Archive Page 2
January 18th, 2012 by Hide My IP
Today, Wednesday January 18 2012, is Internet Blackout Day, a movement which has caught the attention of the world’s media, that aims to raise awareness of legislation known as PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and how this legislation is a threat to online privacy, threatens freedom of speech, and hampers Internet innovation.
Scores of websites from personal blogs to big sites like Wikipedia, Mozilla, Reddit, Tucows, and BoingBoing have joined the campaingn to protest against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out their websites for 24 hours. Today’s visitors to the English Wikipedia site will be presented with messages intended to raise awareness about the proposed legislation, and encouraging them to share their views with their elected representatives, and via social media.
So what is the problem? In a nutshell it is Hollywood versus people downloading films and music for free. These big media companies and their allies in Congress are billing the legislation as a new way to battle online copyright infringement. But it will do little to stop infringement online. What it will do is compromise online privacy and inhibit online expression.
Under the proposed legislation government and private parties would be granted unprecedented power to interfere with the Internet’s underlying infrastructure. The government would be able to force ISPs and search engines to block users’ attempts to reach certain websites. But the USA doesn’t own the Internet, it is global. As Tucows wrote on their site “a ‘Made in the USA’ solution will no more work to stop the problems talked of than would one made in any other single nation state. Worse, the US has been at the forefront of ensuring that the Internet has remained free and a platform for innovation for the last fifteen years.” Even the White House has stated that it “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”
First Amendment expert Marvin Ammori points out, “The language is pretty vague, but it appears all these companies must monitor their sites for anti-circumvention so they are not subject to court actions ‘enjoining’ them from continuing to provide ‘such product or service.” And according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF), venture capitalists have said en masse they won’t invest in online startups if PIPA and SOPA pass.
Under PIPA the government will have the power to make US Internet providers block access to infringing domain names as well as have the ability to sue US-based search engines, directories, or even blogs and forums, to have links to these sites removed. To the wrong judge (one who probably hasn’t even used the Internet), innovative sites like Tumblr, SoundCloud, even YouTube in its early days, could be seen as piracy heavens because mixed in with the self expression, art and calls for freedom of speech will be TV footage, movie clips and music.
The recent social uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya all used the Internet and social media to allow citizen to speak out against injustice. If the US passes laws like SOPA and PIPA then it looses any right to criticize freedom of speech in other countries and it provides a model for unscrupulous governments to adopt similar laws and hinder free expression.
Please take action by contacting Congress through the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s action center. It only takes a moment and it can make a big difference.
Other sites of interest are: http://americancensorship.org/ and http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/.
January 13th, 2012 by Hide My IP
AOL recently released a new Beta version of its popular Instant Messenger program known as AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) but its new features are raising some privacy concerns. First of all, AIM now logs all of your conversations on AOL’s servers and keeps them there for up to two months (and maybe for ever if AOL have some kind of archiving system, which wouldn’t be unusual). The rationale behind this is that now AOL users can see a history of their chats from any device running the software, a great convenience apparently! But what it means is that all your chats are now recorded and stored and could be made available to any law enforcement agency with the right paper work. And bizarrely AOL might not have to tell you if the Feds have been taking a peak at your conversations. Anyone remember the Bill of Rights?
Although AIM does have an “off the record” mode, this is can only be applied on a per contact basis and users of alternative (but compatible) clients like iChat or Pidgin can’t access this “off the record” mode. Worse still, there is “no off the record” mode for the group chat feature with all group chats being automatically logged.
Another privacy concern with the new preview version of AIM is that it now scans all private IMs for URLs and pre-fetches any URLs found in them. The word “private” in private IM is obviously lost of AOL. As is often the case, the new feature is meant to aid and help the end user. In this case AOL have added the ability to embed pictures and videos into instant messages. But to do this they scan the text of EVERY message for ALL links then download the content of the link to see if it is a picture or a video. Rather than adding support for the popular services like YouTube (which all have easily recognizable links), AOL are trying to be too smart and the resulting solution is way to broad and potentially dangerous. Rather than letting the individual users download the content of links sent to them, now AOL will do it for you and store the results on their servers. Lesson to be learned… Be careful what links you send in your IM’s as AOL are watching.
