A Few More Thoughts on Electronic Privacy

I continue to receive a few emails with regard to these two posts:  Why I Don't Care About the Privacy Issues With Windows 10 and  A Further Note on Privacy and Windows 10.

Here are responses to some of those emails:

One emailer writes:

I hope you treat your cell phone the same way you treat your internet connection:AT&T Helped U.S. Spy on Internet on a Vast Scale

My response:

Yes, of course. I consider all electronic means of communication etc. very vulnerable to snooping, including Bitcoin. Anybody that tells you they have a method of electronic communication, payment, etc, that is fool-proof to snooping is confused or lying.

From a commneter:

 Hey Bob, can you please write a quick post on what exactly you use your 'financial' laptop for? Mainly, what do you mean when you say you keep your private files offline, yet operate a few financial accounts on it?

My response:

As I state above, I consider all methods of electronic communication vulnerable to different degrees, A laptop where random emails arrive is particularly vulnerable to virus. It can even be delivered from an email that appears to come from a friend or acquaintance.

For my online financial activities, I use a separate laptop with a separate email address that I use only for financial activities. I keep the laptop shutdown and unconnected to the internet except for when I am actually online accessing an account.

If I were to receive an email from a sender other than from the financial institutions I am specifically dealing with online, I would not open it. But, I have not yet received any such emails, since I don't give the email address out other than the couple of financial institutions that I am dealing with.

In addition to the separate laptop, which I use for convenience on active financial accounts, I also keep some accounts with larger balances completely offline. I also keep certain passwords and other important data offline on paper in a fireproof safe.

Bottom Line: You don't want to inconvenience yourself by going totally offline for financial transactions, but you want to limit the possibility of being hacked and completely wiped out. Diversity, not only in investments, but in the financial institutions and the methods used, is a wise move,  

   -RW