Internet Privacy - Is It Even Possible?
Internet privacy is a hot topic for most people who are online, but there's more to it than most people realize.
I'm part of an internet message forum that is private - that is, it doesn't allow just anyone to access it. You have to either use the product which the forum is about, or be invited as a guest of someone who does.
There was recently quite a stir because something that had been posted in the forum ended up on somebody else's site and ultimately ended up in Google.
The discussion that followed brought up a few points about why you need to be careful when posting things on the net, even if you're posting them somewhere that's meant to be private.
Who's Tracking Us?
One of the biggest factors in internet privacy is Google and the other search engines.
They're constantly scouring the internet for new and updated web pages to add to their massive database of websites. This is good for those of us who are searching, but it does mean that anything you post somewhere on the internet could wind up being archived in Google, Yahoo, etc. for anyone to find.
Another service that you may or may not have heard of is the "Wayback Machine" at www.archive.org.
The Wayback Machine lets you search for old archived versions of any website on the internet. It depends on the website - how popular it is, how often it gets updated, etc. - but in many cases there can be years of archives listed here.
Something that you posted five years ago could very easily be archived permanently on the Wayback Machine, without you even realizing it.
Nobody outside of Google (or the other search engines) really knows for sure, but it's thought that they follow our trail when we're using the search engines.
For example, if you search for something, they can track you by your unique address on the internet (your "IP" address). They can track what sites you click through to, how long it is before you return to search for something else and exactly what you're searching for.
Over a period of time, they can build a pretty good profile of your interests and the websites you frequent. Now, I'm not saying that they are doing this for sure, but it certainly is possible.
How Can We Protect Our Privacy?
There are a few things you can do to help protect your privacy on the internet.
- Do a regular spyware scan on your computer. One of the common things that spyware does is to track what you're doing online.
Click here to read more about how to remove spyware - Make sure your security and privacy settings are set up properly in your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.)
Click here for more information about setting up Internet Explorer security
Click here for more information about setting up Firefox security - The most effective privacy measure is to use an "anonymous surfing" type of software. These programs will effectively make you invisible on the internet so your habits can't be tracked.
Click here to read more about protecting your internet privacy with anonymous surfing
No matter what level of protection you use, remember that anything you post on the internet has the potential to become public. Don't ever post anything that you wouldn't want anyone to be able to read.