 Browsing
in the Nude
Digital
foot prints leave a not-so-secret trail
Let�s
put an end to one myth right now. Surfing the
Web is not an anonymous activity. Far from it.
In fact, much of the technology that makes the
Web possible is used to strip away your anonymity.
Otherwise, how could your favorite Web
sites recognize you, or at least your computer,
every time you came knocking at their virtual
front doors?
The
same technology that allows you to shop at 3 a.m.,
read newspapers from around the world, track stocks,
research a medical condition or help your child
complete a school project can also be tracking
your digital �click prints� across the Web. Over
time, your surfing and shopping preferences-not
to mention all the personal information you enter
on various Web site registration forms-can be
collected to form a very revealing portrait.
Cookies
Anyone?
The heart of that technology is the cookie,
a tiny data file that Web sites store on your
computer. Invented at Netscape way back in 1994,
cookies can make your browsing experience easier
and more efficient. Web sites send you cookies
so they can recognize you when you return. Cookies
can record your user ID, password and other information
so you don�t have to re-key it every time. Without
the cookie, online shopping would be much more
cumbersome and time-consuming.
For instance, shopping carts and �buy later�
features are enabled by cookies. According to
a recent survey conducted for the Electronic Privacy
Information Center, 86 of the top 100 online merchants
use cookies.
However,
not all cookies taste sweet. As the technology
has become more common, its uses have expanded.
Web sites now use cookies to track your surfing
habits and record which pages you visit most frequently-all
in the name of marketing. Some sites display banner
ads targeted specifically to you, based on your
browsing behavior. They pull these banners from
ad networks, and the networks may put their own
cookies on your computer and track you across
many Web sites.
The
Internet is not anonymous, even for hackers. Last
year, investigators tracked down the alleged author
of the Melissa virus in just eight days using
electronic information from America Online. And,
this year, they tracked "Mafia Boy,"
a 15-year old student from Montreal to the CNN.com
attack which occurred in February, 2000.
If
experienced computer hackers can�t cover their
backsides, chances are you�re surfing in the buff
as well.
Watching
Your Cookies
Sites store
personal info on your hard-drive
On
the Internet, cookies are tiny text files that
allow Web sites to store information about you
on your hard-drive. Some Web sites use cookies
to store your user 
name and password, so you don�t have to remember
them every time. Some sites use cookies to personalize
your shopping experience.
Cookies
don�t always invade your privacy. Many sites use
them responsibly in accordance with tough customer-friendly
privacy policies. On the down side, cookies provide
a rather complete and explicit record of your
online browsing paths, and some Web sites use
cookies for undesirable purposes. Cookies may
collect information about you without your consent,
make it available to third parties and file it
without security measures. That's why it's important
to check your cookie jar every once in a while
to be sure you�re getting only the cookies you
want.
Here
are a few tips:
-
Check
to see if your browser is set to automatically
accept or automatically reject cookies. Depending
on your browser brand and version, you may
also have the option to selectively accept
or reject cookies while surfing the Web, as
the browser alerts you when a Web site attempts
to send a cookie to your machine.
-
To
block delivery of new cookies, Netscape users
should look for the Preferences feature on
the browser�s pull-down menus. Click Preferences,
then Advanced. There you can control whether
you accept all cookies, reject all cookies
or accept only those cookies that are sent
back to the originating server (limiting cookies
from passing information on to third parties).
Internet Explorer offers similar cookie control
options. Users should look for Internet Options,
click Security and then Custom Level.
-
You
can check your cookie jar by opening the file
where your cookies are stored. If you use
Netscape on your PC, you�ll find a file on
your hard drive labeled �cookies.txt�. For
Internet Explorer users, you�ll find cookies
in the directory labeled Windows/cookies.
Mac users should look for a file called �magic
cookies.� Go ahead, open it. You�ll see a
detailed list of every site you visited recently.
-
You
can remove existing cookies from your computer
selectively or all at once. In Netscape, go
to Program Files, click the Netscape file,
click the Users file, and you�ll see a file
with your Netscape user name on it. If you
delete the cookies.txt file, all cookies will
be gone. You may also open the file and delete
individual cookies. In Internet Explorer,
go to Windows, Profiles, User Name, and delete
the cookies you don�t want.
-
Be
aware that if you delete a cookie that held
your ID and password for say, the New York
Times� Web site, you�ll have to remember your
ID and password to access the site. You may
have to remember it anyway � many reputable
sites code their cookies to expire after a
short period of time.
-
You
may want to acquire a software cookie management
program to monitor your cookies. Programs
such the free Internet Junkbuster Proxy from
Junkbusters alert you to the contents
of new cookies and their purpose. They allow
you to automatically accept or reject cookies
from specific Web sites. We are in the process
of evaluating several such cookie management
products. Check back for our recommendations
soon.
