Notes from the Electronic Cottage 3/25/21: Recent Privacy Initiatives 2

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Third party cookies on the web have long been the bane of those concerned about personal privacy online. Now Google, through its Chrome browser, is proposing to finally block third party cookies ((Firefox and Safari began doing that a while back) and to replace them with something Google Calls FLoC. Huh? First what are first and third parties cookies and why is FLoC supposedly an improvement? Or is it?

Here is the link to the article mentioned in today’s episode.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 3/18/21: Recent Privacy Initiatives

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Privacy and control of our personal information on the web is a hot topic these days, and recent initiatives hold out the hope of returning more control over our personal information to users. Who is leading the charge on this topic now? The federal government? Not a chance. State governments? A few. Internet giants like Apple and Google? You got it! In this first of a short series on the subject, we’ll look at how Apple is requiring users to affirmatively choose to be tracked across the web. If users say no, that’s it. Not surprisingly, some companies (can you say “Facebook”) are not too happy about this change. Here’s what’s happening.

By the way, as mentioned in today¹s show, if you would like to change your Domain Name Server (DNS) to one that does not track you, here’s how

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 2/25/21: Free to Use – Web

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

As limits on where we can safely go and what we can safely do remain in place, some folks are getting creative – making little videos, composing new music, creating new images. The good news is that even though the great majority of material on the web is copyrighted, there still is a huge amount of material that we can freely use as parts of our own original creations. Here are some tips on how to find materials we can use legally adn creatively.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 2/18/21: Living a COVID Digital Life

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Technology has been a huge boon to many people during this Covid time, at least to those who have access to computers and high speed online connectivity. One big question as we all hope that a return to some sort of normal isn’t too far away is how many of the technologies that have become commonplace during the pandemic will remain as key parts of the online experience once the pandemic subsides – it will probably never disappear completely. Here a few ponderings on that subject.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 2/11/21: Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Think today’s Internet and Web, what many refer to as Cyberspace, has turned out to be what early netizens envisioned? Turns out that 2021 is the 25th Anniversary of a document that hoped to address what Cyberspace would become. It is called “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.” Let’s take a listen and see what you think.

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