How to Muddy Your Tracks on the Internet!

[yortsed snacilbuper]

it's probably impossible to cloak your online activities fully, you can take steps to do the technological equivalent of throwing on a pair of boxers and a T-shirt. Some of these measures are quite easy and many are free. Of course, the more effort and money you expend, the more concealed you are. The trick is to find the right balance between cost, convenience and privacy.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/technology/how-to-muddy-your-tracks-on-the-internet-634276/

[SharonAnn]

1. Thanks, good article!

[snagglepuss]

2. Very interesting advice. K & R

[canoeist52]

3. Good site, but my Firefox program "Ghostery" (which they list in the article)

found 11 tracking cookies on that page.

[saras]

5. So block 'em or edit 'em - Firebug & Firecookie

I can't stop them from putting cookies on my computer without stuff not working.

I'm under no obligation to let those cookies tell the truth, though.

[unc70]

4. Only helps the tiniest amount

I have written a lot about this on DU2, mostly, and it is nearly impossible to have any effect.

All those sites using google analytics and its relatives (including DU), all the related APIs , ad servers, video and picture set ices, image and video applications, anything from Adobe, and the great majority of Open Source software leave your tracks and much more.

Check my DU2 journal archive for more.

Even without any if that, the more you restrict what you use, the more those restrictions themselves make you nearly unique.

[saras]

6. The point is not to restrict but to confuse

I use "https everywhere". Easy enough to hack, if they're after me. But if they're just browsing, nope.

I can't sell many others on this technique, but where I actually go on the internet - I open hundreds of pages a day of random strange and extreme stuff. It takes not more than a couple minutes, and is amusing enough to be worth it.

The trick is not to conceal yourself (impossible) but to generate a fake profile through bogus activity (not hard).

[bemildred]

7. It is entirely possible to mask your activities on the internet completely.

It is after all just a string of bits. As with pictures and hard drives, you can put anything you want there if you know how, create fake identities, anything you like. But it's technically challenging and a lot of work, and you have to acquire the means.

And then there is encryption and obfuscation and lying, and such things as Saras mentions. Create some background scripts that keep your connection busy all the time, give them a pile of dung to sort through trying to figure you out.

But why bother? The internet is not about privacy, was not built for privacy, the internet was built to be open, and for good reasons too.

[Sherman A1]

8. Thanks for posting

Looks like a good piece!