Location tracking

Any website or app can determine the approximate location of your computer or device by using one of several technologies.  If you are using a computer, your IP address can identify your approximate location.  Most IP addresses can identify you by your city or metropolitan area.  Some can identify a more specific location.

You can block your IP address by utilizing a service based on proxy chain which effectively blocks this information.  Another alternative is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN replaces your IP address with one from the VPN provider. A VPN subscriber can obtain an IP address from any gateway city the VPN service provides.

If your are using a wireless connection, Wi-Fi triangulation can determine your location by surveying nearby wireless networks.  Similarly, GPS triangulation can determine your location from a network of satellites.  GPS triangulation is more accurate than Wi-Fi triangulation.  Finally, cell phone tower identification can determine the location of a smartphone.

Your location information might be used for a useful purpose, for example, providing accurate travel directions.  However, it may also be stored and combined with other information about you and used for behavioral marketing and other purposes.

In December 2010, the Wall Street Journal investigated 101 smartphone apps to see what data the apps were sharing with advertisers. It found that 47 of these apps transmitted the smartphone’s location. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576020083703574602.html

Location information can pose a significant privacy risk, particularly when it is stored or combined with other information about you.  It can reveal your whereabouts at any given time, including your presence at sensitive locations.  It can be dangerous for individuals who are stalking or domestic violence victims.

However, Most major browsers and mobile operating systems offer a mechanism for disabling location tracking. Be sure you have disabled location tracking if you are not willing to share your location information with others.

Marketing

The Internet can be useful to businesses for marketing purposes.  Through the Internet, businesses can sell and communicate with customers.  The Internet also allows businesses to identify and learn about their customer base. 

Additionally, many customers expect that a company they interact with in the physical world will also have an online presence.  What consumers may not be aware of is how all of these purposes interact.  When a business meets your need of having a website with store hours and directions, it may also meets its need of determining how many customers may want to go to a particular store branch.

Web bugs. Many websites use Web bugs to track who is viewing their pages.  A Web bug (also known as a tracking bug, pixel tag, Web beacon, or clear gif) is a graphic in a website or a graphic-enabled e-mail message.  The Web bug can confirm when the message or page is viewed and record the IP address of the viewer.

An example you might be familiar with is an electronic greeting card.  Hallmark and other companies allow you to request that you be notified when the recipient views your card.  The sites likely employ Web bugs to tell them when the recipient viewed the card.

Unfortunately, users have little control over the data collection by Web bugs on most sites. Furthermore, Web bugs placed by third-parties are not governed by a website's privacy policy.

Online Privacy Tip: You can defeat e-mail Web bugs by reading your e-mail while offline, an option on most e-mail programs.  Some e-mail systems avoid Web bugs by blocking images that have URLs embedded in them.  You might have seen the message “To protect your privacy, portions of this e-mail have not been downloaded.”  This message refers to Web bugs.  You can choose to allow these images to be downloaded, but they likely contain Web bugs.

Direct marketing.  Consumers may notice that online newspapers and other businesses have boxes asking you if the site can save your account information for future transactions.  Whether it asks you for permission to save your information or not, you can bet that your information is being stored and used by the marketing department. 

Websites have increased their use of direct marketing.  Direct marketing is a sales pitch targeted to a person based on prior consumer choices.   For example, Amazon may recommend books that are similar to others you have purchased.

Use of your information for marketing is not limited to companies you do business with.  Many companies sell or share your information to others.  If you sign up for a free magazine subscription, the company may share your information with affiliates.  This is similar to what happens with traditional junk mail, but since you have entered the information yourself into an electronic system, sharing with other businesses can be done rapidly and cheaply. 

To avoid spam laws, most sites ask your permission to send you future information and offers.  However, this permission is often presumed and the permission box already checked.  To avoid the use of your information this way, always uncheck boxes that state that you agree to receive periodic offers and information.

Behavioral marketing or targeting refers to the practice of collecting and compiling a record of individuals' online activities, interests, preferences, and/or communications over time. Companies engaged in behavioral targeting routinely monitor individuals, the searches they make, the pages they visit, the content they view, their interactions on social networking sites, and the products and services they purchase.  Further, when consumers are using mobile devices, even their physical location may be tracked. This data may be compiled, analyzed, and combined with information from offline sources to create even more detailed profiles.

