I have read that there is a record somewhere of what websites I visit, what I write in my e-mail, my ET posts, etc. The only obvious evidence of this being done is pop-up advertisements from companies that know what city I live in. Everything I do is honest and legal, but it still makes me nervous to think that someone is compiling data on me that could possibly be used in ways that I do not agree with in the future. I am currently on a 1 week free trial with Cryptohippie (https://secure.cryptohippie.com/). It is a service that masks your IP address while surfing the web. It seems to work pretty well, but it does slow me down a bit when surfing the web and makes financial videos lag at times. However, if someone is really compiling information on me and if cryptohippie really makes me anonymous, then I do not mind this occasional minor inconvenience. Does anyone have any information on how and who is spying on us while we are online, how it can be used against us, how to protect ourselves and any experience with Cryptohippie? Thanks.
External programs like Cryptohippe aren't necessary. All you need to do is google "public proxies" and get the IP of a proxy out there. Then configure your browser to use the proxy, and everywhere you go you'll leave the proxy IP instead of your own. That's all Cryptohippe and other programs do. It's also why websites you go to are slower (the proxy is used by a lot of folks and the traffic routed through there has it's share of bandwidth). Of course, if someone wanted to spy on you they would go to your ISP and simply check the traffic that goes between you and wherever you go to access whatever it is you want. The ISP has complete information regarding what it is you down/upload. You can use SSL encryption to thwart this somewhat, but wherever you're going to/getting from has to have the same SSL encryption. Then, whoever might want to intercept anything would get encrypted data. I'm sure there are better techies than myself who might be able to add more.
Instead of using public Proxy Server to mask IP Address, are there any program that can be loaded on the local workstation to mask IP Address to protect from website spying ?
Shouldn't it be included in the package with Windows ? No really, the only one protecting our rights on the Internet are the Hackers... I mean without them it will not have been possible to know that COP15 was a fuking scam ! Where is my privacy ? and yours ? Or as said President Barack Obama in is faboulus speech of the 7 january : "Now, there is, of course, no foolproof solution. As we develop new screening technologies and procedures, our adversaries will seek new ways to evade them, as was shown by the Christmas attack. " the old story of the sword and the shield...
I have reservations about proxies hiding IPs. Someone please explain how if you go to two completely different proxies and download something from a site that has limits per time, the site states that you have already exceeded the download limit. I've seen that, and somehow something doesn't jive there.
Have you used it? Being a non-profit organization whose service is free and used by law-enforcement, journalists, etc. sounds good. But I am concerned that the "volunteers" who bounce my signal around the globe could be anyone, including hackers.