Maybe I am getting old or maybe my mind is just going, but has the world gone crazy? I just read an article that talks about how 2 US Senators have gotten together and introduced a bill called “Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights”. Now that sounds great.

Privacy Bill of Rights

It starts out with some basic findings…

1. Personal privacy is worthy of protection through appropriate legislation.
2. Trust in the treatment of personally identifiable information collected on and off the Internet is essential for businesses to succeed.
3. Persons interacting with others…have a significant interest in their personal information…..

The bill then goes on to set limits on what can be collected and how it can be used.

The crazy part is their understanding of a “Right”. I have a “Right” to Free speech however, I can fired for speaking out. I have a “Right” to bear arms but my employer can prohibit me from carry a gun to work. I have a “Right” to be secure against unreasonable searches however my bags can be searched at any check point I choose to go through. All this time we have been told that the “Rights” we have prohibit the Government from infringing upon these rights, but private companies can set their own rules. We just have to have the option of leaving.

In this case John McCain and John Kerry seem to have it backwards. In their bill they are telling private companies what they can collect from willing citizens. They are telling private companies what they can do with the information that was freely given to them. However, they have EXEMPTED all Government agencies from these rules. This is a “Right” that the Government believes we DO NOT HAVE. How can the Government say it’s a Right while they say they are the ones who can infringe upon it. Don’t we have the Right to be protected from the Government.

This is the same Government that has tried to make it easier for themselves to get access to cell phone tracking data, GPS data, emails, and secret disclosure of our emails. The Government has taken the stance that in order to protect us they should have the right to request information about us and our activities from our Internet Service Providers without a warrant. Plus they frequently attach a gag order to the request. They want your ISP to give them your information but prohibit them from telling you they did.

What’s the biggest difference between the Government and Private companies? The Government can force us to give them information while private companies need our permission. If I choose to tell a private company everything about me in exchange for a “rewards card”, shouldn’t I have the choice? If I don’t want the Government to know everything about me, shouldn’t I also have the choice?

Please watch carefully what our representatives do. If we don’t hold them accountable, we may wake up one day without the Rights we have taken for granted.

Technorati Tags: internet privacy, privacy on the web, private browsing

Why did they suspend this feature so quickly? Of course, I have no inside information but I believe that it’s because news got out of the developer community and into the population at large. Surprisingly enough, it seems there wasn’t many people that were just waiting to give their phone numbers to advertisers and applications. Keep in mind, that many of these phone numbers are cell phone numbers.

Marketers are very excited about Facebook becoming so popular. For years Internet Marketers have been looking for an alternative to Google to spend their ad dollars. Most of Google’s users don’t pay anything to user their services. The same can be said for Facebook users. Very few of them pay any money to Facebook. Both of these companies make most of their money from advertisers.

I think you’d be surprised to learn that Google doesn’t treat it’s advertisers like kings. I know of several marketers who were spending tens of thousands of dollars a month to advertise with Google and had their campaigns stopped. If Google believes that you are not giving their users a good experience through your ads, they stop them. Google’s idea is to protect their users.

Facebook on the other hand seems to be interested in making it a marketers paradise. This isn’t a Facebook vs Google article. This is just my opinion that the users of Facebook should take a look at who the company is trying to make happy.

I predict Facebook has less than five years left to enjoy its position in the Internet. By 2016, Facebook will look completely different and will not be the place you go to several times a day.

Technorati Tags: facebook privacy, private browsing

They are dedicated to privacy and promote using some of the plugins I’ve previously recommended.  I’ve done a few sample searches and I am statisfied with the initial results.  Of course, I’ll only know if the search results are any good if I use it on a regular basis.

I’m going to try to use Duck Duck Go as my primary search engine and I’ll report back.

Interesting…….

Technorati Tags: internet privacy, private browsing

You can make sure they still work at this site http://www.remailed.ws/proxy-checker.php

Technorati Tags: Anonymous Browsing, private browsing, Proxy servers

BetterPrivacy

This extension is a must for anyone who has set their browser to automatically delete all cookies when they close their browser. Using just the browser settings you are able to delete all traditional cookies. However, many sites now use “Super Cookies” which are Local Shared Objects (LSO). These are files typically installed by a flash-plugin and are stored with your local system files. These cookies are never deleted.

BetterPrivacy will allow you to view these cookies and automatically delete them when you close your browser. After installing this extension and restarting firefox, I closed the browser. I was amazed to learn how many Super-Cookies I had on my machine. I always delete all my cookies. These were the cookies that were missed by the browser.

Ghostery

According to their website “Ghostery sees the invisible web – tags, web bugs, pixels and beacons. Ghostery tracks the trackers and gives you a roll-call of the ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers, and other companies interested in your activity. “ This extension will truly give you a new understanding of the effort that is being made to invade your privacy. It seems that almost every website I visit has some form of tracking installed.

