The Smart Girl's Guide to Privacy: Practical Tips for Staying Safe Online

by Violet Blue

Overview

The whirlwind of social media, online dating, and mobile apps can make life a dream—or a nightmare. For every trustworthy website, there are countless jerks, bullies, and scam artists who want to harvest your personal information for their own purposes. But you can fight back, right now.

In The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy, award-winning author and investigative journalist Violet Blue shows you how women are targeted online and how to keep yourself safe. Blue’s practical, user-friendly advice will teach you how to:
–Delete personal content from websites
–Use website and browser privacy controls effectively
–Recover from and prevent identity theft
–Figure out where the law protects you—and where it doesn’t
–Set up safe online profiles
–Remove yourself from people-finder websites

Even if your privacy has already been compromised, don’t panic. It’s not too late to take control. Let The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy help you cut through the confusion and start protecting your online life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593276485
Publisher:	No Starch Press
Publication date:	08/01/2015
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	681,194
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1220L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Violet Blue is an investigative tech reporter for ZDNet, CNET, Engadget, and CBS News, and an award-winning sex writer and columnist. She is also a member of the Internet Press Guild and an advisor for Without My Consent. She currently maintains a sexuality blog at tinynibbles.com and can be found on Twitter, @violetblue.

Table of Contents

1 Get smart 1

Take the Online Privacy Test 4

Eight Privacy Tips to Use Right Now 4

Targets and Nontargets 6

Losing Your Privacy 8

Ways You Can Lose Your Privacy 9

Protect Yourself Right Now 11

Tape Over Your Webcam 11

Lock Your Phone, Computer, and Tablet 12

Do a Privacy Check-Up 13

Don't Email Your ID 13

Use a Password Manager and Install an Antitheft App 14

Be the Firewall 14

2 But it's just my phone number 17

You Control What You Share 17

Private Spaces and Activities 18

Lock Down Your Personally Identifying Information 21

Red Alert List 22

Yellow Alert List 23

Green List 24

Information-Sharing Guidelines 25

He Said, She Said 26

Worst-Case Scenario 28

3 You got hacked 31

One Compromised Account to Rule Them All 32

What Honan Did Wrong 33

Hack-Proof Your Life 34

Make Your Address Hard to Find 34

Don't Link Major Accounts 34

Don't Use One Service for Everything 35

Back Up Your Everything: Your Contacts, Your Files, Your Photos 35

Encrypt Your Computer's Hard Drive 36

What to Do When You've Been Attacked 36

Recover Your Accounts and Data 38

When a Service Gets Hacked 40

If Your Financial Information May Have Been

Exposed in a Data Breach 41

How to Change Your Email Address 43

Choose a New Home 44

Set Up Forwarding 45

Move In 46

Update Your Accounts 47

Tell Everyone 47

4 Female trouble 49

Recovering from Harassment 50

When Will It Stop? 53

Staying Strong 54

Fighting Back 56

Navigating the Legal System 56

Getting a Restraining Order 58

Getting Your Private Photos Offline 59

Doing It Yourself 60

If You're a Minor 63

Outsourcing the Work 64

Preventative Maintenance 66

5 Identity theft 69

Signs of Identity Theft 70

Run, Don't Walk 72

Place a Fraud Alert 72

Order Free Credit Reports 73

File an Identity Theft Report 73

Contact the IRS 73

Alert Businesses 73

Don't Let It Happen to You 74

Prevent Identity Theft 74

Avoid Phishing Attacks 75

If Your Phone or Computer Is Stolen 77

Install an Antitheft Tracking App 77

Permanently Delete Information from Your Device 78

6 How to share 81

Social Media Checklist 82

Sharing Only What You Want 83

Friending 85

But I Can't Give Up Facebook (or Instagram, or Twitter, or FourSquare, or…) 86

Quit Humping My Leg, Facebook 87

Location Information in Photos 89

Be Smart About Checking In 89

Controlling What You Share with Google and Google+ 89

Managing Your Google+ Profile 90

Locking Down the Privacy Settings on Your New Phone 91

Safely Disposing of Old Devices 92

7 People-search websites 95

But I'm Not That Interesting 96

The Dangers Lurking in People-Finder Sites 98

How People-Finder Sites Get Your Information 99

It Sounds Like There's Nothing I Can Do, So Why Do Anything? 100

8 Dating and sexytime 103

Make a Smart Dating Profile 104

Screen Out Scammers and Stalkers 106

Make the Internet Wear a Condom 107

Private Time Online: Browsing Privately and Securing Your Sensitive Information 108

