Wikipedia, defines online privacy as “the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information.”
Anonymity on the internet is an excellent defense, but it’s difficult to be anonymous when you’re required t
o submit online forms for various reasons, such as ordering items online.
So what is our personal information used for? Sometimes simply for the purpose of statistics, while other times for more malicious purposes such as spyware. All the data you send and receive travels through your consumer’s ISP. Though there are technical, ethical and other issues, these companies have the ability to observe information we send and receive that’s not encrypted.
Methods of protecting your privacy include using IP masking, proxy servers and VPN tunnels. Let’s take a look at some excellent privacy protecting tools.
DOWNLOADS
ProxyWay (FREE) – Searches for proxy lists and provides detailed information for each, i.e. speed.
Free IP Switcher (FREE) – Lets you switch your preconfigured network settings with a single click and no reboot. It automatically changes your network settings (IP address, network masks, default gateway, DNS server, etc.)
Hotspot Shield (FREE) – Creates a virtual private network, or VPN, between your laptop or iPhone and the Internet gateway. A VPN is a tunnel that keeps hackers, snoopers and ISPs from viewing your browsing activities, instant messaging, downloads and other information you send over the network.
TorProject (FREE) – Works to protect your identity by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays. If someone is watching your internet connection, Tor will prevent them from learning the sites you visit and keep the sites you visit from learning your physical location.
Ultra Surf (FREE) – Hides your IP address, location, cleans your browsing history and cookies, etc. It provides transparent data transfer and gives you high level encryption.
Smarthide ($9.99 a month to $14.95 a month) – Gives you complete anonymity, keeping your IP address and identity hidden. Works by securing your e-mail, web-browser, instant messaging and P2P protocols.
WEB BASED TOOLS
PimpMyIP (FREE) – Web based – Provides access to banned sites by encoding the website URLs so you access from the PimpMyIP server, rather than the current server your using. You browse directly from this site and have the options to remove cookies, remove scripts, hide referrer information and show entry form.
Proxy Servers (FREE) – Web based – Over 180 proxy servers to use to surf the net with. They specify information for each proxy server, such as Rating, Country, Access time, Uptime %, Online Since and Last test. You can also sort by each field to choose the proxy server for you.
Do you have any valuable tools to add to the collection? If so, be sure to hit me up so I can provide users with an all-inclusive list.
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