privacy interview questions
Top privacy frequently asked interview questions
Does my MAC address list my name, ect? How do I find out exactly what the MAC address tells me? I know it's the "physical address" of my laptop, but what exactly does that mean? This is what my MAC address says:
00-26-6c-44-4d-00 Media Disconnected
B4-82-FE-06-96-C0 /DEVICE/TCPIP_{5DFCF8F8-49A7-46BB-BD91-85F9D0606E98}
B4-82-FE-06-96-C0 Media Disconnected
I'm clueless and concerned about this for tracking purposes.
Source: (StackOverflow)
When I search Google from Chrome's omnibox, there is an aqs parameter embedded in the query, like &aqs=chrome..69i57.42x1j.
- What is the purpose of it?
- What does it contain?
- Does it (uniquely) identify the browser?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I recently visited (an official) website in search for an episode of a TV-show. The site popped an information dialog stating that I had to disable AdBlock to see the content. Is this at all possible or is it just an educated guess? Does Firefox advertise what addons I have installed? If so: how and why does it work that way?
Source: (StackOverflow)
The Google privacy message is incredibly annoying - when I edit all options and set them all to Off (although I doubt this makes any difference!) and accept the review, the same message comes back the following day. What am I doing wrong?
I'm using Windows 7 with Firefox as my browser.
Source: (StackOverflow)
Is it possible for my ISP to see the passwords that I enter on websites and in chat programs? And what about SSL websites that start with https, do they encrypt my username and password before reaching the ISP?
Source: (StackOverflow)
What are the differences between Google Chrome and Chromium (especially with respect to privacy)?
The Google Chrome Privacy Notice lists the information Google receives when you use Google Chrome. Are these disabled by default in Chromium? I don't want Google to know every letter I type in the address bar...
Source: (StackOverflow)
In recent update of Google Chrome internet browser (in stable channel), there is a new security/privacy option:
http://chrome.blogspot.com/2012/02/faster-browsing-safer-downloading.html
In addition to checking a list of known bad files, Chrome also does checks on executable files (like ".exe" and ".msi" files). If the executable doesn't match a whitelist, Chrome checks with Google for more information, such as whether the website you're accessing hosts a high number of malicious downloads.
According to more detail link
If a file isn’t from a known source, Chrome sends the URL and IP of the host and other meta data, such as the file’s hash and binary size, to Google.
What if I want google not to know which executable files are downloaded by me and from?
How can I disable sending to google URLs and hashes of .exe and .msi downloaded?
Source: (StackOverflow)
This questions is related to issues and practicality, not security.
I live in Brazil and, apparently, every single website I visit knows about it. Usually that's okay. But there are quite a few sites that don't make use of that information adequately.
For instance:
- Bing keeps thinking that Brazilian pages are way more relevant to me than American ones (which they're not).
google.com always redirects me to google.com.br - Microsoft automatically sends me to horribly translated support pages in Portuguese (which would just be easier to read in English).
These are just a few examples. Usually it's stuff I can live with (or work around), but some of them are just plain irritating.
I have geolocation disabled in Firefox, so I guess they're either getting this information from my IP or from Windows itself (which I bought here).
Is there a way to avoid this? Either tell them nothing or make them think I live somewhere else?
Source: (StackOverflow)
So I have a Google Chromecast that I'm gonna sell tomorrow because I don't use it enough. My question is: Do I need to do anything before selling it? Is there any personal data stored on it? Do I need to reset it so the other person won't know my WiFi or Netflix password?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Since the last update it has been impossible to hide the most visited sites. I don't know if it's some temporary sick joke by the chrome team but I need to remove it.
I have tried changing my home to something other website, this works for when you first launch chrome but not for opening news tabs.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I know students and employees use them to get by web filters. But what else? I hear about "privacy and security" but I can never find anything really explaining it.
I did see one link that said it stops pages from putting cookies on your computer. But why is that such a big deal when you can just use ccleaner to get rid of them?
What are the benefits of using one?
Source: (StackOverflow)
On my Macs, each IPv6 address includes the MAC address of a specific computer (not of my router). Sites such as ipv6-test.com not only show it, but even tell me it belongs to an Apple computer.
This feels like a super cookie, and might apply to other operating systems as well. How can I avoid my MAC addresses from being exposed?
Background: the MAC address is not in plain sight. Like for 2001:0db8:1:2:60:8ff:fe52:f9d8:
- Take the last 64 bits (the host identifier) and add leading zeroes:
0060:08ff:fe52:f9d8.
- Strip the
ff:fe part from the middle. If these bytes are not there, then there's no MAC address.
- For the first byte: complement the second low-order bit (the universal/local bit; if the bit is a 1, make it 0, and if it is a 0, make it 1). So:
0x00 (00000000) becomes 0x02 (00000010).
- Presto:
60:8ff:fe52:f9d8 translates back to MAC address 02:60:08:52:f9:d8.
This question was a Super User Question of the Week.
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Source: (StackOverflow)
My wife currently accesses her Facebook account from two computers, her PC and my laptop. During the course of her Facebook activities she has gradually accumulated a number of 'link-ins' from various sites so that when either PC visits these sites, a corresponding note appears on my wife's Facebook timeline. This tracking is undesirable - she doesn't want to know every time I visit for example www.guardian.co.uk from my laptop. Note that I have nothing to hide, you understand, but there is a principal thing going on here.
So... How can I remove all traces of my wife's Facebook account from my laptop (but not the actual account itself, of course), so that I can visit these pages without her Facebook account being updated with details of what I visited?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Based on some information on the internet (e.g. here), Firefox deletes HSTS information after a private browsing session.
My understanding is that this would mean that the "SiteSecurityServiceState.txt" file located in the Firefox profile directory (under \AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles) is cleared.
I am running FF 42.0 and have configured it (under Options > Privacy) to "Always use private browsing mode".
Now however for some reason this file is not getting cleared. In fact it looks like it is getting populated by Firefox with specific entries.
I am saying this because I cleared the file manually a couple of hours ago and since then I have run a few test sessions (browsing the web for some time, with that "Always use private browsing mode" enabled) and closed the browser after each test session. Now when I checked the "SiteSecurityServiceState.txt" file, it looks like it has the same entries as before.
Here's an extract of some of the entries in it:
- Is it correct that the entries in "SiteSecurityServiceState.txt" should be deleted after a private session?
- Is there some system property that would need to be enabled to clear the entries at the end of a session?
Source: (StackOverflow)