Worse still, if a link sent via an IM points to a private server (not publicly listed in the search engines etc) then AOL will send its little “bots” over to that private server to start downloading content. But what if the link contains authentication information like a username or password? What if the link is an unsubscribe link which AOL follows and unwittingly unsubscribes you from a service or mailing list?
All of this is part of the global move towards “the cloud”, meaning data which is stored out there somewhere on the Internet and not locally on your PC or mobile device. My recommendation is that users do not upgrade to the latest version of AIM until AOL fixes these privacy-unfriendly features or introduces certain safe guards and/or encryption to stop unwelcome third parties listening in on your conversations.
January 6th, 2012 by Hide My IP
Momentum is gathering for Data Privacy Day, which will be held on January 28, with events scheduled on the day and during the surrounding weeks. The brainchild of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), the event is sponsored by some big industry names including Intel and eBay Inc. Data Privacy Day is designed to promote awareness about the many different ways our personal information is collected, stored, used, and shared. And hopefully educate net citizens about the best ways to protect their personal information.
The privacy landscape of today is much different to that of say 25 years ago. Today our identities, locations, purchases and online histories are stored digitally and analysed constantly. How to control online privacy is as much a question for individual users as it is for the big web sites (like Google and Facebook), businesses, Internet Service Providers (ISP), and state and federal governments.
The DPD website has a number of education resources for Teens and Young Adults as well as Parents and Kids. Included are educational presentations and scripts for use in junior high and high school classrooms and a collection of online resources and videos designed for especially for parents and younger children.
It is important that we constantly educate ourselves, our families and our friends about online privacy. Use the DPD day as an opportunity to remind people that almost every activities on the Internet leaves a digital foot print. Use the resources on the DPD site and tell people about this Privacy Blog. Education and prevention is the key rather than waiting until your identity has been stolen or your house robbed because of online privacy mistakes.
“This year, we encourage all digital citizens to take an active role in learning safe practices and behaviors. We encourage people to follow the basic advice from the STOP. THINK. CONNECT. campaign and protect their personal information. It is our collective and shared responsibility to help make the Internet a safer environment in which people have the ability to protect the privacy of their personal information, and it starts with three simple steps: STOP. THINK. CONNECT.” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance.
How can I protect my information from being misused?
According to a survey by the NCSA, 54 percent of Americans are extremely concerned about loss of personal or financial information. So what can you do? Here are five tips for better online privacy. Share them with your friends and family. Keep safe and stay protected.
- Create strong passwords (including letters and symbols) and don’t use the same password over and over again.
- Keep your OS (Windows, OS X) up to date. Also keep your anti virus software updated.
- Beware of unsolicited messages (via email or within social networking sites like Facebook) with links to unknown websites.
- Scan your computer regularly for malware and rootkits.
- Use privacy tools like Hide My IP, Cookie Crumble and Firewall Fortify to protect your online privacy. You should also strongly consider using a virtual private network (VPN) like FoxyVPN.
December 30th, 2011 by Hide My IP
As 2011 comes to a close our thoughts move to 2012 and what it has in store for us. Leaving aside the customary promises of diets and to be better, we should each take a moment to consider the digital footprint we left in 2011 and how we can better protect our privacy (and the privacy of our families) during 2012. The coming year will see greater battles for online privacy than any previous year. Social networking will continue to dominate and I predict that there will be at least two major online privacy scandals during the next twelve months.
The legislative outlook is bleak for 2012. The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary is currently considering the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) or H.R. 3261 as it is officially known. Although the act is well intentioned (in that it wants to stop piracy), the act is badly put together. Its broad language allows almost any attempt by a private individual to protect his or hers online privacy as an attempt to cover illegal activities. Today, GoDaddy announced it was withdrawing its support for SOPA in response to a boycott urging users to migrate away from the domain name register. GoDaddy now joins a long list of those objecting to SOPA. Earlier this year Google, Facebook, Twitter, eBay, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, and LinkedIn wrote a letter to important members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, saying SOPA poses “a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation’s cybersecurity.” Also the European Parliament has adopted a resolution stressing “the need to protect the integrity of the global Internet and freedom of communication by refraining from unilateral measures to revoke IP addresses or domain names.”
