Computer Geek

Musings about technology, computer books and software.

July 15, 2005

Protecting your online privacy

Did you know that websites can track you via a unique identifier called your IP address? If you have an always-on broadband connection (cable or DSL), your computer will keep this same IP address for weeks or even months at a time. Add to that many websites require you to login linking that IP address with personal information and privacy becomes an issue.

There's an organization concerned about protecting the rights of computer users in this digital age - the Electronic Frontier Foundation. They've created a tool that allows you to browse the web anonymously for free. It's called Tor. The TOR website says:
Your traffic is safer when you use Tor, because communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers, called onion routers. Instead of taking a direct route from source to destination, data packets on the Tor network take a random pathway through several servers that cover your tracks so no observer at any single point can tell where the data came from or where it's going. This makes it hard for recipients, observers, and even the onion routers themselves to figure out who and where you are. Tor's technology aims to provide Internet users with protection against "traffic analysis," a form of network surveillance that threatens personal anonymity and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security.
You can install it for Windows by visiting this page and following the instructions there. Lots of screenshots to take you through installing and configuring it. If you're using MacOS X or Linux, see this. Note that in either case, you'll be shown how to install Privoxy which works with Tor. Don't worry. It's easier than it sounds.

So far I've just used it with Windows and it works great!

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