Ghostery will allow show you who is trying to track you, link you to their privacy page, tell you a little about the company and of course allow you to block automatically or manually. The option to turn off the warnings was very welcome. There are just too many warnings to read them all. I just block automatically unless a portion of the page isn’t working. Then I look to see why and whether I really want to view that page considering the tracking.

RefControl

Many sites are interested in learning from which websites you are referred. They will log that you clicked on a link from the previous page. Considering the fact that many sites accept money to place a link on their page, you can never be certain when your browsing history will become public. This extension allows you to block the referrer tag so that no website will know from whence you came. It also has a “fun feature” where you replace the referrer tag with any message you’d like. This gives you a chance to inject in their tracking logs statements like “known of your business” or “Please respect our Privacy”

HTTPS Everywhere

When most people go to a website, they just type the URL into the address bar.  There was a time when browsers didnt’ automatically add “HTTP://” and we had to type that as well.  Unfortunately, while many sites have a secure version available, we can’t access them unless we type the “HTTPS://”.   HTTPS Everywhere solves this problem. 

After installing this extension, if you type Google.com, you’ll automatically go to https://encrypted.google.com/  Click on a facebook link and you’ll be directed to their SSL version of the site.  Why should you care?  If you go to a website via HTTP your traffic can be read by many people.  That includes all your posts, emails, usernames and passwords.  HTTPS means that only you and the website can read your information.  Look for a future post about Firesheep to learn why this is a must to any Facebook users.

Technorati Tags: browser extenions, privacy on the web, private browsing

1. Don’t include your personal information in your search queries. - Think twice before you search for things like your name, address, credit card numbers or social security numbers. Even if you don’t think that you are tying this information back to yourself, you may be identifying yourself accidentally. There is even a website that will allow you to search to see if your credit card numbers or social security numbers have been compromised on the Internet. This is information that many people would like to have, so they start to fill out the form to check. The website asks for name, address, social security number and/or credit card number. The website will then do a search and let you know that you have nothing to worry about. Of course, this website now has everything it needs to steal your identity. That was the sole purpose of the site. Even though popular search engines don’t deliberately expose your information, to them all data is data.

2. Don’t use the search engine provided by your ISP. - Some ISPs like Comcast or AOL provide their users with a search engine. Google has to do a lot of work to identify you. Your ISP already knows who you are and your IP address. Everything you search for is easily tied back to you.

3. Don’t log into services provided by your search engine. – Google, Bing and Yahoo all provide services besides search. If you’re logged into Gmail, every search you do on Google is easily identified as you. The same goes for Yahoo mail/Yahoo and Hotmail/Bing. Use the services of one search engine and the actual search engine of another provider. At a minimum, have two separate browsers. Log into Gmail with Firefox and search Google with IE.

4. Utilize your browsers security settings. – Make sure that you are blocking cookies and store very little temporary files.

5. Use proxy services or anonymizing software. - You can use different proxies as your surfing the web. Most major browsers have add-ons or extensions which allow you to easily change your proxy. Another option is to utilize TOR or a anonymous VPN. In all these cases the objective is to have you appear to be someone else to the search engines.

6. Use a search engine dedicated to protecting your privacy. – Search engines like scrooge.org are dedicated to maintaining your privacy by hiding your search behind a proxy and many other users. They also strip out the paid ads so you are only shown real results.

These are just some of the basic steps one should take to experience private browsing. However, by following these steps you’re start your journey to enjoying the web while maintaining your privacy.

Technorati Tags: Anonymous Browsing, internet privacy, porn mode, private browsing

What does private browsing do for you? If you either share your computer with another person or if another person has access to your computer, you are at risk of them knowing what websites you visited. This is a bad thing if you’re married and are searching “divorce attorneys” or “how to get away with cheating on your spouse”. With private browsing turned on, someone who looked at your computer would not see your history, cookies or local cache.

When I refer to private browsing, I’m referring to being online and maintaining your privacy. Were you aware that even with private browsing turned on, Google still remembers what searches you made and which results you clicked on? If you frequently searched a topic and picked a certain website out of the results, Google remembers that. Over time that website will be higher in the search results. However they will be higher only for you? Did you know that over half of all employers search the Internet to learn more about prospective and current employees? None of this has anything to do with your personal computer or browser settings.

There used to be a time when you meet somebody for the first time, you could control that first impression. That times has now passed.

Does that mean we need to stay offline and give up the connections and benefits of being part of the online community? No it does not.

There are many things each of us can do to maintain control over our image and privacy. Remember there is no undo button on the Internet. Too many times we connect fist, think about what we just did, and then stop. We must stop, think and then connect.

For more resources see the following sites.

Technorati Tags: Anonymous Browsing, Internet Safety, private browsing, Web Privacy