Privacy - How to keep your secrets

Most of this website is about getting yourself heard. If you are putting an expensive website onto the Internet then we advise:

• Putting name, address, telephone number on the homepage,
• Having your photo, and all your key contact staff,
• Putting Email response form links on every page,
• Submitting to all the popular search engines,
• Putting your website URL on the sig-line of every Email
• Taking part in discussion groups in the topics of your interests

But there are those that want to be private. As many as 70% of the residents in some areas are ex-directory. Some people do not vote at elections because their names and addresses would be published in the electoral register. They sign up for the direct mail register so they cut down on the junk mail sent to them.

But it is probably right not to be public if you have attractive children, are not fit and strong to defend your home, have expensive furniture, valuable equipment, or jewellery; or are often away from home.

For these people the Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org have 12 suggestions, and a much fuller desciption of the following:

1) Do not reveal personal information inadvertently.

Most of the computer programs, like Email handlers, browsers etc, have options that you can set to specify personal details. Leave them blank. Or if the system insists, then give a reasonable looking but fictitious name. It might be polite to give a name and address that would be obvious to a human is fictitious: Joe Bloggs, 123 High Street, Nowhere XX9 9XX should do it.

2) Turn on cookie notices in your Web browser

There is an option in your browser to display a warning if any visited website wants to send you a cookie to be stored in the C:/windows/cookies/ sub-directory. I do not set this option and currently have 372 cookies on my file which may help websites to give me more personal service when I call on them again.

3) Keep a "clean" e-mail address.

Use an Email address from one of the free services for all general correspondence and as the return address in your browser. If too many spam messages come your way, cancel it and start a new one.

Keep your proper Email address for friends and trusted business contacts.

4) Don't reveal personal details to strangers or just-met "friends".

Credit card security is discussed below.

Do not tell anyone where you live or details of your life. If you get to meet someone with whom you have communicated on the Internet, meet in a public place, and perhaps take a friend along.

For this reason I am moving my family pages off the Waller website into another area which I shall tell only to my friends. Even though I am very proud of them all.

5) Realise you may be monitored at work

If your computer is on an Intranet at work, then there is really no privacy. Keep your personal stuff on a separate computer. Be guarded in what you say in Emails. Put the standard company disclaimer on all Emails. If your company is not checking Emails in and out, at least on a sample basis, then they should be. The penalties for broadcasting scurrilous messages can be very severe.

6) Beware sites that offer some sort of reward or prize

A very good way for a sales website to get personal information from you is to offer a reward for filling in the response form. Don't reply.

7) Do not reply to spammers, for any reason.

If you reply, or even ask for your name to be removed from the spammers list, this confirms that the Email has been read by an actual person, and you will receive even more spams.

If spam really troubles you, you can send the complete Email with all its headers to your ISP, normally at an address starting abuse@ something.

There are some spam filters available. I have not tried any of them but http://SpamCop.net looks promising.

8) Be conscious of Web security.

Most important, do not key in your credit card number except in a secure server, and then only when it is a well-known supplier who you trust. A secure server will show on your browser with a closed lock icon at the bottom in Windows, or at the top on Mac. You might look at the address line which should show shtml:// ... and if it does not, then key in the 's' and see if you get the same page.

9) Be conscious of home computer security.

If you have DSL or ADSL connection to the Internet, then the backdoor of your computer is always open. Always switch off your computer when you leave it. I am suspicious of ADSL because of this.

You can install Firewall software to protect you, same as Intranet ports to the outside world will always have, but this is not a trivial task.

10) Examine privacy policies and seals.

Boring though it is, you should read the privacy policy statement of any website with whom you want to do business. If there is a seal, check on the seal issuers website that the seal is valid for that website, and has not been withdrawn.

11) Remember that YOU decide what information to reveal

You are in charge. If you do not want to reveal information, then don't.

12) Use encryption

There are some good encryption software programs available. If things are really sensitive, even up to defence of the realm, then this is the way to go.

Or perhaps not use the Internet. But the world would be a duller place without that!

Use Ad-aware from http://www.lavasoft.de

A large number of freeware developers are using ads with small 'spyware' programs that sit on your hard disk and send information back to the advertisers when you are on line. On request, Ad-aware scans the PC boot-drive, system registry, and memory and highlights any detected files and references them for deletion.