Are you like me….a law-abiding citizen who has nothing to hide?  We’re being tracked anyway.

Bruce Schneier is a well-known cryptographer, internet security analyst and author. His perspective forces me to think about my own personal privacy and should make you ponder yours too!

In a recent CNN.com opinion piece, Schneier deftly points to the existence and ubiquity of the current Orwellian style surveillance state that we all dread.

“The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads.”

He goes on to say:  “Facebook, for example, correlates your online behavior with your purchasing habits offline. And there’s more. There’s location data from your cell phone, there’s a record of your movements from closed-circuit TVs. This is ubiquitous surveillance: All of us being watched, all the time, and that data being stored forever.“

Here are three of the ways that you and I are being tracked, whether we like it or not.

1.  Cookies-  Cookies are text files maintained by your web browser that allow you to interact with most of the websites you visit. In addition improving your “experience” with a site and storing the non-public personal information that you enter (NPPI), cookies also have the ability to track your web surfing habits across multiple online sites.

2.  Web-beacons- A web-beacon functions as a tracking marker that is placed within a web page or inside an e-mail message. These invisible tools capture IP addresses, cookie values and browser types. Additionally, web-beacons count web visits and provide email tracking data for Web analytics.

3.  Surveillance cameras- Wireless surveillance systems have the ability to record and broadcast visual data in real-time. Thanks to the wide deployment of private, commercial and municipal surveillance cameras throughout our society, many fear that we are on the verge of a virtual, digital police-state.

In his CNN article, Bruce Schneier goes on to say:  “Sure, we can take measures to prevent this. We can limit what we search on Google from our iPhones, and instead use computer web browsers that allow us to delete cookies. We can use an alias on Facebook. We can turn our cell phones off and spend cash. But increasingly, none of it matters.”

London’s Sunday Times recently ran a story about Apple’s fleet of private spy planes, currently being deployed to produce high-definition 3D maps of our homes. Many fear that HD online maps could be an unintended gift to burglars everywhere. The Apple fleet of  planes is equipped with military-grade cameras intended to help Apple in their quest for market share against rivals like Google.

Other technologies like GPS, RFID, SSL certificates and cell tower tracking make our daily movements a permanent part of Big Brother’s grand journal.  Bruce Schneier reminds us correctly that:  “If the Director of the CIA can’t maintain his privacy on the Internet, we’ve got no hope.“

This month in their regular newsletter, a Wall Street investment bank invited me to download their new “Global Tracker” app.

Download a global tracking app? I think I’ll pass on that one……. (while I still can).

Dale Penn is a professional speaker and  privacy / identity expert. He is the author of the award-winning book, Identity Theft Secrets: Exposing The Tricks Of The Trade.

Follow Dale on Twitter: @dalepenn

For those who continue to ignore the threat of identity theft, listen up.  It’s getting serious. Really!

Not only is financial crime growing by leaps and bounds, but we are entering a new age of breaches, hacks, mischief-ware (great new word) and privacy vulnerability.

The once encouraging two-year downward trend has now dramatically reversed itself  and is headed into dangerous new territory according to the folks at Javelin Strategy and Research.

An unnerving 12.6 million Americans were victimized by ID Theft in 2012, up dramatically from 2011. New account fraud made up the largest percentage of reported crimes, by targeting the personal information of victims and opening new credit cards and other kinds of loans.

The recent attacks and hacks into the websites of high-profile media companies and federal agencies, clearly demonstrate the capabilities of bad actors and the tremendous potential for a serious loss of privacy across the wide spectrum of American public and private life.

According to NBC columnist Bob Sullivan:

“The news comes amid a cascade of hacker stories this week, giving the impression computer criminals are gaining the upper hand on many fronts.  Agents working on behalf of the Chinese army have successfully attacked dozens of U.S. companies, according to a report issued Tuesday by U.S. security firm Mandiant.  Large U.S. media companies have also fought off Chinese hackers, and not always successfully, according to several reports. Burger King and Jeep suffered embarrassing Twitter account takeovers. And both Twitter and Facebook have had to announce in recent weeks that they had been hacked.”

Previous Javelin Studies have uncovered additional trends which should help inform many of your personal and business behaviors.

LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter and Facebook users had the highest incidence of fraud although the specific causes have not been determined. Consumers continue to share an unsafe amount of personal information online, despite the endless drumbeat of warnings to the contrary.

Smartphone owners also experience a greater incidence of fraud. So it’s not surprising that a shocking 62% of mobile users don’t have a password in place to protect their device.

This week, Javelin revealed that sadly, 25% of data breach victims who are notified in writing of a possible breach, eventually become real victims of ID fraud or theft.

Solutions?  For starters, thoughtful and complex passwords, updated anti-virus protection on all devices, paying attention to warning signs and good old-fashioned behavioral common sense can help reduce the risk of privacy loss.

These thought-starters and a little luck, might keep you from becoming one of Javelin’s statistics this year.

