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If you're like most people, you probably do not think much about online privacy. You have nothing to hide, is not it, so why would you cover your tracks online?
The fact is that if you are using a classic browser such as Chrome or Safari and if you are doing most of your research through a non-private search engine such as Google or Bing, third-party websites and others Unknown entities can track each of your trips. .
According to a study by Princeton University on the first million websites, the Web is peppered with third-party trackers. The news sites are among the worst offenders, with an average of 40 trackers in the background. The most common trackers are owned by Google and its affiliates, as well as Facebook and Twitter, but many sites are also operated by dubious entities in countries such as Russia and Germany.
Even if you go into the Chrome settings and turn on the "do not track" feature, these are just browser requests. It turns out that the biggest tech companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter do not comply with the "do not follow" requests.
Taken together, a pervasive technology company such as Google can scan your entire online footprint to paint a remarkably accurate picture of you, both public and private. Google and Facebook use this data to sell advertisements, although hackers can use them for perhaps more sinister purposes.
OK, so now you may be thinking, "It's time to make my Internet business more private." Let's look at the different ways to do it.
1. Use incognito mode on your browser
The first (and simplest) method is to access the browser you normally use and set it to the "incognito" status. For example, if you use Chrome, you click the three dots at the top right and select New Incognito Window. The little hat icon and the glasses will appear plus a dark screen (to delete, just click on the icon and select Exit Incognito.) Other browsers have similar names or features.
If you use Incognito mode on your browser, this means that information such as browsing history or downloaded cookies are not automatically stored on your device. However, your activity may still be visible to the organization providing the Internet connection, such as a college or business. In addition, the websites you visit may still have access to your information. And these settings will do nothing to prevent third-party entities from leaving cookies in your browser or seeing your unique IP address. In other words, you can always be followed "in the dark".
2. Use a private search engine
Level two, confidentiality would be to use a private search engine rather than the widespread Google. These include DuckDuckGo, Ghostery and Startpage. They all promise to avoid the myriad of third party trackers who spy on you behind the scenes.
"There is a lack of knowledge of the volume of data collected," said Daniel Davis, DuckDuckGo's Communications Manager. "People are sort of hoping that when you use a search engine like Google, your search terms will be saved somewhere and tracked. do not realize, it is the magnitude of other data related to these, search queries and the third parties with which it is shared ".
DuckDuckGo does not block ad serving in the browser. But instead of collecting a lot of data like Google to broadcast "behavioral advertising," DuckDuckGo uses "contextual advertising." This means that it only shows ads containing keywords that are directly related to your search terms.
It's true that search terms include a lot of private information: questions about personal health issues, financial information such as the name of your bank or mortgage lender, lots of geographic data, and even your relationship preferences. love.
But a lot of other data can be related to these search queries. If you use Gmail, Google can collect all kinds of information about your online purchases and your upcoming travel plans and link them to your search terms. And if you're also using the Google Chrome browser, think about the staggering amounts of data that can be extracted from your browser's history. Not to mention that you also use Google Maps and other Google products.
These private search engines work in a similar way. For example, you can install the DuckDuckGo browser extension on any main browser by simply accessing the DuckDuckGo website. On their homepage, a large icon invites you to "Add DuckDuckGo" to Firefox, Chrome or any other browser. (DuckDuckGo also has mobile browsers for Android and iOS).
The installation of the extension makes DuckDuckGo your default search engine. Thus, when you type search terms in the address bar, no data is collected about your search and nothing is shared with the sites you click in the search results. DuckDuckGo search. DuckDuckGo uses an algorithm that includes Yahoo and Bing results as well as 400 other sources to compile its search results. (Startpage uses Google for its search results but submits queries anonymously.)
The DuckDuckGo browser extension automatically uses the encrypted version of any website. If you've noticed, most websites use the prefix "https" instead of "http" at the beginning of their web address. This additional "s" means that your connection to the website is encrypted, so no other party can listen to the data exchanged between your computer and the website. You will also see a small padlock icon next to the encrypted web addresses.
Strangely, even websites with an "https" version do not always make this encrypted connection available by default. The DuckDuckGo browser extension applies each time the encrypted version.
The DuckDuckGo also offers a "level of confidentiality". For every website you visit, DuckDuckGo assigns it a rating of A + F based on three criteria: the existence of an encrypted connection, the number of third party trackers found on the site and the strength and the transparency of the site's privacy policy.
The cookies are poorly known, but Davis notes that not all cookies are bad. For example, you want your social networks and your e-mail service to leave cookies on your browser, so you do not have to log in from scratch every time. DuckDuckGo and other privacy browsers usually maintain these proprietary cookies, although they block third-party tracking by default.
However, you can change your preferences to block all cookies and clean your browser cache after each session.
3. Use an anonymous browser
OK, you may not want any trace of your Internet activity. Then you might want to look at a browser like Tor. As Tor's website says, "Tor protects you by bouncing your communications over a distributed network of volunteer-managed relays from around the world: this prevents someone who's watching your Internet connection from learning about them." the sites you visit and the sites you visit learn about your physical location. " Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote connection, and other TCP-based applications. Tor was used for Edward Snowden's outreach activities and for communication at the Arab Spring events.
Rather than adding an extension to an existing browser, you download the Tor browser as a replacement. It warns you that it will block Flash, RealPlayer and other add-ins. It also specifies which background scripts can be executed and erases everything at the end of each Internet session, including cookies left by other sites and the browser history of the site. ;application.
Wired magazine noted that this browser is running slower than others because of the additional encryption ", but it's even the best choice for staying invisible on the web.It can even help you connect to countries where the Internet is blocked or censored. "
Other anonymous browsers include Epic, which provides access to a free VPN and Brave. In any case, you download a browser rather than using an existing browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari.
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