Did you know that Internet Explorer 9 (maybe even previous versions) can track your physical location and send the information back to the site you are visiting?
You may think, "Big deal. Who cares if they know where I am?" Even if you don't subscribe to the "Big Brother is watching" conspiracy theorists, you may still want to be concerned. Why? Well you may care if you share passwords. Although password sharing is not something you are supposed to do, most of us have done it from time to time. We often need help meeting deadlines and juggling multiple tasks, multiple clients, multiple jobs all while trying to keep everyone happy. We can change the password anytime if the person leaves or if we don't want them to have access any longer. Well, if the website can track your physical location, then they know at 10am you logged in at a Sacramento location and at 10:15am you logged in at a Los Angeles location. RED FLAG. Now you are definitely caught "password sharing" and with some services, this could cause you to lose your access.
SOLUTION? Yes, there is one (thankfully). You can turn this wonderful little feature off (at least in IE9) and the default is ON so you didn't even know the function was working. Go to your IE toolbar. Click TOOLS, then INTERNET OPTIONS. Under the PRIVACY TAB, you will see a LOCATION section. First click CLEAR SITES, then mark the box "Never allow websites to request your physical location".
Even if only one person does it & the other "unauthorized user" doesn't, you are still ok because the only site that will show a physical location is the one that still allows the physical location tracking. But if your "unauthorized user" is in another state, you may want to have them turn it off because that may be a red flag that you are licensed in California but someone in Texas keeps accessing the site with your login.
If you are one of those people that never shares any password with ANYONE, then you are a rare breed and no need to worry. But if you are like the majority that have shared at least 1 password with another person, you may want to use these simple steps to make sure you aren't "caught".
Happy surfing!
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