We at PrivacyHarbor.com are pleased to announce that we have just released the first edition of our quarterly newsletter.  In it, you will find the latest information about privacy, our PrivacyHarbor.com service and PrivacyHarbor, Inc.

We would love to hear what you think. Please let us know what you like, do not like, and what you would want to see us add next time. We read all comments, and our newsletter, like our service, is built upon your feedback.  If you wish to subscribe, please visit us at PrivacyHarbor.com and then enter your email in the newsletter subscription area of our homepage.

We also invite everyone to visit us at www.PrivacyHarbor.com today, and see how easy it is to send and receive private email. We are your advocate in protecting your Internet communications, and we encourage everyone to take back your privacy with PrivacyHarbor.com.

Over the past six months or so there has been a lot of positive buzz surrounding PrivacyHarbor.com and our private email platform. We are thrilled that tens of thousands of people have subscribed to our service over that short period of time and the feedback has been very positive. With this initial success comes a lot of responsibility, and we are busier than ever listening to your comments and suggestions in order to continually enhance our service.

Our company is all about providing private Internet communications for everyone. By saying “everyone,” we are indeed saying that consumers and small businesses finally have a viable solution for private and secure email. We, and our subscribers, believe that we have created a solution for private email that is easy to use and inexpensive. In fact, we even offer a free, private email account.

So the question remains, why did we build a product for consumers and small businesses where so many others focus on the large Fortune 500 companies? The answer is simple; we believe that privacy is a right, even on the Internet. Most people already expect privacy in all other forms of communications, but may not think it is possible on the Internet. Advertisers, hackers and identity thieves have used this popular assumption to their benefit over the years and, as a result, there are now major problems such as spam, identity theft and unwanted target advertising.

All the major corporations on the Internet, including Google, Yahoo and Facebook make the vast majority of their money through advertising.  Privacy simply gets in the way of their business model, which is based on exploiting user information in order to provide targeted advertisements. At PrivacyHarbor, we have a different business model. We make money the old fashion way, by respecting our subscribers and the people they are communicating with, and by providing a great service. We are in the privacy business – not the advertising business.

We encourage everyone to visit us on www.PrivacyHarbor.com today, try private email and let us know what you think. Our services are being built on your feedback. You now have an advocate to protect your Internet communications and we encourage everyone to take back their privacy with PrivacyHarbor.com.

The holiday season has arrived, which for many families means it’s time to pull out the seasonal food recipes, prepare for a visit from the in-laws, and keep an eye out for the biggest holiday discounts. But one important task often overlooked by families during this busy time of year is to create an online safety checklist.

Before you make your next online gift purchase or update your social media profile, make sure you are aware of the following safety tips, geared to help protect the privacy and security of you and your family:

Online Purchases –

• Never buy gifts from websites that do not have SSL encryption. If your web browser doesn’t display a lock icon at the bottom of the window when you visit a website, then that website may not secure your credit card information.
• Be sure to use and update existing firewall and anti-virus software to prevent website cookies, viruses and spyware from damaging your computer or exposing your personal files.
• There are a number of fake holiday e-card and song lyric websites, phony seasonal discount web pages, as well as various email scams that show up during the holidays. Make sure to research the legitimacy of each organization before making your purchase or donation. McAfee recently released an article covering the “12 Scams of Christmas” that offers additional advice on what to look out for online this holiday season.

Social Media Websites –

• It may be tempting to provide your friends and family with constant updates over Twitter and Facebook about your holiday activities and when you’ll be away on vacation; however, publicly posted personal information can help thieves determine the best methods to break into your online accounts or even your home.
• When updating your social media profiles for the holidays, it is a good idea to avoid posting potentially inappropriate or explicit photos that might hurt your chances of getting a new job or promotion (sometimes too much peppermint schnapps and a cell phone camera is not the best combination).
• Avoid clicking on shortened or masked URLs posted in social media status updates, blogs, forums and chat rooms, unless the post comes from a trusted source and is free from spam-related content.

Email Privacy –

• Never include private information such as passwords, social security numbers or credit card information in emails sent through common webmail providers. These emails often pass through several unsecure web servers, exposing your private information to hackers, spammers and identity thieves.
• When going on vacation, avoid setting up auto-rely email messages for your personal email account that might alert robbers that you are out of town.
• Avoid opening emails from any sender you don’t recognize, even if they appear to represent a legitimate organization. Many phishing schemes involve emails that ask you to “login” to your account to take part in a holiday offer or to verify sensitive account information.  In many cases, the links in these emails send you to a fake login page designed to steal your credit card number and personal information. If are unsure whether the email you received came from a legitimate representative, call the organization directly to confirm.

PrivacyHarbor.com provides a  private email service that prevents spam, scams, viruses and identity thieves from ever entering your inbox, which will help keep you and your family safe this holiday season. Purchase a PrivacyHarbor.com yearly or lifetime private email account through the month of December and we will donate 5 percent of your purchase to the Toys for Tots Foundation.

We are kicking off two special contest events this month that will offer Twitter and Facebook users a chance to win 12 free months of a private and secure, Executive email account.

