Too many people think of Internet privacy as something that they can’t understand. They watch one movie like Hackers one time and give up, thinking that it’s over their head. While you may never be as skilled at Internet privacy as Zero Cool, you can certainly increase your privacy on the Internet with a few simple tools and tricks. Keep reading!
Use these simple Internet privacy tips today!
Private browsing really does make a difference
Every good browser has a private browsing option. This includes the major players:
- Internet Explorer
- Google Chrome
- Firefox
- Opera
- Safari
You can use the private browsing option to prevent the storing of cookies on your browser. These cookies are small data files which online properties use to store data about you. Some do this to improve user optimization, others do this to build profiles about you which they sell to marketers. Both are an easy way to have your Internet privacy violated by hackers who steal this information.
Turning on private browsing should be your first step in getting more Internet privacy. Turn it on, and read further!
Change your IP address
Ok, you changed your browser to private to deal with cookies tracking you, but that’s not all the people out there who want to track you. Your own ISP can track you based on your IP address and use this data however they please, even keeping it so it’s free to be hacked by whoever.
Changing your IP address is as simple as choosing to use IPVanish VPN. When you connect to IPVanish you are given another IP address, even another country location, while your activity is encrypted. Both of these things add up to your ISP no longer being able to see what it is you’re doing online.
I have suggested IPVanish specifically because they truly believe in Internet privacy as they are a no-log
You have to log out every now and then
If you leave a tab open for Facebook, they’re tracking you. This is also true of Google, Amazon, Twitter, and nearly every other ‘free’ online service. They make money tracking you and selling data to advertisers.
It’s even easier when websites you visit have Facebook connected apps. This is no longer done quite so anonymously via your IP address and is instead being included as part of your Facebook profile’s data.
Your simplest solution is to close Facebook, and everything else, and logout. If you like having it open, use a tool like Ghostery to block these ad tracking tools of Facebook. Even better, keep it open in a different browser by itself. Chopping up where you surf, and keeping it separate from your logged in accounts, can help you keep your Internet privacy in nearly all instances. But when in doubt, log out.
Build Google Alerts about yourself
Googling yourself is no longer an exercise in vanity, it is a smart Internet privacy tip that keeps you abreast of what’s being said about you online. Anyone can post anything they like on the Internet …and they may just be posting information about you. This is where Google Alerts come in:
- Go to Google Alerts
- Type in “Your Name” in the search, use abbreviations as well
- Select the type of websites you want to search
- Monitor what’s said about you directly, to just people with your name
- Contact webmasters who post things about you wish you do not want shared
- If they take it down, notify Google to no longer show the search results using the URL removal tool as they archive it
- If the webmaster does not take it down, and it falls under their jurisdiction, the Internet Crime Complaint Centre could force them
- You can still contact Google to take it out of their search queries, assuming it meets their Removal Policy guidelines
Understand what ‘privacy’ policies are really for
Nearly every website that collects data on you will have some sort of incredibly long-winded privacy policy. These will typically be thin popup brs along the top or bottom which appear the first time you visit a website.
Now you may read a phrase like ‘privacy policy’ and think that it’s meant to protect your Internet privacy. This is rarely, if ever, the case. Instead these documents are written to tell you just how little privacy they will give you, what they’ll take from you, and how they’ll excuse themselves from violating your privacy. These things are rarely worth the ink they’re not even written on, so be sure not to give them any more information than they need.
Feature image via Markus Mainka / Shutterstock