- Be
aware that not all cookie removal programs work
with all machines and browsers. Most will work
with any Windows machine, but some, like Zero
Knowledge's Freedom, an excellent turnkey program
which also allows you to surf the Web under
pseudonyms, will not work with America Online.
So, be sure to check these requirements before
signing up.
Your
Web at Work
You certainly can�t surf anonymously at work.
If your workplace computer is part of a corporate
network, your Web browsing habits can be monitored,
logged and accessed by your employer-just like
email. This must be news to many people. Interestingly
enough, traffic at X-rated Web sites is busiest
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Even better, 20 percent
of surveyed men and 12 percent of women admit
that they�ve accessed sexual material on work
computers.
An
estimated 12 million Americans regularly visit
X-rated Web sites-and some are learning the hard
way that it doesn�t pay to do it at work. Not
long ago in an upscale suburb of Nashville, a
veteran gym teacher was fired after the school
district found he�d visited more than a 100 pornographic
Web sites in the--hmm--privacy of his office.
Corporate
snooping into employee Web habits is widespread.
According to IDC, 45 percent of all companies
use monitoring software, and the number will hit
80 percent by 2001. Among the big-name companies
doing so: Delta Airlines and Exxon record every
computer keystroke entered by an employee. The
American Management Association found that 27
percent of employers store and review employee
email, 21 percent store and review their computer
files, and 15 percent record their computer usage
time and keystrokes.
Improper
Web usage and emails have led to firings. Not
long ago, for instance, Xerox booted 40 people
for spending work time looking at X-rated web
sites and shopping online, the New York Times
fired 23 people apparently for transmitting offensive
emails across the corporate network.
 Reduce
Browsing Risks
Keep Your Browsing Private
Many
Web sites use cookie technology and other methods
to track your movements and to compile information
about you. Here are some basic  things
to consider to reduce your risks of privacy invasion
while browsing:
Use
an anonymous or proxy browsing service to conceal
your identity. These special programs allow you
to surf under alternative identities, so that
you can browse anonymously. They also block cookies
from being transmitted to your PC. There are anonymous
browsers (like Anonymizer) which users can
purchase which block cookies and mask your IP
address- these are well worth the low cost.
Anonymous
Browsing
You can limit the amount of memory set aside for
the cache. So, older pages are automatically deleted
as new pages are stored. You can also set how
often your browser compares cached pages to online
pages to record updates. If pages you visit are
updated often (such as a newspaper Web site),
setting the cache to update pages every time means
your cache will store less old information. You
can also use the cache controls, found in Netscape�s
pull-down menus under Preferences and in Internet
Explorer�s pull-down menus under Internet Options
to empty the existing cache.
-
You
can enter a Web site without being followed.
Both Netscape and Internet Explorer have a
simple control that lets you enter a new site
without the browser software keeping a record
in its cache or history files. Here�s how:
Simply press the Ctrl button and the letter
O, which will bring up a dialog box. Enter
the site�s URL into the box.
-
Learn
to clear or control your browser�s history
file. Clearing the history prevents snoopers
from seeing a file of all the Web sites you�ve
visited. Limiting the size of the history
list also helps. In Netscape, select Preferences
from the pull-down Edit menu, and then click
Navigator to find the controls to clear your
history file. To control the size of the file,
enter a lower number of days in the history
expiration box. In Internet Explorer, the
same functions are found under the menu called
View in any IE version 4.x and Tools in any
IE version 5.x. Select Internet Options, click
the General button, and find the tools to
clear the history file or adjust its expiration
date.
-
Use
ad-filtering software to screen out cookies
from banner ads. Privacy
Shop features anonymous browsers with
ad filtering features.
-
Consider
using a digital
certificate. A digital certificate is
like your unique signature. It is used to
authenticate that a person or entity is indeed
who they say they are.
-
The
Intel Pentium III microchip�s Processor Serial
Number is a unique ID number than can be used
to track you on the Web and enable more complete
profiling of your browsing and buying habits.
The good news is, if your PC is equipped with
a Pentium III chip, you can turn the PSN off.
Use the Intel Processor Serial Number Control
Utility. If you need to download that utility,
you can find the latest version at Intel�s
Web site, www.intel.com.
However, be alert that computer security experts
at various organizations have shown that the
PSN can be turned on remotely without your
knowledge by an experienced hacker. Intel
has announced its future chips will not include
the PSN.
-
You
may also wish to encrypt your Netscape Bookmarks
or IE Favorites. Otherwise, anyone with access
to your computer can see the list of Web pages
you find most interesting � your kids, your
boss or a coworker.
Common
sense can safeguard your browsing privacy, and
some new products can help, too. Check out these
resources:
Find Out
about Anonymous Broswers |