While the politicians blunder about, there are many things that each individual can do, so here are our top privacy tips for 2012:
- Time to change your passwords. Been using the same password for the last few years? It is time to change. Your password is the single barrier between you and online criminals. Should they manage to break into your email, eBay or PayPal accounts (not to mention any online financial services you use) they will be able to duplicate your identity as well as steal money from your accounts. Make sure your password are strong and contain more than just letters (e.g. good passwords contain letters, numbers, and symbols).
- Shutdown any unused accounts. Did you sign up for a website for service in 2011 and in fact don’t use it. Close the account. Unused online accounts are a liability and could be used by hackers as a stepping stone to your more important accounts.
- Become more unfriendly! The “problem” with social networks is that everyone wants to be your friend. Do you really want an ex-colleague from a place where you worked 10 years ago to see your family photos? The pressure is to accept all and any friend invitations. Don’t. Go through your list and remove anyone that isn’t close or can’t be trusted 100% with your holiday snaps.
- Start 2012 with the aim to minimize personal information sharing. Only fill in the mandatory fields on any web form. Many forms ask for lost of unnecessary information, but only certain fields are mandatory (normally marked with an asterisk). Don’t trust websites with your personal information (just look at the mess Facebook has made of its users privacy). Don’t give more information than needed.
- Make sure your online shopping is encrypted. Make sure you are using the latest version of your web browser and check that you are using a secure site if you need to enter your credit card details. Look for a padlock symbol in the bottom right of the browser window and check that the website address begins with ‘https://’. Modern browsers (like Chrome and Mozilla) support Extended Validation SSL Certificates, and the address bar willturn green when you are on a secure site.
- Beware of identity theft attempts during 2012′s big events. There are lots of big global events scheduled for 2012 including Super Bowl XLVI, the London Olympics, and the 57th US presidential election. It is “traditional” for cyber criminals to launch phishing scams during these events. Beware of bogus retailers setup for identity theft attempts or email scams that contain links or attachments which take users to malicious websites or spread malware.
- Enhance your PC’s security. Use privacy tools like Hide My IP, Cookie Crumble and Firewall Fortify to protect your online privacy. You should also strongly consider using a virtual private network (VPN) like FoxyVPN.
December 15th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Downloading files via BitTorrent has its legitimate as well as illegal uses. Many companies like Ubuntu offer their files via BitTorrent, but at the same time it must be recognized that BitTorrent is also used to share files which infringe copyright laws.
For the uninitiated BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer download network that uses the computers of hundreds (if not thousands) of individuals to share a file. To download the complete file, different chunks are grabbed from all the different computers who are sharing the data. This way it spreads the load away from traditional download servers to individual PCs and increases the potential bandwidth available. To use it, a BitTorrent client needs to be installed on your PC (there are multitudes of variations available for Windows, Mac and Linux).
However all this sharing isn’t anonymous. As chunks of files are downloaded records are kept about who has what bit so that other computers can connect and the chunk passed on. It doesn’t take too much imagination to realize that a fake BitTorrent client can connect to the network and see who is sharing what. In fact the entertainment industry has been doing just that for years now. However this information has never really been readily available as an easy to search index. Until now that is.
Youhavedownloaded.com is a new website which lists all your recent BitTorrent downloads for everyone to see. The site can’t track every single file being downloaded on the Internet, however it has managed to collect data on nearly 2,000,000 files downloaded by over 53,000,000 users.
“We just want to remind people that the Internet is not a place to expect privacy,” said Suren Ter-Saakov, one of the brains behind the site. “Nowadays many people use it without understanding what information they leave behind. Also, even those who understand choose to ignore it quite often.”
The sites biggest failings however is with regards to dynamic IP addresses. Many Internet providers provide users with a modem which when it connects to the Internet gets a different dynamic address each time it connects. If the modem is switch off (for example at night) then the next time it connects it will have a different address.
When asked about this Suren Ter-Saakov responded: “We don’t bother ourselves to separate dynamic IPs. The site is just for show. However we have time-stamps. 3.3.3.3 might be a dynamic IP – however it belonged to a certain person at 12:12am 12/12/2011.” The implication is that together with the records from an Internet provider the exact user of any given address at any given time can be discovered.
So the key question of course is, how can you download using BitTorrent without having your IP address recorded, tracked and displayed for everyone to see.
