Internet Privacy and Security - Uh-oh...
Have you ever even been slightly concerned about the privacy of your personal data on the internet? If so, this might be something you want to read about…
The latest impetus for me to feel anxious about the privacy of all of our online usage was a horrific data leak from AOL last week. While it was essentially an oversight within AOL that they released over ½ million people’s search engine history and trails, these types of nightmares are likely to increase as more people become dependent on storing all of their valuable information and dirty little secrets online.
This problem has been plaguing me recently. Never before, in the history of mankind – has it even been conceivable that any kind of organization could at one time have access to all of a person’s written communications, calendar activities, personal contacts, heart-aches, successes, and all the dirty little secrets that come out when we have access to a person’s string of web searches. Frankly, it would be crazy to imagine any national monarchy, international organization, or anything else actually having access to all of this stuff – not in the whole history of mankind. But now, I believe, major Internet search engines, email services, and conglomerate services are gaining this type of knowledge.
It’s happening to everyone. It’s even happening to me right now – as I blog on this page that is served by one of these incredibly useful monsters. And why do we continue? Because it’s just so incredibly useful. That’s why!
These two links below give some insight into why we might want to reconsider these habits.. A story from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org) on this issue. Also this Wall Street Journal article has some brilliant information on the emerging internet privacy debate.
Finally, here are some tips below on how to protect your internet security (tips taken from EFF.org)
• Don't put personally-identifying information in your searches, at least not in a way that can be associated with your other searches. You should take the precautions below to avoid giving away your identity to your search engine anyway, but they're especially necessary if you want to do a search to see if your personal information has appeared online or want to do a vanity search for your name.
• Don't use a search engine operated by your ISP. Most ISPs inherently know who their users are, at any given time and over the long run. If you use their default search tool, they know who you are and everything you search for. Use someone else's search tool instead.
• Don't log in to a search engine account. If you use a web-based e-mail service or other services provided by your search engine -- such as GMail or Yahoo! Mail -- see below on cookies.
• Don't accept cookies from your search engine. If you use a service like web-based e-mail that requires you to accept cookies, don't let the personally-identifying information in your e-mail get linked with your searches. For Firefox users, the free CustomizeGoogle extension will allow you to anonymize your search cookie without breaking GMail (see the "Privacy" tab in the CustomizeGoogle options). We're still looking for extensions that provide corresponding functionality for Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL users. You can also use Privoxy, although it's a bit more difficult to configure.
• Use a separate browser or browser profile for search and for other activities.
• Use an anonymizing proxy, or proxy network like Tor, to prevent search engines from learning your IP address, especially if your ISP gives you the same IP address each time you use the Internet.
The latest impetus for me to feel anxious about the privacy of all of our online usage was a horrific data leak from AOL last week. While it was essentially an oversight within AOL that they released over ½ million people’s search engine history and trails, these types of nightmares are likely to increase as more people become dependent on storing all of their valuable information and dirty little secrets online.
This problem has been plaguing me recently. Never before, in the history of mankind – has it even been conceivable that any kind of organization could at one time have access to all of a person’s written communications, calendar activities, personal contacts, heart-aches, successes, and all the dirty little secrets that come out when we have access to a person’s string of web searches. Frankly, it would be crazy to imagine any national monarchy, international organization, or anything else actually having access to all of this stuff – not in the whole history of mankind. But now, I believe, major Internet search engines, email services, and conglomerate services are gaining this type of knowledge.
It’s happening to everyone. It’s even happening to me right now – as I blog on this page that is served by one of these incredibly useful monsters. And why do we continue? Because it’s just so incredibly useful. That’s why!
These two links below give some insight into why we might want to reconsider these habits.. A story from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org) on this issue. Also this Wall Street Journal article has some brilliant information on the emerging internet privacy debate.
Finally, here are some tips below on how to protect your internet security (tips taken from EFF.org)
• Don't put personally-identifying information in your searches, at least not in a way that can be associated with your other searches. You should take the precautions below to avoid giving away your identity to your search engine anyway, but they're especially necessary if you want to do a search to see if your personal information has appeared online or want to do a vanity search for your name.
• Don't use a search engine operated by your ISP. Most ISPs inherently know who their users are, at any given time and over the long run. If you use their default search tool, they know who you are and everything you search for. Use someone else's search tool instead.
• Don't log in to a search engine account. If you use a web-based e-mail service or other services provided by your search engine -- such as GMail or Yahoo! Mail -- see below on cookies.
• Don't accept cookies from your search engine. If you use a service like web-based e-mail that requires you to accept cookies, don't let the personally-identifying information in your e-mail get linked with your searches. For Firefox users, the free CustomizeGoogle extension will allow you to anonymize your search cookie without breaking GMail (see the "Privacy" tab in the CustomizeGoogle options). We're still looking for extensions that provide corresponding functionality for Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL users. You can also use Privoxy, although it's a bit more difficult to configure.
• Use a separate browser or browser profile for search and for other activities.
• Use an anonymizing proxy, or proxy network like Tor, to prevent search engines from learning your IP address, especially if your ISP gives you the same IP address each time you use the Internet.
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