Dale Penn is an Identity Theft Speaker and  privacy expert. He is the author of the award-winning book, Identity Theft Secrets: Exposing The Tricks Of The Trade.

Follow Dale on Twitter: @dalepenn

Twitter now claims to have 50 million active users every single day!

Recently, a colleague complained that his Twitter account had been hacked not once, but twice in the past month!

There is really no reason for anyone to be that vulnerable to attack.

With 2012 upon us and the explosive growth of Twitter, I think the New Year is an excellent time for a review of easy, effective Twitter privacy practices.

5 easy (and tweetable) tips for better privacy protection.

1. Use a strong password that is at least 8 characters long and includes both numbers and symbols. [tweet this]

To avoid the simplest intrusions, make sure your password is not a word that appears in the dictionary. So called computerized “dictionary attacks” are easily capable of targeting and exploiting those words literally within a few seconds. For a great article on password tips and advice, check out this informative article from the folks at Google.

2. Make sure that www.Twitter.com is in the address bar whenever you log into your account. [tweet this]

Bogus sites, malware, spyware and viruses are often disguised as common links. Be cautious about clicking on any links in Twitter messages you read or receive, especially from people you don’t personally know and trust.

Hint: Any words that may appear between the word twitter and the extension.com are indicators that you are not connecting to Twitter!
(example – http://www.twitter.photobucket.com) Not so subtle now, is it?

3. Revoke all access for any suspicious, unrecognized or untrusted third-party Twitter applications. [tweet this]

Just go to “Connections” under the “Account Settings” menu and click “Revoke Access.”

Trusted apps should include only ubiquitous, reliable and trustworthy providers such as Facebook, TweetDeck and Hootsuite etc. Programs and applications built by 3rd party developers can be easy and convenient, but should be used with great care. A recent article in PC World magazine reported that Twitter may have solved this problem by rendering all 3rd party apps obsolete, thanks to their newly re-designed iPhone and Android apps.

4. Stay updated with the latest patches and updates against spyware, viruses and adware. [tweet this]

Keep all your computers, smartphones, tablets, and browsers continuously safeguarded with the latest patches and updates against malicious or harmful software. If you are not getting these updates DAILY (while you sleep) you are vulnerable.

5. Twitter will never email request personal info. If you receive such a request, its the boogeyman! [tweet this]

According to Twitter’s blog:

If we suspect your account has been phished or hacked, we may reset your password to prevent the hacker from misusing your account. In this case, we’ll email you a link to where you can reset your password. Again, this link will always be on the http://twitter.com/ website, and we will never ask you to email us your old password.

Twitter says their goal is “increased security and a better experience.” The folks at Twitter may have taken a page right out of the TSA’s manual for handling airline passengers.

Fly little Twitter birdie, fly!

What Twitter safety practices could you share? Leave a comment!

[Don't forget to follow me on Twitter for frequent privacy tips!]

Los Angeles tilted on its axis last week, with the arrival of thousands of eager internet marketing and social media conscious conference seekers. (Tongue twister not intended.)

BlogWorld Expo 2011 and Joel Bauer’s Passion 2 Profit, each convened separately this past week in the City of Angels.

Tech-savvy attendees at both gatherings feasted on expert advice from noted gurus, coupled with the concentrated learning modules and intimate networking that they (we) all crave. Both events are getting stellar reviews.

Each event trains corporate executives, entrepreneurs, online marketers, bloggers and content creators to achieve maximum impact and an optimal connection to their target niche’ markets.

BlogWorld is the conference where more than three thousand “new media” evangelists, online journalists and social media experts gather to share marketing ideas, current trends and critical branding insights. Speakers included author Guy Kawasaki, blogger Darren Rowse, social media guru Chris Brogan, and Facebook marketing expert Mari Smith.

Passion 2 Profit is the brainchild of marketer, mentor, and author Joel Bauer. Bauer’s event attracted nearly 400 attendees representing dozens of professions, who  learned to connect, communicate and convey their brand message to the marketplace, under the structured guidance of one of the nation’s most successful business coaches.

Just yesterday at another event I was invited to speak at, my wife and I visited with a young woman who dreams of sharing her passion and talents as a professional pastry chef, but fears losing her “privacy and anonymity” if she begins her own blog. Her concerns are legitimate.

With over 100 million blogs up and running on the internet these days, here are four great reminders about how to protect your  identity, your assets and your privacy while making your impact in the online world.

(Just think of the word S.C.A.M.)

1. S- Be Stingy about giving out non-public personal identifying information in a blog post, email, marketing or social media engagement.

2. C- Check your blogging and social media privacy settings regularly (at least monthly) for updates, revisions or irregularities.

3. A- Ask for your free credit report at least three times per year. Consider spacing them out by ordering one report every four months. (www.annualcreditreport.com)

4. M- Manage your blogging, social media and other passwords with a free and foolproof password generator like LastPass.

Bonnie Raitt’s hit song lyrics “Lets Give Em’ Something To Talk About” were never meant to imply that your private, personal details should be fodder for your fan base.