The answer is simple. Use a virtual private network (VPN) like FoxyVPN. A VPN is a special way to connect to the Internet by creating an encrypted link from your computer to a server on the Internet. All network traffic from your PC will go out onto the Internet via the remote VPN server. This means that all your web surfing, emailing and downloads using services like BitTorrent will appear as if they come from the VPN server and not your PC. This means that any data stored on the BitTorrent network will show your VPN provider while you remain anonymous. In fact your Internet service provider won’t even be able to tell what you are doing on the net.
December 9th, 2011 by Hide My IP
It is unusual for me to write two posts back to back about Facebook, but the events of this week mean I am obliged to write a second Facebook post. Last week’s post ended with comments from Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg where he pointed out that it is normal to be skeptical about Facebook’s role in how hundreds of millions of people share their personal information online. “Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected,” he said.
It looks as if those comments have come back to haunt Zuckerberg as this week photos from his private photo collection where posted online. The problem was entirely Facebook’s. It wasn’t an issue of a stolen, lost or hacked password. The very complex software which runs the site was updated and in doing so it allowed normal users to see other people’s private photos.
Although Facebook quickly fixed the mistake, don’t think for one second that this is the last time private information will be exposed online – on Facebook, or anywhere else, because it will.
Online privacy isn’t passive
Security and privacy aren’t passive in the real world and equally they aren’t in the online world. Nobody leaves their house unlocked and doors open and then hopes that a thief doesn’t break-in. No one goes to the park and puts their money, cell phone and car keys on a bench and then goes for a walk around the park hoping nobody will take their money (and phone and probably car too). At home and out in the world we are all active in protecting ourselves, our families and our property. Internet users need to be active about privacy.
Myth
Users seem to have an undiscriminating trust for web sites. Like the old adage, “don’t believe everything you read”, don’t trust the Internet with your personal and private data. Just because a site is big or popular doesn’t mean it won’t leak (intentionally or unintentionally) your private data onto the Internet. The good news for Mark Zuckerberg was that there were no embarrassing photos of him found. However family photos are private. Mark trusted his photos to his own service and his own service failed to protect his data.
Passive online privacy is at best a myth. To stay safe online you need to be active:
- Think before sharing any private information – from personal details like your address, phone number and SSN details to photos, video clips, financial information and documents.
- Be discriminating about how and with who (meaning websites as well as people) you share personal information.
- Be vigilant in using the different privacy controls available.
- Use privacy tools like Hide My IP, Cookie Crumble and Firewall Fortify to protect your online privacy.
2011 has seen several major high-profile security breaches at trusted companies like Sony, Citigroup and PBS. In Sony’s case, hackers stole the personal information of over 100 million registered users of its online gaming services including the PlayStation Network (PSN).
Be active not passive. Don’t leave yourself exposed.
December 2nd, 2011 by Hide My IP
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Facebook have announced their proposed privacy settlement over complaints brought against Facebook that it deceived its users. In the complaint the FTC says that Facebook told its users that they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowed it to be made public.
The FTC launched an investigation into Facebook as part of its ongoing effort to made sure that online giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google honor the privacy promises they make to American consumers. The original complaint outlined eight counts against Facebook saying that the social networking site’s privacy claims were unfair, deceptive, and violated federal law.
The FTC complaint listed a whole number of examples when Facebook made promises that it did not keep:
- In December 2009, Facebook changed its website so certain information that users may have designated as private – such as their Friends List – was made public. They didn’t warn users that this change was coming, or get their approval in advance.
- Facebook represented that third-party apps that users’ installed would have access only to user information that they needed to operate. In fact, the apps could access nearly all of users’ personal data – data the apps didn’t need.
- Facebook told users they could restrict sharing of data to limited audiences – for example with “Friends Only.” In fact, selecting “Friends Only” did not prevent their information from being shared with third-party applications their friends used.
- Facebook had a “Verified Apps” program & claimed it certified the security of participating apps. It didn’t.
- Facebook promised users that it would not share their personal information with advertisers. It did.
- Facebook claimed that when users deactivated or deleted their accounts, their photos and videos would be inaccessible. But Facebook allowed access to the content, even after users had deactivated or deleted their accounts.