Search Engine Creep 109

Cookies 110

Leave No Trace 111

Keep Your Sensitive Files Private 111

Erase Files Completely 111

Make Your Browser Private 112

Do Not Track 113

Private Browsing 114

How to Tell If Someone Was on Your Computer 115

9 Ninja tricks 119

Ninja Your Credit Cards 120

Ninja Move: Freeze Your Credit 121

Stealth Out Your Mailing Address 122

Stealth Out Your Phone Number 123

Ninja Tricks: Encrypt Your Private Communication 123

Protecting Your Email 124

Keeping Your Chats Private 126

Encrypting Your Internet Activity 126

Ninja Choke Hold: Strong, Easy Privacy Apps 127

Ninja Your IP Address 128

Use Tor 128

Use a VPN 129

Get Hard-core: Make a Data Silo 130

10 I hate passwords 133

How People Steal Passwords 134

But I Have to Share My Password 135

Password Fu 137

Resources 141

Index 155

Editorial Reviews

An illuminating handbook for women.”
—ELLE Magazine

“A must-read for women of all ages.”
—ChicagoNow

"One of the best resources for learning to protect your online communications is Violet Blue’s The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy. The book is relevant for both men and women who want to strengthen their cybersecurity and online privacy."
—Joe Kukura, SF Weekly

“The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy is specifically geared toward women and other vulnerable members of the online population who need guidance navigating the murky, often treacherous waters of the Internet.”
—The Daily Dot

"If you have someone in your life who might be unaware of the various dangers lurking online (like a parent, child, or friend), gift them a copy of this book that covers online security and privacy basics. Blue does a commendable job of ensuring the reader stays informed, but far from overwhelmed."
—Britt Kemp, Bishop Fox Labs

“Women face unique threats and have to deal with safety and privacy issues that few–if any–men will ever even be aware of, much less concerned about. Violet Blue does an excellent job of describing what those issues are and providing simple, actionable advice to help readers stay safe online.”
—Tony Bradley, techspective

“In this must-read for anyone who uses their laptop or phone to go online, Blue details the numerous ways women and LGBT people especially face security risks . . . including identity theft, revenge porn, stalking, and all manner of scams.”
—DAME Magazine

“It’s up to each one of us to protect our own privacy, and The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy is a crucial weapon in that fight.”
—Book Riot

“The internet can be both an exciting and a scary place, so consider going through The Smart Girl's Guide to Privacy with your parents when you’re ready to start exploring widely.”
—New Moon Girls

“The Smart Girl's Guide To Privacy is ‘the talk’ 2.0 that all girls need. Heck, everybody needs this book. We all want our privacy, the majority just don’t realize how much we have already lost on that front.”
—404 Tech Support

“A smart, engaging read that's also super useful.”
—SFist

“Violet Blue is not just a writer and journalist; she’s also a friend and advocate to every female* who has a computer or smart phone...This book is highly recommended for public and school libraries, as well as social science and technology classes.”
—Becky Walton, Ingram Collection Development Librarian

From the Publisher

10/01/2015
Gr 10 Up—A thorough (but flawed) look at Internet protection aimed squarely at female users. There is a battle to be fought, and the author intends to arm the female population with the critical information they need to protect their privacy. In her least objective moments, Blue, an investigative tech reporter and self-described agitator, posits that "you actually can post or share sexy pictures of yourself and stay in control." She also states that "filthy-rich celebrities are more able than the rest of us to hide things they consider private or embarrassing because they can afford to" and should therefore keep their social media privacy suggestions to themselves. The plethora of nude celebrity photo hacking scandals seems to contradict this assertion. References to companies as "greedy" and "douchey" are further examples of biased opinion presented as fact. Blue offers clear suggestions on how to avoid becoming an Internet victim, but her unwavering confidence in her own opinions and ardor for the topic make her advice seem heavy-handed at times, which may put off teens. VERDICT This informative but flawed book works best as a resource for victims in search of a staunch advocate or as an option for adults, who can better separate the opinions from the useful facts.—Cindy Wall, Southington Library & Museum, CT

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