Ignorance is Strength

"If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death."
1984

After listening to a discussion on NPR I decided today to focus on web privacy. The internet has grown over the past fifteen years, as of March 31st, 2006, over 1.02 billion people use the Internet* , moving from a file sharing network for the tech savvy to an generally accessible commodity. With it the business of consumer information trading and monitoring has exploded. Ever wonder how Google's stock can trade at $382.01 per share? It is not simply because they have a huge amount of traffic move through their site, visitors contribute no profits, however, when ads are placed on the site Google can stand to make huge profits. This may not seem sinister on first glance but the way in which Google selects what sites we see and the ads which we are exposed to on their site is worrisome, more on this later.

I will focus on a few pieces of software that can help protect your privacy while making use of the infinitely useful internet.

ScatterChat, as their website informs us, “is a HACKTIVIST WEAPON designed to allow non-technical human rights activists and political dissidents to communicate securely and anonymously while operating in hostile territory.” However, it can also be used by the everyday internet user to communicate through an Instant Messenger type interface without having to worry about privacy issues. It works by bouncing encrypted versions of your messages around the world so that your IP address cannot be traced. It can be downloaded here.

The next piece of software is a well known web browser called Mozilla Firefox. Unlike most browsers, Firefox is free shareware and allows users to modify its contents with a variety of add-ons created by other individuals. Easy to install and use, Firefox is a great alternative to Internet Explorer. It can be downloaded here.

For those of you who want an even more anonymous internet surfing experience check out The Anonymizer web site, for a fee they will block your IP address as well as other things I don’t really understand but seem pretty neat. For you frugal types I found a free service they offer here. You will start at Phantasy Tour(my choice), and pages will take a while to load, but by entering web addresses in the upper left corner you will be able to surf anonymously.

Email is another area of privacy concerns, Hushmail and MyTrashMail both offer free services that can protect you from prying eyes. MyTrashMail also offers temporary email accounts for one time use.

And now we return to Google, a site which I have frequented for years and am becoming increasingly wary of. The site Googlewatch is a non-profit which highlights some of the growing concerns with the way Google is doing business. Here are some of the most disturbing facts about Google:

1. Google's immortal cookie
Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you navigate to a Google page, you get a Google cookie if you don't already have one. If you have one, they read and record your unique ID number.

2. Google records everything they can
For all searches they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your search terms, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This is referred to in the industry as "IP delivery based on geolocation."

3. Google retains all data indefinitely
Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.

4. Google won't say why they need this data
Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the New York Times (read article here) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information, he had no comment.

5. Google's toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer records every page you surf, and reads your cookie too. Another concern is that Google's toolbar updates to new versions without asking whether you want to or not. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you connect to Google, and for most of us that is many times a day. Any software that updates automatically presents a massive security risk.




For a safer way to search the internet try one of the lesser used search engines, or if you are serious about privacy, this site is a great choice.

Well, I hope some of this helps, even if only to alert you of the innumerable privacy risks out there. And as always remember Big Brother is Watching!