- Facebook claimed that it complied with the U.S.- EU Safe Harbor Framework that governs data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. It didn’t.
As a result of these complaints the FTC put together a strongly worded proposal which Facebook has accepted: “IT IS ORDERED that Facebook and its representatives, in connection with any product or service, in or affecting commerce, shall not misrepresent in any manner, expressly or by implication, the extent to which it maintains the privacy or security of covered information.”
Under the proposed settlement Facebook must get approval from its users before it changes the way it shares their data, and requires that it obtain periodic assessments of its privacy practices by independent, third-party auditors for the next 20 years.
The settlement also states that Facebook must establish and maintain a comprehensive privacy program designed to address privacy risks associated with the development and management of new and existing products and services, and to protect the privacy and confidentiality of consumers’ information.
In response to the settlement Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote “I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we’ve done.”
He also points out that it is normal to be skeptical about Facebook’s role in how hundreds of millions of people share their personal information online. “Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected,” he said.
November 25th, 2011 by Hide My IP
In what is being seen as a ‘huge blow’ to privacy, a US court has ordered Twitter to open the account of an Icelandic MP and former WikiLeaks volunteer Birgitta Jonsdottir and hand over its contents to the US authorities.
Although Twitter is a social networking service where your “tweets” are seen by everyone, the service also includes a private messaging system where only the sender and recipient can see the messages.
A US judge has ruled that Twitter must release the details of Birgitta’s account, including the IP addresses used to access Twitter, along with those of two other Twitter users linked to WikiLeaks.
Jonsdottir believes that her account information is wanted to try and build a case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Also the Justice Department has been interested in Jonsdottir’s account for almost a year because of her involvement in WikiLeaks’ release of a video showing a US military helicopter shooting two Reuters reporters in Iraq.
Clearly, this is a high profile case. An MP from a foreign country, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. However, has Birgitta broken any laws in the USA or in Iceland? Is she under arrest or being held for trial? Is there a warrant for her extradition from Iceland?
The parallel in the offline world would be that a law enforcement agency wanted to enter into Birgitta’s house and search through her private and personal papers. The law enforcement agency would need a very good reason to ask a judge for permission. And likely they wouldn’t get it. But it seems as if in the online world civil rights are different.
In October, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a group representing MPs from 157 countries, passed a resolution condemning the actions by the US Justice Department.
“In all countries, freedom of expression is essential to democracy; citizens cannot exercise their right to vote or take part in public decision-making if they lack free access to information and ideas and are unable to express their views freely,” wrote the IPU.
The IPU also quotes Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which upholds the right of everyone to freedom of opinion and expression; it stipulates that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers;
There also seems to be legal vagaries. Jonsdottir is not a US citizen and the information in her Twitter account was created and used outside the USA. However Twitter is a US company. Clearly the international legal situation concerning the use of social media, does not appear to provide sufficient guarantees to ensure freedom of expression or a right to privacy.
What is ironic is that the US courts diligently uphold the first amendment with its rights for freedom of speech without government interference and the rights of the press to publish news, information and opinions, again, without government interference. Unless it seems you are an Icelandic MP.
Along with requests for her IP addresses, the Justice Department has demanded bank account details, usernames, screen names, mailing and other addresses.
It is clear that IP addresses should be considered as private information as by analyzing them the authorities can determine the location of the computer used to access Twitter.
To protect yourself (and Birgitta would be advised to do the same) use Hide My IP, which allows you to conceal your identity and location online while encrypting your Internet connection.
November 18th, 2011 by Hide My IP
Online privacy has been an issue for decades now and this week in a move which can really only be described as “better late than never”, the W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium who is the main international standards organization for the web) has published draft standards that allow users to express preferences about online tracking.
The idea behind the new draft standards is to lay down, in black and white, a common way for Internet users to opt-out of being tracked across multiple sites via cookies and other related technologies. Do Not Track (or DNT for short) allows web users to state that they do not want cookies etc to be used to create a behavioral profile (meaning advertising profile) of them based on the sites they have visited and other activities.
In its release announcement, the W3C pointed out that the popularity and usefulness of the web has “privacy implications users may not always recognize.” It points out that advertisers, big web sites (i.e. Amazon, eBay etc), social networking sites (Facebook) and search engines (Google and Bing) routinely collect data from visitors.
