For those that use Startpage for their search engine or are considering it, their privacy policy has been updated/improved. https://www.startpage.com/eng/press/startpage-privacy-gets-better.html Startpage privacy policy gets even better. Thursday, July 5th, 2012 Startpage Stops Recording Browser and Platform Information Entirely. Great news! As of this week, Startpage will no longer record browser type and platform information (also known as the "user agent") of our users. This change has gone live on both Startpage and our sister search engine Ixquick (www.Ixquick.com), and translation of the text into non-English languages is underway. The Data Collection section of our Privacy Policy has been revised to reflect this change. Our privacy policy now reads as follows: Data Collection We don't collect any personal information on our visitors. Nada. Zilch. Zero. When you use Startpage, we do not record your IP address, we do not record which browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.), we do not record your computer platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.), and we do not record your search words or phrases. In fact, the only information we do record is an aggregate total of how many searches are performed on our website each day (a measure of overall traffic), and those overall traffic numbers broken down by language. Our zero data collection policy protects your privacy, since your IP address, browser, and platform information can be combined with other data to uniquely identify your computer, your location, or you. It is also important not to record search terms, since they can convey personal information as well. (Think of someone entering their own name and/or social security number.) We're always looking for more ways to protect your privacy, and now we've gotten our data collection down to literally nothing. We are delighted with this new arrangement, and believe our users will be too!
in every country including the USA, your internet activity can be monitored by someone. there are steps you can take to reduce the change of identity theft and things like that but please don't think your ISP, the NSA or any of the three letter agencies can't find out in less than 30 secs what you've been up to if they decided you were a person of interest. i can't imagine the techs at fort meade at the nsa saying "we cross referenced all of the recent high value targets that we can't access their data - it seems they're all members of a website called elite trader and found a way to be invisible online"
If you're concerned about privacy online, you should be aware of browser fingerprinting. Here is more info: http://panopticlick.eff.org/
If I go to startpage.com will they know I went to startpage.com? Because I already have enough problems I don't want to get on some new list
Even on a VPN they can still see your start and end point. It's harder to see what is being transmitted (but not impossible) however your two points are always visible. I tried the "untraceable" route once like they show in the movies, bouncing from proxy to proxy across a few different countries on different continents. It's a joke. The latency and end-user experience is so horrible it's not even worth your time to try... and unless you know and trust your proxy provider how do you know they aren't collecting your information? If you want to be anonymous take the battery out of your cell phone (or dunk your iPhone in a glass of water) and go have a face to face conversation.
If you use Tor properly... Which requires a lot of attention to detail... You will be "effectively" anonymous. That means the COST of finding you... Will VERY likely EXCEED the resources LE is willing to spend. Your ISP is not even in the picture. This does not apply to lazy or technically illiterate people... You pretty much have to be a career criminal to care that much. ------------------------------------------------------------------ People openly sell hard drugs on Silk Road... You gotta see it to believe it... Which is the #1 application for Bitcoins... Below are some recent articles. "Chris McDonald, an associate professor in computer science at the University of Western Australia and Dartmouth College in the US, says the federal government '' has no chance of beating existing encryption technology such as the TOR network''. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/the-drugs-in-the-mail-20120426-1xnth.html "Law enforcement may not be able to beat TORâs encryption. However, it did not prevent US authorities in April arresting eight men accused of operating The Farmerâs Market -- another service that used the TOR anonymiser to facilitate trade. Undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents had infiltrated the organisation after becoming trusted buyers over several years of investigation. " So LE has to actually infiltrate criminal rings "for years"... Actually buy and ship stuff around the globe... Because they cannot defeat Tor encryption... That, baby, involves millions of $$$ in resources.. http://www.cso.com.au/article/431755/aussie_cops_silk_road_tor_anonymity_guaranteed_/
Not often Joe Louis is quoted on a trading site! For those unfamiliar with the quote he said it just before his knockout of Billy Conn in the 13th Round of their championship fight.
Of course if the FBI, CIA or some other govt agency posted those sites, they will know more about you than you do.
If I was a CIA agent, I would just read all the posts on ET. After all, they don't pay you that much and you might learn something.