred everything, then burn it, never use your real name or date of birth, change address every 2 months, don’t register anything in your name.
Then maybe, just maybe, your in with a chance, 🤫

That's true Chris, but I suspect it depends mainly on just who 'they' are and also where they are based (?)
I believe the privacy problems really started when Data-Bases compared (and sold) our personal details:
How did we ever allow this ?

About 10 years ago I was a big supporter of ID Cards. The plans for these were dropped in 2010....
something to do with "possible infringements of our personal liberties etc" (and other similar nonsense) !

Incidentally here is a 'Handy Guide', only 184 pages long.....

https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-1-0.pdf

I had a charity kindly give my details to a mailing list company, although I always make sure that my details wouldn’t be given out, so not only did that charity lose out, so did the others I used to support.
I still get the crap mails, and suppose unless I change my email I always will, this week there’s been the a flurry of the scammers trying there luck, I’m a rich man according to there mails, but I told them to keep the millions,, lol

I had a loyalty card with a high street chain which managed to get signed up with a misspelt surname. It was surprising to see just how much junk mail (pre approved credit card invitations a lot of them) turned up with that non existent name on them for years after that.

Yes, sounds familiar Brian; Many Retail organisations have been doing this type of thing for years too.... they use "Loyalty Cards" for all kinds of nefarious/marketing purposes

The interesting thing is that if we went into a shop and they said "by entering this shop you have agreed to be tagged, identified. followed (even if you don't buy anything) and we can sell your details on to other shops" we would be straight out of there of course !

There is definitely a rush by some organisations to send out stuff before the GDPR 25th May deadline too...

Incidentally I won't Tweet either; They 'own' you....see https://twitter.com/en/privacy#update !!

davew wrote:

Yes, sounds familiar Brian; Many Retail organisations have been doing this type of thing for years too.... they use "Loyalty Cards" for all kinds of nefarious/marketing purposes

The interesting thing is that if we went into a shop and they said "by entering this shop you have agreed to be tagged, identified. followed (even if you don't buy anything) and we can sell your details on to other shops" we would be straight out of there of course !

There is definitely a rush by some organisations to send out stuff before the GDPR 25th May deadline too...

Incidentally I won't Tweet either; They 'own' you....see https://twitter.com/en/privacy#update !!

Complete side note, but its worth knowing that many shops with free wifi have it as it also allows them to track people moving round the store by their phones location. With multiple Access points down to the area of shelving your stopped at if they wanted/needed to. So half of what you state above can and does happen, though probably not with as much data as they might find useful.

It's all part of 'Retail Analytics' Brian

https://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Retail-Analytics-Game-Changer-for-Customer-Loyalty.pdf
OR:
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/how-we-help-clients/big-data-and-advanced-analytics

Obviously this is not for the Retailers .... it is all done for OUR benefits................. yeh, right..... (just like 'shrinkflation'...)

The key phrase in the second link is 'targetted data mining'

I was looking into WiFi, visitor apps and stuff for work. One of the most convenient systems is to use a Facebook login for users on the network. Since the Facebook data slurp scandal this is no longer worthwhile legally. One of the more scary things that the Facebook API had (before they switched it off) was a command called GetFriends

Yep, if you used a Facebook login that site or app could actually list all your Facebook friends and market them too. And probably make judgements about them/you into the bargain.

Jeez, what did I start,, lol, think people would be locking themselves in and not leaving the house, my elderly neighbour is convinced if he pays for anything over the phone he’s being tapped, he gets cheques from the bank, sends them special delivery,, his debit cards are in a metal case, in case there scanned by someone walking by.
doesn’t have a mobile, but receives more crap mail than any of us, he often knocks and asks can I track letters, parcels,ect, I saved him over £100 on a package to Italy, saved him major on car insurance, said he could have an old iPad I have, so he can check things himself, but he won’t take it, offered him a mobile, same there, unless he’s avoiding technology because he’s actually a spy, roflmao

Part of the problem here Chris is that many 'services' rely on "OPT OUT" when clearly "OPT IN" should be deployed, hence all your neighbour's unsolicited post. Who has the right to sell OUR personal details to OTHERS (other than Mark Zuckerberg I mean) ?

Also guessing your neighbour received a new Contactless Credit/Debit Card without actually asking for one ? I have had similar discussions with elderly folks - who generally don't realise there is (currently..) a £ Transaction limit, but prefer to use cash for such purchases anyway (and not just because they think they are being "monitored"). Same with the TPS idea - they still get Cold Calls from abroad, often with a spoofed UK tel. number Caller ID....

Another part of the problem here of course is the elderly folks who 'run' this country and are also totally clueless about IT or technology in general.....
No, wait.... "Diesels are the future".... err.... No, make that "Driverless Cars are the future".....

Every time I've had a cold call from a UK number from 'Raymond' (or a similar English name) but who obviously doesn't have English as a first language calling on a low bandwidth VOIP line from somewhere very distant, I've blocked the number so I don't get any more calls. I'm looking forward to unblocking them all on the 28th so I can tell them they are breaking the law and to remove my details from their database immediately.

