It is an acknowledged truth that there’s no privacy online.
Generally speaking, the proliferation of electronic communication and websites
has impaired people’s ability to protect their identity online. There are three
main reasons why the issue of online safety and privacy cast a disturbing
shadow worldwide. First, many businesses have embraced highly targeted
advertising online. Second, new generations of children and youths grow up in
an online environment that has normalized the sharing of personal data via social
networks. The third reason is the single online or internet problem looming
over the world: identity theft. My theory in that regard is that all users of
the internet are targets: Just price a trip to Vegas on an airline’s website
and you will start getting tons of casino ads in your email. Buy any
item from a company’s website(for instance Wal-Mart or Amazon) and you will
start receiving hundreds of offers and ads. These come from the tags that track
your clicks and then cue those creepy pitches.
Below are some of the ways you can use to shake them off and
reclaim your online privacy.
Get Rid of the Cookies!
What is clear is that you can block third-party cookies in your
browser’s privacy settings. This will make it tougher for marketers to keep
tabs on you. To do this, check the “do not track” request option in your browser’s privacy
settings. This is the online equivalent of a
“do-not-call” list(Max, 2013).
Spy on Your “Watchers”
What is more annoying in the online environment is that you might
pick up dozens of tracking tags that tail you on the web simply by clicking on
a single site. Naturally, you will like to see them and decide which of them to
nix or drop. You can actually do this by using the free
browser extension known as Ghostery(at ghostery.com). In addition, with the
help of the free AdBlock Plus extension(adblockplus.com) you can shut out
third-party ads.
Divide and Rule : Get Email Alias
Most marketers can link your online and offline behavior and
solicit you accordingly simply by finding you online via your email address –
which they can sometimes obtain from, say, your loyalty cards. Preventing this
from happening to you can be as simple as setting up an e-mail account solely
for commercial transactions(Max, 2013).
The Onion Router(TOR) – A Lesson In Staying Anonymous Online
The first condition for you to become invincible online is for you
to effectively anonymize your IP address(that is, your
Internet Protocol address. Note that an IP address is similar to your house
address – in the same sense that someone needs your mailing address to send you
a letter, a remote computer needs your IP address to communicate with your computer).
Generally speaking, the Onion Router(TOR) is the method for masking your IP
address(Angle, 2013). It may also be stated here that TOR is open source,
completely free to use, and is a highly secure way of surfing the web while
making your traffic anonymous. The only downside here is that while TOR hides
your identity and location, you may still be identifiable via traffic
confirmation or what is also known as an “end-to-end correlation of traffic.”
Personally Challenged - Control Your Personal Data
Online.
Controlling your personal data online matters too. The
unhappy truth is that any data stored with online services is not safe – they are
not even safe from government surveillance either. In a sense, it is best to
either limit your use of popular web services or stop using them entirely. This
way you will not reveal too much personal information online.
Social Networks
Most social networks like facebook.com suffer from a lack of
uptake even though they were built with user privacy in mind. It should be
called to mind that with concerns over online privacy growing, you should
ensure that you turn privacy settings to “private,” remove yourself from public search results,
and refrain from posting anything that you would be uncomfortable the whole
world seeing if you choose to use popular platforms like Facebook and Twitte(Angle,
2013).
To sum up, you need to follow a simple mantra: Exercise
caution while browsing the web!
Sources
Max S.(2013): Shop Online Unobserved. Money Magazine.
Silicon Angle(2013): Best Practices for Keeping Your Personal Data
Safe Online. Retrieved June 13, 2013 from
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/06/11/best-practices-for-keeping-your-personal-data-safe-online/
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