All these new privacy notices,,,,,,, some are as long as a short novel

[kimmer]

Its the privacy things that I have been getting recently which are as long as novels to read, are a bit over the top.
Today I got the one from the Weather Channel/Wunderground, and it was extremely long.


They claim they can get just about everything about you on their sites!?!?!


I dont play the games or apps, or communicate with them, but OMG, they sure gather info. Almost as bad as FaceBook and Google!


I dont mind on YouTube when I listen to music like this,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHBwvqr2R40
and they give suggestions similar.


But the Weather Channel, why?
Next they will ask us what kind of toothpaste we use, whether we pick our noses when we drive, on and on.
I have submitted some awesome T-storm pictures which they have used long ago. But I dont even do that anymore.


There isn't much we can do about it and still use the internet, but we do have to be careful. I never post pictures of humans, only dogs on FaceBook.

[kimmer]

But the Weather Channel, why?
Next they will ask us what kind of toothpaste we use

Re-read many of the posts at TS about what you are giving away just so you can use some site. This is nothing new, they are just complying with new EU rules that require you to be notified of what you are giving away.

The length of these notices is due to the fact that they are written by people who charge fees based on hours "worked" multiplied by how important the text is on a scale of 25 to 150.

BTW, they already know what kind of toothpaste you use. And, based on how often you buy it, they have a good idea about how much you brush!

[kimmer]

Yes - all these new privacy policies are in response to the GDRP (General Data Protection Rules) which go into effect in the EU on May 25. Virtually any company that has EU clients/users must comply. See how they'll make that happen here: https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2007...-violating-gdpr

Anyway - as for the length of them - they're supposed to be written in clear language, not lawyer-speak, which I'm sure was a real challenge for some of them! And they are required to spell out things they've never had to explain before - like HOW they store your data, and HOW they will get it all to you (and or remove it from their databases), should you request it etc. etc. It's pretty onerous. I have a couple of clients dealing with it now - one is a (Canadian) summer camp with some EU campers and the other runs online training courses that are used by people all over the world.

While a lot of people are complaining about all this, it is forcing the whole issue out into the daylight - and at least some people are starting to wake up to exactly how much data IS out there on them and who has it and for what purposes. I wouldn't complain as a consumer, if I were you. As a business...yeah, it's a pain in the rear, all right.

[kimmer]

Thank you for explaining this. So its something that brings this stuff out into the open, so we now understand it a lot better.  I do, thanks to you here!I got another one of those phishing things the other day, they are so badly done. Hope people dont get trapped into them. I doctored this one up and sent it to Comcast, they want us to send and bring their attention to them.Thank you for explaining this. So its something that brings this stuff out into the open, so we now understand it a lot better.  I do, thanks to you here!I got another one of those phishing things the other day, they are so badly done. Hope people dont get trapped into them. I doctored this one up and sent it to Comcast, they want us to send and bring their attention to them.
Forgot to say that I did show it to family and friends who might not know about these and could get caught.

[kimmer]

Weather Channel seems to want me to log in if I want to know about weather in more than one place which I commonly do want!

[kimmer]

That is sure annoying, I dont want to give all the weather sites my information either.

Also the TV weather channel has stopped their Local Forecast on the 8ths. Meaning every time an 8 is in the time, like 8 minutes after 10 or 18 minutes, or 28, and so forth, we used to get about 4 minutes local radar and good forecast. They stopped doing this, and got bombarded on their FaceBook page for this. So to watch your local stuff, you have to sit in front of the TV and just wait till your area comes up. But many people like me, are in the kitchen and listen instead of watching and run into the living room to see.
So for about 2 months we havent gone to their channel at all!  And I told them why.

Stupid decisions that people/companies make, probably bring them more money, but less people watching. We watch far less TV than we used to. Even our favorite PBS stations have tons of ads now.
I get so sick of the ads, that I now have AdBlocker on all my browsers, but they still are so darn annoying on the iPhone.  But its all about money nowadays.

[kimmer]

BOS Radar sites available every minute of the day and night (no noisy TV required):

• Accuweather
  
• NWS Click one of the "Loop" links (requires Flash)
  
• Find Local Wx Click the "loop" option on the right
  
• Wonderground Your favorite site?
  

Next!

[kimmer]

Yes, we have these and some other super weather sites on the big computer in the kitchen.
We do love Wonderground too.
windy dot com is another one we love
http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/ramsdis/online/index.asp
http://www.meteoearth.com/mobile/en.html
www.marinetraffic.com
and more and more,,,,,,,,,,

Some amazing weather stuff on the iPhones too.

I remember the first summer we had iPhones, we were out in our boat, and had several kayaks with us as well. We were miles from any building or safe place from T-storms.
We could see one in the distance, and there was a small family with some really tiny kids on the island. I pointed out the black clouds in the distance, and the father of the kids said, nope, its gonna miss us.
So I fired up the radar on my new iPhone, and showed the progression of the cold front to the grandma, and she packed up all the kids, dog, and they left promptly. We also dragged our kayaks way up on the beach and loaded everybody and both dogs into the motorboat and headed home. This is the time I got a video of a double lightning strike!