What NSA, VDS and Co. have to do with you! Data protection – why actually?

What does all this talk about data, its protection, etc. actually have to do with my everyday life? And what can I do to protect myself?

[Information from our cooperation partner checked4you.de] Many people find data protection to be a rather dry topic. But “thanks” to the NSA, the place has really come to life. It is said to have happened that the authority even used the data of online gamers in games such as: B. WOW is said to have collected . If a border guard asks you when you enter the USA whether your orc kill rate is really correct - don't look too surprised. But none of this seems to really bother many people. You don't suddenly see demonstrations on every corner against NSA eavesdropping or data retention. Does the whole thing remain somehow abstract? But there are definitely illustrative examples of why data has a lot to do with our everyday lives...

Just imagine if you...

• ...sent away again when he started his student exchange or au pair year at the border with the USA because the health values ​​​​were not right, you ordered the wrong books from Amazon or you simply posted “suspicious” things on Facebook. Something like this has happened to writers before .
• ...are arrested at the Turkish border when entering the country because you criticized the head of state .
• ...when looking for an apartment, you were rejected as an applicant because you didn't earn enough, you lived in a bad neighborhood, you drank too much beer, or you weren't always a well-behaved .
• ...rejected when applying for a loan because you unfortunately live in the wrong area , where, according to the data, quite a lot of people live who will have problems with repayment at some point.
• ...have to pay more for car insurance than others - also because of the area in which they live. Or because of your own driving behavior .
• ...because of his lifestyle he is only offered more expensive insurance .
• ...even stripped of his entire identity ...

“I have nothing to hide”

Ever heard that argument? Always works well because it seems so obvious. A little self-test: You just have to ask yourself whether you would tell everyone at a party that you bite your nails. Which skin diseases you have already had. That you love more than one. Or vice versa: How would you deal with a conversation with someone who has already been in prison or as a psychiatric patient? And finally, imagine being constantly filmed and streamed on the Internet at this party - will you behave exactly the same as usual? If not: why, you have nothing to hide…?

In addition, you don't have to have done anything to potentially have a problem - you can be wrongly suspected by someone else. Then everything you have ever done or everyone you have had to do with will probably be thoroughly examined.

And what can you do about it?

• Don’t take part in every competition or online survey – especially those that want to know more from you than is absolutely necessary.
• Browser settings: Most have a private mode. If you use it, no cookies, page visits, search entries or form data will be saved. You can also set many browsers to delete all of this information when you exit them.
• Privacy settings in the network: If you already use Facebook, the data should at least not be transferred from there to Google... more information about this here ! And with Google you can also set what information it store about you .
• Smartphone in general: Yes, that is the data source par excellence for others. The safest option would actually be to use an old cell phone “bone” and be done with it. Otherwise, you can narrow it down a little: only activate online access as needed, turn off GPS, be selective about apps...
• Apps topic: When installing, look at what the app wants to access. For example, if it says “Read contact details”, it may well be that you include your friends’ details at the same time. And of course yours the other way around... You can also check it later - on Android, for example in the application manager, by clicking on an app and looking at the "permissions" there. You can take a look at what's on WhatsApp, for example...
• If you want to work more professionally, you can work more intensively on encrypting your emails. But it takes a bit of effort, more about it here .
• Anyone who generally uses standard US applications (Windows, Internet Explorer, IOS, Facebook, various Google tools, etc.) is ultimately more susceptible to the (in)voluntary distribution of their data. Alternatives such as open source software or the Linux operating system can be an alternative here.
• Be sure to comply with standards such as virus protection (also for smartphones ), firewalls or WLAN security Always update software, not least the operating system.

And as we know thanks to the NSA, none of this may necessarily help. But the less personal data there is unwanted in the world, the better...

Source: Checked4you.de