IP Democracy: Internet Privacy: How to Hide and What the Stakes Are

The world owes AOL a big thanks for its data privacy breach because it’s becoming clear that nothing you do on the Internet is anonymous, a basic fact of the digital era that few people really understand. The New York Times has two worthwhile pieces today on the issue of Internet privacy, the first of which provides practical advice on how to keep your net activities private.

The first, by J.D. Biersdorfer, reviews the proxy server or cloaking tools, including BeHidden.com (http://behidden.com) and The Cloak (www.the-cloak.com) that allow users to surf anonymously. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has a site linking to other tools that mask identities.

The other article, by Tom Zeller, touches on the tension between user expectation of privacy and marketers’ need to understand what consumers are doing. Law enforcement needs also pull at consumer privacy rights, with governments demanding greater storage of and access to data on user activities.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on August 12, 2006 11:08 AM to IP Democracy