Scary - Tumblr & Chrome - Danger, Danger Will Robinson

Read on as I describe how with very little effort you coud be granting some unknown person(s) access to read your banking data....

I've been using Tumblr for awhile now although I only go to browse occasionally.  I've always been curious about changing the appearance of the Tumblr Dashboard.  Not your Tumblr personal blog page, I knew how to do that; and have done that.  I'm talking about what is the equivalent of Tumblr's "feed" or "friends page".

This morning I did some googling to find out how or if you could do this.  Turns out yes, of course you can.   But in order to do so you install a Chrome web app (assuming you use Chrome, which all the "cool" (i.e., "young") kids are these days).  Chrome apps are like Firefox extensions.   

I'm not naive, I know that just by using FB I've opened the door for FB and any FB apps I authorize to gather all kinds of juicy bits of data about me.   Supposedly to use for marketing purposes.  I generally DO NOT authorize FB apps as they are third parties who could be anyone.  Not that I trust FB (who can now gather data on me) - but once I gave into the darksideFB, I accepted that intrusion and risk.  But I see no reason to authorize others as well.  Even though I'm not convinced FB may not be given the info to others anyway.   So I don't authorize birthday apps, calendar apps, and ESPECIALLY not game apps.  I also try to resist "liking" anything that says something like "Like this if you know someone who died from cancer."   I figure those are either the equivalent of the original poster of that wanting to see a gazillion likes or perhaps something more nefarious as I know that every time you Like something on FB, an angel cries FB gathers more information about you.  (And something twisted inside me giggles when I think of all my SPN related likes and how some data/marketing analyst might extrapolate that information into what type of person I may be.  And yeah, as far as Big Brother or corporations are concerned that might eventually end up to be no laughing matter, but I can't help but be amused by it at this time.)

So yeah, I know I already have opened the door to the corporate monstor Big Brother companies gathering information about me.

But what I learned this morning about changing your Tumblr Dashboard theme just plain scared me.   Because I see Tumblr as this place where a lot of young adults (or kids) hang out.  Tumblr is a very visual place, so the users of it would likely be highly driven to change the appearance of the dashboard feed that they use to read Tumblr.   And these young people are so used to living online and clicking authorization-type approvals that they don't even *think* about what they are doing.

This Chrome app that allows you to change Tumblr Dashboard appearance, gives you this warning and request for approval:

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I've granted access in the past and while it's annoying and bothersome that things gather browsing history, the sentence "Access your data on all websites" raised my eyebrows quite a bit.   My data on "ALL" websites?  Like my banking websites?  Even if the bank site is secure?   What about when I enter in my password to bank sites?   I thought it was possible and even likely that the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and/or other security measures put into place on highly protected websites like banking or health information sites, might shield that information from these types of apps.  But, it's also possible that it doesn't.   

So I did some more checking.  And on Chrome's site about using apps, I found explanations about the different access Chrome apps may have.  And this one below sounded like what this "Stylish" app was asking for.   
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"This item can read EVERY page that you visit - YOUR BANK..."

"this item could use your credentials (cookies) to request or modify your data from websites"  

Edit:  I just realized the above warning is titled "Medium Alert".  Seriously?  Medium?  Granting access which would enable an app to read your banking websites warrants a "Medium" warning label?  What am I missing here?   Maybe they just mean the banking websites prior to you logging in to looking at actual banking data.  But it sure doesn't seem like it.  Medium warning only?   *does not understand*


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Ok, that is just downright scary people.  Because you got to know that the large percentage of Chrome and Tumblr users are likely so apathetic about clicking on granting permission for just about anything because so many sites these days ask for it, that no one thinks or reads them anymore.

Holy cow.

I don't know, maybe I'm being overly alarmist or old school paranoid about privacy.  But in this case I'm thinking not.

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