This tracking is intrusive and dangerous when it is collected and shared without a user’s consent. If the W3C can force web browsers, web sites and advertisers to implement these standards it will be a great step forward for online privacy. Look at what Dr. Matthias Schunter from IBM said:
“Smarter commerce and marketing strategies can and must coexist with respect for individual privacy.” It is this respect that has been sorely missing from the Internet.
Dr. Schunter, who is the co-chair of the Working Group continues, “Open standards that help design privacy into the fabric of how business and society use the Web can enable trust in a sustainable manner.”
Notice the words like “design privacy into”, “fabric”, “trust.” These are all things that have been missing in the Internet. No one is really to blame, the popularity of the Internet exploded and those responsible for governing its infrastructure have been playing catch up. When Tim Berners-Lee invented the web just twenty short years ago it is certain he didn’t imagine the depth, breadth and richness of its use today. Subsequently he also didn’t foresee the need for privacy measures.
Companies supporting DNT include Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, IBM, Mozilla, Microsoft, Opera and Yahoo. However the current standard is a draft and the final version won’t be available for at least another seven months.
In the mean time, what can you do to protect yourself online? Alongside commonsense actions, like not posting your private details, dates when your house will be empty or your social security number (SSN) on web sites like Facebook or Twitter, you should ensure that you are using the latest version of your web browser (please everyone stop using Internet Explorer 6, I beg you) and that your operating system is up to date.
Then consider privacy tools like Hide My IP, which allows you to conceal your identity online and encrypt your Internet connection or Cookie Crumble to give you more control over the cookies stored on your PC.
November 10th, 2011 by Hide My IP
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled complaints against two online companies that deceptively collected personal information from their users. The first complaint was against Skid-e-kids which was charged with gathering the names, ages, and email addresses of teenagers and children without obtaining consent from a parent or legal guardian. The second complaint was made against the online advertiser ScanScout Inc. which deceptively used Flash cookies to track consumers’ behavior online.
As part of the settlement against Skid-e-kids, Jones O. Godwin, the operator of the site which advertised itself as Facebook and MySpace for children ages 7 to 14, was ordered to pay a $100,000 civil penalty, which could be cut to $1,000 if he complies with various oversight provisions.
Although the site’s online privacy policy stated that children must enter the email address of a parent, the FTC discovered that thousands of children handed over personal information including their birthdays and city of residence without their parent’s knowledge.
The complaint against ScanScout revolves around underhand practices of the company. Although ScanScout stated that its customers could opt-out of the program to track their online behavior by changing their computer’s web browser settings to block cookies. It transpired that, ScanScout used Flash cookies, which at the time browser settings could not block.
As part of the investigation the FTC noted that ScanScout’s privacy policy stated that users could “opt out of receiving a cookie by changing your browser settings to prevent the receipt of cookies.” However, ScanScout intentionally used cookies stored in Adobe Flash which are not blocked by web browsers even if the settings are changed to block normal cookies.
According to Cookies: Leaving a Trail on the Web, a new security and privacy guide published on OnGuardOnline.gov – a FTC sponsored site aimed at educating users about safety, security and responsibility online:
A Flash cookie is a small file stored on your computer by a website that uses Adobe’s Flash player technology. Flash cookies use Adobe’s Flash player to store information about your online browsing activities. Flash cookies can be used to replace cookies used for tracking and advertising, because they also can store your settings and preferences. When you delete or clear cookies from your browser, you won’t necessarily delete the Flash cookies stored on your computer.
The guide goes on to mention that the latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer let you delete Flash cookies through the browser’s settings.
These latest complaints emphasize the need for Internet users to remain vigilant with regards to online privacy and online security, particularly were our children are concerned.
There are tools which exist to help worried users protect themselves online. Tools like Hide My IP allow you to conceal your identity online and encrypt your Internet connection. Other tools like Firewall Fortify monitor your Internet connection and block any Internet traffic that contains any of your personal data including bank account numbers and social security numbers.
The FTC have done a great job in pursuing these companies and making them comply to the law, however there are literally hundreds of thousands of other web sites which could be violating your privacy without your knowledge. Make the effort to protect yourself, you only need to have your personal data stolen once to allow criminals to wreck your life.
