Monday, January 23, 2012

Ensure your anonymity...NOW!

There are several reasons why you should always cover your tracks online. Internet is no longer anonymous; but with improvement in technology and geo-location, it's surprisingly easy for the websites to track your every move, every link you click and potentially turning all this to repressive regimes.

It starts with few basic precautions and assumes that you have a working knowledge of the terms. I am not an expert in all such issues but here it goes.

1) Use Firefox alone as your browser. Google Chrome may be good, but it sends across tonnes of encrypted data to Google servers tracking your every move and the searches you make. Although it says that it uses the information to "enhance the usage", it's load of BS.

2) On Firefox, use Ad-Block Plus, Ghostery, Better Privacy and No-Script extensions. No-Script may be difficult for beginners but there are tonnes of tutorials available.

3) Avoid Flash. If possible, use HTML5 on sites like Youtube. Flash leaves tonnes of cookies in your browser session; this is potentially dangerous.

4) Ditch Windows and Mac OS and use Linux. Ubuntu is a perfect operating system for those who are migrating to Windows. I prefer to use Open Suse. I have NEVER used a firewall or an antivirus for linux; this may not be an acceptable practice but I have never faced an issue ever with this. For those who are bit more experimental, PC-BSD is an excellent choice and highly recommended for intermediate users.

5) Use VPN to get a new ip address. Look for a service provider that offers open VPN and high security like 256 bits. All your isp would see is an encrypted connection.

These are some of the measures to escape the oppressive regimes. Make sure that your tracks are well covered, use a paid email service provider instead of Gmail or Yahoo, remove all cookies at end of session. These are some of the common sensical means to avoid "detection" and have the things traced back to you.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, that for basic needs a person might use a proxy like "hidemyass". It's available on the Firefox extensions menu and when you click on it, it routes the traffic through it's own proxy. But beware, this company got a lot of flak recently for exposing it's users.

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