Marketers can then use this information to serve advertisements to a consumer based on his or her behavioral record. Ads may be displayed based upon an individual's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made. Advertisers believe that this may help them deliver their online advertisements to the users who are most likely to be influenced by them.  

Behavioral information can be used on its own or in conjunction with other forms of targeting based on factors like geography or demographics. Marketers have developed an array of sophisticated data collection and profiling tools which monitor and analyze our online activity.  Over 1300 tracking companies utilize more than 2800 tracking scripts to deliver advertising that is targeted consumers' online activity.

Typically, behavioral targeting is accomplished through use of a cookie, flash cookie, device fingerprinting, or other technologies that identify a user or device. Whatever the technology used, it attempts to personalize ads based upon the user's online history and possibly other external data.

Behavioral marketing is much more sophisticated than so-called “contextual marketing” by which marketers target users with ads that are served based solely upon on a given web page's content.  In February 2009, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report, “Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising.” The report examined behavioral marketing and proposed principles to govern industry self-regulatory efforts.

In March 2012, the FTC issued a report setting forth best practices for businesses to protect the privacy of American consumers and give them greater control over the collection and use of their personal data. In the report, the FTC also recommended that Congress consider enacting general privacy legislation, data security and breach notification legislation, and data broker legislation.

The March 2012 FTC report calls on companies handling consumer data to implement recommendations for protecting privacy, including:

•  Privacy by Design - companies should build in consumers' privacy protections at every stage in developing their products. These include reasonable security for consumer data, limited collection and retention of such data, and reasonable procedures to promote data accuracy
• Simplified Choice for Businesses and Consumers - companies should give consumers the option to decide what information is shared about them, and with whom. This should include a Do-Not-Track mechanism that would provide a simple, easy way for consumers to control the tracking of their online activities
•  Greater Transparency - companies should disclose details about their collection and use of consumers' information, and provide consumers access to the data collected about them.

When you are online, you provide information to others at almost every step of the way.  Fortunately, Often this information is like a puzzle that needs to be combined together to make sense before your picture is revealed. So, get to know these potentially dangerous activities and avoid the leaking of personal information as best as you can is very important. 

Signing up for Internet service
If you use a computer to access the Internet and pay for the service yourself, you signed up with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP provides the mechanism for connecting to the Internet.
Each computer connected to the Internet, including yours, has a unique address, known as an IP address (Internet Protocol address). It takes the form of four sets of numbers separated by dots, for example: 123.45.67.890. It’s that number that actually allows you to send and receive information over the Internet. 
Depending upon your type of service, your IP address may be "dynamic", that is, one that changes periodically, or "static", one that is permanently assigned to you for as long as you maintain your service.
Your IP address by itself doesn’t provide personally identifiable information. However, because your ISP knows your IP address, it is a possible weak link when it comes to protecting your privacy.

Browsing the Internet
 Although it may not seem like you are giving very much information, when you browse the Internet you are relaying personal information to websites.  Your browser provides your IP address to the site operators.  As you move from site to site online, numerous companies utilize sophisticated methods to track and identify you, mostly for commercial purpose. 
Almost all browsers give you some control over how much information is kept and stored. Generally, you can change the settings to restrict cookies and enhance your privacy. Most major browsers now offer a "Private Browsing" tool to increase your privacy.  However, researchers have found that "Private Browsing" may fail to purge all traces of online  activity.  Many popular browser extensions and plugins undermine the security of "Private Browsing".

