This looks into the issue of online privacy and safety. It discusses where the problem areas are and how to remedy them.
People who want to have control over their privacy should not go on the Internet. Everything that you do online is monitored in some way. Most private people do not want others snooping into their business whether for good or bad reasons. Not all privacy issues online come from those who intend to harm you or your property.
Email is all but impossible to erase completely.
Email providers like Yahoo, AOL, and others keep records of your emails. In many cases the emails themselves will remain in their databases for years after you believe that they are deleted. Even if you do not use a company like this to provide your email, those that you correspond with might. All of your communications with those individuals will be around for a long while on their computer or the email provider’s computer. These can be used as evidence against you in court. Someone with enough savvy and money can dig up buried history on you if they are looking to affect your career or reputation.
Your ISP information travels with everything you send out over the Internet.
Every search that you do is recorded with your Internet Service Provider address and other information about your computer. This data is also collected by search engines, service providers, and sites that you visit. Anyone with access to this information can also have potential access to your computer when it is online. A combination of a virus protection program and a good firewall will give you decent protection from all but the most skillful hackers. Using an anonymous web portal can be of some benefit because these portals can strip your ISP address before sending your data on to its destination.
Passwords, account numbers, and other private and important information can be compromised.
Make sure that you use secure protocols when logging onto banking sites and other places where your privacy can be compromised. Most of the time the institution or company will provide this type of security. Hackers love to get account numbers, passwords, and social security numbers. Even if these are not going to be used by the hacker, they have value and can be sold. Try to know the sites where you might share such information before allowing them to know too much about you.
There are concerns about our children’s safety.
With the movement of child predators onto websites designed to attract young and preteen children, parents have a new level of online privacy worries. Children and even teens do not have the built in cynicism of adults. They are far too willing to give out phone numbers, addresses, and other personal information. Predators act like the child’s peer to try to gain access to their confidence. There are only two real ways to guard this.
One is for the parent to closely monitor the child’s online activity. This may require a keystroke recorder and blocking the child’s ability to delete browsing information. The second way is to ban the child from the Internet. This option is becoming more difficult because of Internet access at school and assignments that require the Internet to complete.
Marketing companies get access to your online browsing and purchasing habits.
This may not be a big concern to some. However, company websites insert cookies onto your hard drive that feed them information about your web habits. These habits can reveal more about you than you want or think. Many websites will not allow access to their site if you block cookies from your computer. You can delete the cookies after each online session, but a lot of information will still be collected. If the company putting the cookie on your computer is unscrupulous, this can result in spam if they have your email address. It can lead to possible identity theft.
Identity theft is the big dog among online privacy concerns.
Once criminals are armed with enough of your personal data, they can become you for a while. It is especially easy to do once they have picked up a credit card or two in your name without your knowledge. They can eventually get your birth certificate and a driver’s license if they are good enough and bold enough. Once they have trashed your credit and possibly life, they will move on if you do not catch it in time.
Tue, Mar 24, 2009, by Allen Teal
Security