Kim Komando: 3 surprising things that spy on you that you can't stop

Komando.com ^ | August 9, 2014 | Kim Komando

[EveningStar]

Do you ever feel like you're being watched? In the past, you could chalk it up to paranoia, close the curtains and get on with your life.

Thanks to technology, it's not just your imagination. You really are being watched in your home, at work and everywhere in between.

From online advertisers and hackers to the NSA and other government agencies, everyone is trying to keep tabs on you. And things keep getting worse.

If you think you know every gadget and organization that's a danger, think again. Here are three things spying on you that you probably didn't know and that you can't stop.

[EveningStar]

ping

[ShadowAce]

...that you can't stop

Don't buy a new car. That's one down.

[Vaquero]

Time to move off the grid ( in all aspects )

[Semper911]

If you don’t want to click:

1. Your car.
2. Your stores (loyalty cards).
3. Your ISP.

I’m thinking... Duh.

[Paulie]

Can automobile black boxes be removed or disabled and still be able to operate the car?

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

This morning when I sneezed my coffeemaker said “gesundheit!”

[rabidralph]

Ask this guy, he would probably know. ***CAUTION*** There is some swearing in this video.

[UCANSEE2]

Can automobile black boxes be removed or disabled and still be able to operate the car?

Yes, but you must replace the engine and all the wiring in the car, including the ignition switch with non computer-controlled stuff from the late 80's.

Most of your accessories in the car won't work as the old wiring harness probably won't have the right connectors, but you can start it and drive it, at least during the daytime.

[cloudmountain]

This morning when I sneezed my coffeemaker said “gesundheit!”

Did you say "Danke"?? NIIICE coffeemaker!

"Gesundheit" is German for HEALTH.
In ancient times it was thought that when one sneezed one blew his soul out of his body. Silly...

[Charles Martel]

A new car could be retired using one of the aftermarket wiring harnesses made for racing and classic car retrofit applications. You could probably splice in most of the accessories, but the real problems are the throttle-by-wire engine control and the fact that many safety inspections now include plugging into the OBD scan port. If the car won't "talk" to the state's computer, it won't pass the inspection.

There may be some loopholes in state laws, but this stuff gets tightened up each year.

[Still Thinking]

And, aside from using fake information - which some people do - or shopping at the farmer's market, there isn't anything you can do about it.

I agree with her that this is an invasion of privacy, but her advice on avoiding it is faulty. OTOH, fake info doesn't work unless you're very very disciplined about never using a debit or credit card on purchases with that "fake" info. The instant you do, all the history acquired with that card can now be attached to you. But...on the other hand, it's not nearly as universal as she makes it out to be. Among mainline stores, Albertsons doesn't do this (they did but stopped). Wal-Mart doesn't have it, Trader-Joe's doesn't have it, and probably some more that I'm not aware of. Plus just avoiding any cards isn't enough. Even without a card, they can build the same virtual profile if you pay with credit or debit. Just pay cash, and patronize stores that don't try to foist a card on your and you're good.

[rarestia]

1. Don’t buy a newer car.
2. Stay the heck away from “loyalty cards.”
3. Use a third-party proxy or Tor to browse. I personally have three proxies setup on Amazon’s AWS and use VPN to connect to anything on my own network. Using Tor anonymizes this even more. My network connections are not blazing fast, but I know security is the price to pay for that relative anonymity.

[rarestia]

You said it best: cash. Cash for everything. They’re not FORCING us to a cashless society... yet. The wife and I both withdrawal $200 a week for incidentals. We hit the bank before each grocery trip. The only thing coming off the bank account are the regular bills. People laugh at me, but I’m not going to be a part of this electronic experiment.

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

I was at the grocery store feeling like I was being watched. I dismissed it as paranoia and headed for the check out. A guy in a plain black suit wearing sunglasses came up to me and said hey, you’d better go back to the dairy aisle. You’re out of milk!

[bgill]

Unless that proxy was set up by the NSA.

[EveningStar]

If you don’t want to click:

Over the years, I've posting articles in quite a few places. FReepers are the only people who think that clicking on links is a hardship. Someone on this thread even went so far as to add "clicktease" to the keyywords.

[Paine in the Neck]

You said it best: cash. Cash for everything. They’re not FORCING us to a cashless society... yet.

But expect RFID in the currency soon.

[Hatteras]

I clicked for the pics...

She's pretty darn cute for a tech geek!

[discostu]

Not just with loyalty cards on stores. Yeah those cards make it easier, since you whip them out even when you use cash, but checks and cards are easy to tie to the customer.