For years I've been getting calls which seem to come in spats from various call centres asking to speak to Simon Miles (I'm Simon Andrew). Calls are often from Indian call centres but sometimes from UK centres. I used to ask them to remove me from their database(s) but it made no difference. During one call from an unusually apologetic UK call centre woman I was told they get numbers from an agency, she didn't know the name of the agency, couldn't delete numbers from the agency database, couldn't let me speak to her boss. About 5 years ago I pretended to be Simon Miles just to see what it was about and to mess them about in the hope they'd delete my number. I've forgotten what it they wanted Simon Miles for but it involved them taking card details to pay for something so after dragging discussion on for half an hour I eventually made fake card details up until it dawned on them. Then I gave them a bollocking and told them I'd mess them about every time they called so it would be in their own interests to remove me from their database. Five minutes later I got a call from another number, the call centre blokes supervisor telling me in Indian English 'You are not a gentleman sir'... 'You wont want to call me again then will you' but made no difference. I also often get 'Can I speak to the owner of the business' calls and half of them don't know what business they're calling. My number is all over the net so I suppose it's something I'll always get but I have no idea where they get 'Simon Miles' from.

Sounds quite similar to the "IRS Scam" nonsense in the USA.... "Send us money ASAP (via Gift Card !) or we will arrest you tomorrow......"

Eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Rwc8lNn0k

Don't know how many there actually fall for this either....

I've been getting calls on my work mobile for Jason Bennet ever since I first got the number in 2010. It seems that Mr Jason Bennet is being chased by just about every debt collector in the UK and he's using my phone number on the applications!

Complete side note, but its worth knowing that many shops with free wifi have it as it also allows them to track people moving round the store by their phones location. With multiple Access points down to the area of shelving your stopped at if they wanted/needed to. So half of what you state above can and does happen, though probably not with as much data as they might find useful.

They also use Bluetooth beacons so if it's on then they can follow you wifi and bluetooth have individual MAC addresses. All for your personalised experience - donc'ha know!

As far as I know you guys are correct in that Book Face is one of the dirtiest ones out there. I used them for 2 years from 2007 - 2009 and came off as I thought they were insidious.

Some web browsing protection can be used with Ghostery (see how many web beacons, trackers and other crap is blocked), AdNauseum - it actively clicks and messes with web page trackers and blocks ads, U block origin is another good ad blocker (but don't run Ad Nauseum and Ublock Origin together) and finally "I Don't Care About Cookies". I travel a lot so I do turn those off when I'm home - it slows the browser down otherwise. But there is another trick - see my final note at the end.

I also got told in an old line of work, if you use free/public WiFi spots and don't delete them from your phone, it will actively poll looking for all the free WiFi access points - so if anyone walks into shops or areas with tracking your phone will identify itself. Now remember what Google did, they scanned all the home WiFi access points - so it could help you with navigation remember - so they probably have all the records anyway.
Customers used to say "Why do I need your product, I don't mind surveillance, I have nothing to hide" with big beaming smiles. So I used to say well why don't you ask the bank to send your bank statements on postcards, remove all your curtains and take front and back door off your house. After all you have nothing to hide. Then I used to sit back silently and finish my drink.

I used to love the look on their faces when the penny dropped. They then used to buy our product ;-)

Anyway I spent years telling people that all this was going on and was told more times than I care to remember that I was part of the tinfoil hat brigade and conspiracy theorist. "Why would the government/MI5/GCHQ/NSA/5 Eyes etc do this? They wouldn't". They do. Every cell site is connected to GCHQ and they can access all SMS's and meta data over the phone networks.

I told people, they do it because they can and they will keep doing it until they get their fingers caught in the cookie jar. Then they will say it's for our own good, our security, to stop child abuse etc... but it doesn't change anything. The bad guys go Stone Age tech, and you can't spy on that with other computers. Our enemies are not stupid they know our capabilities.

Surveillance slurping is so great it can only be used forensically - after the fact - not to prevent. So it's all bullshit and all I predicted has happened. No smart Tv's or Alexa's or any other "OK Google" crap in my house.

That's enough for now but if any of you are interested there is a great tool that runs on Raspberry Pi's called Pi-Hole. It's a black hole for ads, trackers and stuff (https://pi-hole.net/). I use it on my home network and it works a treat. You do have to be a bit tech savvy, but not that much. I managed to follow the instructions and had it up and running in less than an hour. My Android box no longer has ads in the apps :-D

ttfn peeps,

Hoppy

Mukiwa wrote:

Every cell site is connected to GCHQ and they can access all SMS's and meta data over the phone networks.

Except for WhatsApp as it is end to end encrypted and doesn't appear anywhere on the network in a form that can be unencrypted. Which is why the security services tried to ban it......

What can't be done is listen in to your mobile phone conversations. The way GSM works is that it uses Time Division Multiplex. Each carrier is split into 10 time slots, 8 carrying speech as data and the other 2 carrying timing information. So if you were to break it down you would hear a snippet of conversation 1, a snippet of conversation 2, then 3, then 4, etc, until you get back to number 1 again. That's why music on hold sounds so bad on a mobile, because the codec is engineered for human speech as it has to fill in the gaps between slots and can't easily cope with music. CDMA and UMTS get even more complex.