kohlrak: If i had a dollar for every time i've seen these complaints, i'd probably be buying more games right now.
On the flip side, i understand the privacy concerns, but i'll tell you now that the silly sneak mode is only lulling you into a false sense of security. You're gonna get tracked, you're gonna get spied on, etc. What you want to stay private, find another way to do it. Not ever facet of your life has to stay private: and it won't. You can never go completely off the grid. What you can do is be smart about what "they" know.
richlind33: "Private browsing" is a joke. Even if you're running TOR, you still have to be very careful and are extremely limited in what you can do.
What i like to focus on is understanding that what i read and do on the net and accept that that is public. That which i make on a system that i have full control over (my server, for example) is private. I can connect over the net, and i can have my encrypted communications intercepted, but they not only have to break the encryption, but also translate all my keystrokes, which gets complicated as i'm moving between files and working on files that have been created, but no touched, over a week or month ago.
Meanwhile, i also have "semi-secure," where i understand that if i were to get images from a woman from the woman herself (just to make this example realistic and spicy), her communication to me is intercepted, logged by the the protocol, and out of my hands. Meanwhile, if i were to store these images, on my server, i can ensure that they won't be taken from my server, unless someone has my special info, which includes more than just the information to connect, because I also have a "user security level" layer of protection, as well as the files would remain encrypted if i felt the woman cared that much. Uncle Sam likely doesn't care about a bunch of titty pics from adults, so there's no reason for her to be concerned, unless the protocol she sends them through is particular insecure (which is her own fault for choosing that protocol). Parties that would be interested (someone who wants to see the woman's pics, someone who wants to make a dirty site, etc) don't have the capabilities of getting them from my server and getting them in a usable format.
In other words, google, GOG, the NSA, and the CIA (i'd say facebook does, but their advertisements and crappy attempts to use sex appeal to get my friends list fuller indicate that they don't) know what entertains me, but you don't. You can hide from google, but not the NSA and CIA, so if you're really concerned if they know much about you, just off yourself, because they have eyes and ears everywhere. There is stuff you can hide from them, but you cant hide everything.
