Internet privacy roundup‏

by Don

 

People can read your files if you're using Internet Explorer:


 

Websites can collect your surfing history on Internet Explorer or Firefox (unless you select Tools, Start Private Browsing in Firefox)


 

Apple Safari gives out your name and address:


 

Apple, Google and Facebook are at the forefront of the war on privacy, but Microsoft isn't far behind. So carefully check privacy options on your browser, regularly flush history and remove any photos of yourself from profiles (Apple automatically takes your picture when you first log into your laptop for the first time, unless you work around it). Google is implementing face recognition software that collects all photos on the internet and matches them to name/address.

 

Replace Google with https://startingpage.com.  You'll get the google search results but google won't know who's doing the surfing: https://startpage.com or https://eu.startpage.com/ (doesn't even use google for its search results (not so good for looking up phone #s of businesses)).

This program will block snoop sites like doubleclick that most commercial web pages automatically send data to:  http://www.ghostery.com/download.

Here's a list of VPN proxy services that will make your browsing anonymous from a "proxy server": http://www.vpnreviews.com/

If you want to see what the BBC shows the rest of the world, try SwissVPN or other with outside US servers. If outside the US and you want to watch Netflix movies on your computer, try Metropipe.

These cost money but may be worth it. There are free VPNs but they have nothing to lose by selling your data.

For private email, set up a free account (must check it every 3 weeks or it disappears) at https://www.hushmail.com/. Emails to other hushmail users are automatically encrypted, emails to others can be encrypted with PGP, but there's a learning curve on that.

No comments:

Post a Comment