Yep! That’s what I figured. I don’t mind. I appreciate the attention to security.

Nothing that serious, thankfully. Just want to obfuscate my data and leave as little of an impression on the internet as I can. Good advice, thank you!

I’ve got a bit of a VPN question if anyone wants to educate a newbie a little. When I tried a VPN (Mullvad actually!) it defaulted to Sweden but then accessing my banking information didn’t work. If I switch a VPN to reflect that I’m somewhere randomly in the USA, is that still sufficient protection?

Ha ha

Paywalled. Here’s the article via the Universal Summarizer by Kagi.

• Google has experienced thousands of privacy incidents and security issues over a 6-year period from 2013 to 2018, according to an internal database obtained by 404 Media.
• The privacy incidents range from small issues like a single errant email containing personal information to substantial data leaks and impending raids on Google offices.
• The incidents involve Google’s own products, data collection practices, vulnerabilities in third-party vendors, and mistakes made by Google staff, contractors, or others impacting Google systems.
• The incidents include Google accidentally collecting children’s voice data, leaking the trips and home addresses of carpool users, and making YouTube recommendations based on users’ deleted watch history.
• While individually the incidents may have only impacted a relatively small number of people, or were fixed quickly, collectively they show how a powerful company like Google manages and often mismanages a large amount of sensitive personal data.
• Google employees internally report these privacy and security issues, assigning them priority ratings from P0 (highest) to P1.
• The database obtained by 404 Media contains thousands of reports of these incidents over the 6-year period.
• The revelations highlight the challenges major tech companies face in protecting user privacy and data, even with internal reporting systems.
• The incidents suggest Google may not always be fully transparent about privacy and security issues impacting its users.
• The article suggests the need for greater scrutiny and accountability around how large tech companies like Google handle sensitive user data.