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. Go to Privacy Shop to learn about anonymouse browsers. s  

• Learn how to delete the digital trail from your browser cache. Your browser’s cache stores images from sites you regularly visit to make them load faster on your next visit. (Internet Explorer refers to the cache as ‘Temporary Internet Files.’). The cache makes it possible for someone else to find out where you’ve been browsing on the Web. You can adjust your cache via the preference section of your browser.

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:
Go to Privacy Shop to Find Out about Anonymous Broswers