You have the right to do business without Government or Corporate intervention. Exercise that right by blocking access to your computer with these programs.
Updated: March 30, 2012.
It’s a very sad state of affairs. We have corporations tracking our every movement, Government institutions spying on our actions and criminal organizations like the MPAA and the RIAA (Yes I called them criminal. Extortion is a crime.) wanting more and more power to censor and shut down your internet connection. I won’t stand for it, and neither should you! That’s why I’ve developed a list of simple and free programs that can help protect your Online identity and activities.
Disclaimer: The information provided by this article is not intended to be used to break the law. Don’t come crying to when you get a letter from your Internet Service Provider saying you’ve infringed on copyrights or anything like that. I’m not responsible for your actions.
PeerBlock
http://www.peerblock.com/
Do you use torrent or other P2P programs? Peerblock is a Block list program that filters out IP addresses that would access your P2P programs to spy on what you’re downloading or sharing. However, it’s not a catch all. Blocklists like this can help provide a blanket of security but by no means is it perfect. People will still have access to your IP address linked to a specific file, but not have access to the file, or any other files that you are sharing. I also suggest using proxies to help hide your identity.
Adblock Plus & Noscript
Adblock Plus: http://adblockplus.org/en/
Noscript: http://noscript.net/
Both are excellent add-ons for Firefox. Adblock plus stops web advertisements from being displayed and Noscript blocks websites from activating scripts. Of course, you can let websites bypass these measures as needed. I use Adblock plus in conjunction with Noscript to block advertisements from popping up and at the same time, stop advertisement company websites from using scripts that would gather information about my online activities. As an added bonus, both are powerful tools that help stop viruses from infecting your computer.
Ghostery
http://www.ghostery.com/
Going yet a step further, I’ve installed and tested Ghostery, A simple yet powerful plugin for most major browsers. It not only blocks web trackers from spying on you and your online habits, but also provides you with tools that help you identify how these trackers work. While I did find it kind of Ironic that it asks you before hand if you want to send back “anonymous usage data” to Ghostery, at least it give you the option to opt-out (unlike google). The only serious concern I have is actually learning just how many companies want my information on a single website!
Right now, the list is small, but I’ll update this page as I review new programs to use!
December 28th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
I don’t really understand how all this works and every time I think I’ve got a handle on it, something else comes along and makes me realize I am completely lost. I’ve been using Ghostery, but I don’t understand why you would need to also use Adblock Plus. I don’t understand what a script is so it’s hard to know if I need/want to block one. I have tried using the Free OpenVPN software and it can be slow, but what is of greater concern is that it has twice done something to my internet connection so that I cannot get online at all and it takes hours to figure out how to reset and configure everything again because I end up having to reinstall my router! I’ve tried using the tor browser, but that is so slow, it’s worthless.
I just want to be online without being tracked, followed, targeted, and identified. I don’t see why that is so difficult to do and why it is such a problem. I wasn’t too concerned about my privacy until I recently ordered my free reports from companies like LexisNexis and Choicepoint. When I received those reports and saw the data they had compiled, which included my online behaviors, I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. I was in tears and furious and felt so violated. All these companies that say they can’t identify you personally and that they don’t have any information about your name or where you live are lying. I do not want my information collection, tracked, followed, sold, targeted, connected, or logged by anyone or any company ever. Period.
I am 100% willing to pay for a VPN that works and that will do this for me, but even trying to find a legitimate VPN has been a struggle.
I used to think that all these people who talked about privacy online and downloading software were paranoid and over-the-top. Now I know it’s not paranoia, it’s real and it’s worse than I ever thought. It doesn’t take much to find out for yourself. Order your own reports from LexisNexis and all the other spy companies out there- though you have to find them all first. The reports are free and they actually do a good job of sending them out within 10-30 days, but it’s shocking what they have on all of us.