A majority of Americans don’t know that Facebook owns Instagram. That can lead to risky decisions, such as leaving microphone access enabled in your Instagram settings, which in turn informs what goes into your Newsfeed. You might even see some targeted ads based on recent phrases you uttered in the vicinity of your phone.

Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers. It also has a complex sign-in system that might result in more of your data being collected than you had intended. Starting in September 2018, Chrome will sign you into the browser itself if you log into any Google services – e.g., Gmail, YouTube, etc. […]

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have a seemingly endless array of settings you can tweak for security and privacy. Don’t leave the defaults on – instead look through the options to find the ones that limit who can see your data and reduce your overall exposure. Twitter’s option to mute specific accounts and keywords is […]

Many times, pop-up windows are spawned by a kind of scripting or active content. You can adjust the settings within your browser to reduce or prevent. Some browsers offer a specific option to block or limit pop-up windows. Certain types of cookies are occasionally considered spyware because they reveal what web pages you have visited. […]

You might have seen Facebook posts beginning with “For the record…” and containing official-sounding language about how the poster is denying Facebook the ability to “take action” against him or her based on various statutes. These posts do nothing. If you want to control your privacy on the site, the best step is to not […]

Although it wasn’t designed as such, Facebook is a powerful caller ID service – it’s easy for anyone to paste a phone number into the search field and find the profile associated with it. The same can be done with email addresses. Change your privacy settings to prevent strangers from easily digging into your personal […]