Search engines
Most of us navigate the Internet by using search engines. Search engines have and use the ability to track each one of your searches. They can record your IP address, the search terms you used, the time of your search, and other information.  We encourage you to closely review your search engine's privacy policy.
You may also inadvertently reveal information through your search strings.  For example, you might do a search to determine if your Social Security number appears on any websites.  You might enter the search terms " Jane Doe 123-45-6789."   The Google search string might look like this: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=Jane+Roe+123-45-6789&btnG=Googl... Retention of that search string would mean that your search engine has a record of your name and Social Security number.
For more information about search engines & privacy, see: http://www.iproxyever.com/1/post/2014/04/privacy-and-search-engines.html

Cookies
When you visit different websites, many of the sites deposit data about your visit, called "cookies," on your hard drive. Cookies are pieces of information sent by a web server to a user's browser. Cookies may include information such as login or registration identification, user preferences, online "shopping cart" information, and so on. The browser saves the information, and sends it back to the web server whenever the browser returns to the website. The web server may use the cookie to customize the display it sends to the user, or it may keep track of the different pages within the site that the user accesses.
For example, if you use the Internet to complete the registration card for a product, such as a computer or television, you generally provide your name and address, which then may be stored in a cookie.  Legitimate websites use cookies to make special offers to returning users and to track the results of their advertising. These cookies are called first-party cookies.
However, there are some cookies, called third-party cookies, that  communicate data about you to an advertising clearinghouse which in turn shares that data with other online marketers. These third-party cookies include "tracking cookies" which use your online history to deliver other ads. 

Using Mobile Apps
If you use a smartphone or other mobile device to access the Internet, chances are that you may be using mobile applications (apps) rather than an Internet browser for many online activities. An app is a program you can download and access directly using your mobile device.There are hundreds of thousands of apps available, including numerous free or low-priced choices.  Unfortunately, apps can collect all sorts of data and transmit it to the app-maker and/or third-party advertisers. This data may then be shared or sold.  
When you install an app, you are allowing it to access certain data on your phone.  What data does it collect, how does it store your data, and where is your data going? These are the questions you should be asking. You may be able to find the answers in the app’s privacy policy. However, many mobile apps do not have privacy policies, and when they do, they are often dense with legalese, lengthy, and difficult to read on devices with smaller screens.
Some of the data points that an app may access from your smartphone or mobile device include:

• your phone and email contacts
• call logs
• internet data
• calendar data
• data about the device’s location
• the device’s unique IDs
• information about how you use the app itself

Using e-mail
When you correspond through e-mail you are no doubt aware that you are giving information to the recipient. You might also be giving information to any number of people, including your employer, the government, your e-mail provider, and anybody that the recipient passes your message to.  An unencrypted e-mail message can potentially be seen by anyone while in transit.  If sent from an employer-owned device, it could be read by your employer.
If you use a webmail service such as Gmail or Yahoo, your e-mails could be scanned by the webmail provider, both to detect spam and to deliver advertising content. Gmail scans incoming e-mails and places relevant advertisements next to the e-mail.  Yahoo Mail says that it performs "automated content scanning and analyzing of your communications content.” If your recipient uses Gmail, Google will scan your message and provide advertisements to the recipient even if you, the sender, do not use Gmail. Microsoft's webmail service Outlook states that it does not use the content of customers’ emails to target advertising.

Instant messaging (IM)
IM conversations have a feel of casualness about them, which can lead some to let down their guard.  Although seemingly informal, IM conversations can be archived, stored, and recorded on your computer as easily as e-mails.
The rule that "delete does not mean delete" applies to IM conversations as well as e-mail. Virtually all IM programs have the ability to archive and the IM program may automatically turn this feature on. Archiving IM conversations simply means saving the conversation in a text file just like you would any other file, such as a Word document.  Some of these IM programs automatically save your chats unless you select otherwise.
It is important to realize that your conversation can be saved onto a computer even if only one person agrees. When you are talking to a person over IM, they do not need to tell you if they are recording and saving your conversation. If you want to make sure that your Google Talk conversation partner is not saving your chat on their computer you can select the feature called "off the record."

Social networking
Online social networks are websites that allow users to build connections and relationships to other Internet users. Social networking can be used to keep in touch with friends, make new contacts and find people with similar interests and ideas.
Secondary use of information posted to social networks is a major problem. Although you may post a picture or comment online that is intended to be seen only by friends, it can be difficult to control re-use of that information by others. By adjusting the privacy settings on your social networking sites to the highest privacy level, you may be able to limit the amount of information leaked for secondary uses. 
Many people besides friends and acquaintances are interested in the information people post on social networks.  Identity thieves, scam artists, debt collectors, stalkers, and corporations looking for a market advantage are using social networks to gather information about consumers.  Companies that operate social networks are themselves collecting a variety of data about their users, both to personalize the services for the users and to sell to advertisers. 

