 Number 214 - March 2001 |
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| Stop The Snoops | ||
| by Josh Roberts, Access Magazine, Nov 12, 2000 | ||
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You can surf the Web and e-mail anonynously.
Whenever you use the Web or e-mail, remember that you might be leaving a digital trail behind you. Anyone with access to your computer--your employer, your network administrator, your family, maybe even your Internet Service Provider--can see where you've been surfing and what you've been sending and receiving through e-mail. If you're concerned about your privacy, there are some solutions. Anonymous Web browsing is one. The Internet's most established anonymous service, Anonymizer.com (www. anonymizer .com $49.95 and up per year), won't erase all of your digital footprints, but it does offer its members free surfing protection that prevents sites from collecting cookies and other forms of information about your browsing habits. Anonymizer.com also has fee-based services for anonymous e-mailing, downloading and more. If you're willing to pay to stay hidden, the ultimate utility is Zero-Knowledge's Freedom 2.0 program (www. freedom .net). This software and service combination lets you hide behind one of five pseudonyms you create. It encrypts information about |
you as you surf the Web or send e-mail,
making your messages virtually untraceable by sending them along
Freedom's network of servers. One of those servers might even be at your
ISP, giving you privacy protection as soon as you dial in, a list of
Freedom-using ISPs is available at the site.
The Freedom service, which works only with computers running Windows 95/98/Me, costs $49.95 a year, in addition to your regular ISP fees. Freedom doesn't work with Web-based e-mail, such as Hotmail, or AOL; it works only with POP3-based e-mail and regular dial-up Internet accounts. For more details on Internet privacy visit Andre Bacard's Privacy Page, (www. andrebacard .com/ privacy .html), where the "Computer Privacy Handbook" author explains the ins and outs of Net security.
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Number 214 - March 2001
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