Starting Tuesday, November 3, we will launch PrivacyHarbor’s Retweet Tuesdays on Twitter! Every Tuesday through December 11, check the PrivacyHarbor Twitter page at noon Pacific Time and retweet the specified message by Friday, 11:59 PM Pacific Time of that week for a chance to win one free year of a PrivacyHarbor Executive account!

We are also offering a chance to win one free year of an Executive account to new and existing fans of PrivacyHarbor on Facebook! Go to the PrivacyHarbor Facebook page, log on to Facebook and click “Become a fan” by Friday, December 11. Already a PrivacyHarbor Facebook fan? Current fans can win too if they refer a friend to become a fan of PrivacyHarbor’s Facebook page! A winner will be selected randomly on Friday, December 11.

Note: PrivacyHarbor employees, family members and vendors are not eligible to win the Retweet Tuesdays or Facebook Fans contests.

Best of luck to everyone and remember, the only way to win is to play!

Have you ever been walking down the street with a friend, talking loudly about an amusing personal story and then right as you got to the juiciest part you passed by a stranger on the street who happened to hear the whole thing? You probably didn’t think much of it since you didn’t know the person. But, what if later that day you went to a job interview and that same stranger who overheard your juicy conversation ended up interviewing you for the position? Talk about an embarrassing situation!

While this situation seems highly unlikely in a person’s day to day routine, this happens to people every day on the Internet. Juicy gossip and embarrassing stories about you, your friends and your family can get spread publicly across social media forums, profiles and message boards in plain view of employers, bosses, co-workers and other professionals. Ever wonder if the information you publicly posted about yourself might have cost you a new job or promotion?

There are no passing conversations on the Internet. Anything publicly posted about you will stay online, often in posterity for all of time – that’s why protecting your private information online is so important.

Some web users are under the misconception that the Internet offers the same privacy and protection as the “real world,” when in fact there are very few laws regulating one’s rights to online privacy. A recent article from the Japan Times by Bruce Schneier called, “Offhand but on Record” covers the top privacy concerns with today’s popular social media websites and the advertising partners that support them. Schneier calls for “comprehensive data privacy laws, protecting our data and communications regardless of where it is stored or how it is processed,” but stricter laws alone will not save users who continue to publicly post sensitive information.

Privacy education is the key. If you are going to use social media websites and blogging tools like Facebook, Twitter or WordPress, be aware of the content you publicly post and make sure you set your privacy settings to block sensitive information from public view. When using job boards and career networking websites like Jobdango or LinkedIn, make sure that your resume and profile are up-to-date and don’t contain errors, typos, or other information that could disqualify you from your future job or promotion.

There is a useful article on the, “10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know” that can provide social media users with additional tips to protect their privacy online while still utilizing social media websites.

As Internet technologies continue to expand the mining and sharing of information, online privacy will continue to be a growing concern. The best way to maintain your privacy online is to use social media and networking sites with caution and to spread the word about privacy concerns with other professionals online.

About twenty years ago a data service – I forget which one – offered a set of compact disks for sale. It contained the names, phone numbers, addresses and demographic data for everyone in the United States. The product launch was drowned out by the howls of outrage from journalists and Congress. It was an unthinkable violation of privacy. It was Orwellian. The venture sank without a trace. For a while.

Ten years later David Brin wrote The Transparent Society making the case that secrets would soon be impossible to keep and that we shouldn’t even try. The Information Age would usher in an era where everyone’s life was on display. Governments would be models of transparency and openness. Corporations would throw open their records or pay through the nose for the privilege of keeping a few vital things confidential for a limited time. Privacy would be an outdated concept. A decade down the line he seems to be batting .500. While business and government have an increasingly broad view of what they can hide from the public the lives of the Little People are on display to an extent that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago.

Today? Ah, today is not at all like yesterday. We take it for granted that a few minutes or a few seconds plus a few dollars can extract anyone’s picture, phone numbers and address not to mention the most personal details of his or her life. People sign up for services which tell everyone in the world exactly where they are at all times. Friends of mine with Military Intelligence backgrounds describe how they used to agonize over photos in wallets, matchbooks and brands of cologne to try and piece together the outlines of a target’s contacts and associations. Today their subjects spend hours doing the work themselves with Facebook. Targeted advertising works so well that it’s killing traditional venues like printed newspapers. Twitter and Hotmail are free for the user because they are worth serious money to the real customers – advertisers.

In the last day or so I came across two very interesting takes on how much the world has changed. The BBC’s World Have Your Say featured a spirited worldwide discussion, also available as a downloadable podcast on how transparent our lives should be. My favorite security expert, the brilliant and very readable Bruce Schneier, wrote an excellent piece in the Japan Times. When you exchange information online it stays. Most data you think are private are only that way until someone else decides it’s worth something to share or sell them.

It’s not something most of us think about. We use credit cards. We tweet about whatever comes into our head and broadcast it. But it is very serious business which can have profound repercussions years later. The information we put out for the world to see is worth money to others. We should think about whether it’s worth something to us, how much we should value what we currently give away for free.