Blogging
Web logs, or “blogs,” are journals (or newsletters) that are frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Depending on the service you use to post your blog, your private information may be available. Generally blog services will allow you at least some control over how much personal information you make public. Read the service agreement carefully to determine exactly what is required and what will be revealed.
Most blogs also allow comments by readers. Although some allow you to comment anonymously, others require registration and at least an e-mail address. Consider carefully how much information you’re willing to give and if you want your personal information linked to your comments or posts forever.  Most blogs will record your IP address, which may enable them to determine your identity.  In addition, if the blog has placed a cookie on your device, it may be able to associate your post with other comments that you have made.
In addition to information you may be providing through signing up for the blog, the contents of your blog are published for everyone, including employers, to see.  There have been reports of employers firing employees for blogging.  The content does not even necessarily have to be about the employer.

People are paying for digital services with their personal information. This is only becoming worse. I am talking about smartphones, social media and online games. You pay with your privacy, whether you want to or not, because you have ‘’no choice’’. You just follow the crowd. Many people have an iPhone, use Twitter, play Wordfued or Draw Something. They also agree to a huge list of conditions (which almost nobody  reads), and give away all the personal information to a few American organizations who can do whatever they want to with your information. You tell them everything; who you are, what you like, who you know, what kind of music you listen to, and the movies you watch. But also; who you are mailing, what you write in a mail, your location and where you are going to. You tell them everything.

In the meantime you are being filmed by security cameras and other iPhones. You are in a video on YouTube, being tagged on Facebook, or someone is mentioning you in a blog or Tweet. All this information will be saved, exchanged and even sold behind your back.

The online privacy is getting more and more public. It is time for us to do something, or privacy as we know it today, will no longer exist in the future.

Major search engines have said they need to retain personal data, in part, to provide better services, to thwart security threats, to keep people from gaming search ranking results, and to combat click fraud scammers. However, major search engines often have retained this data for over a year, seemingly well beyond the time frame necessary to address these concerns. Some search engines have reduced the time that they retain users' IP addresses. Major search engines delete or anonymize IP addresses according to the following schedule:

• Yahoo-18 months
• Bing (formerly MSN/Windows Live)-6 months
• Google-9 months

Startpage (www.startpage.com), a search engine operated by Ixquick, based in The Netherlands, does not record users’ IP addresses at all.  The privacy policy was created partially in response to fears that if the company retained the information, it would eventually be misused. The company concluded, “If the data is not stored, users privacy can't be breached.”  Startpage will remove all identifying information from your query and submit it anonymously to Google. Startpage uses advanced encryption technology for your search queries.

DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com/) is another search engine that, according to its Privacy Policy "does not collect or share personal information".  Their full Privacy Policy is at https://duckduckgo.com/privacy.

Online Privacy Tip:  It's a good idea to avoid using the same website for both your web-based email and as your search engine.  Web email accounts will always require some type of a login, so if you use the same site as your search engine, your searches can be connected to your email account.  By using different websites for different needs -- perhaps Yahoo for your email and Google for your searches -- you can help limit the total amount of information retained by any one site.  Alternatively, log out of your email and clear your browser's cookies (see Cookies below) before going to other sites, so that your searches and browsing are not connected to your email address.  Another method for preventing a search engine from associating your searches and web browsing with your web mail account is to use a different browser for your email account than for your searches and web browsing.

Online Privacy Tip:  Avoid downloading search engine toolbars (for example, the Google toolbar or Yahoo toolbar). Toolbars may permit the collection of information about your web surfing habits.  Watch out that you do not inadvertently download a toolbar when downloading software, particularly free software.

Online Privacy Tip:  Google combines information about you from most of its services, including its search engine, Gmail, and YouTube.  Be sure to disable automatic sign-ins by following the instructions at http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=39273.  Also be sure to clear your browser's cache and cookies by following the instructions athttps://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en.  While you must be signed in to access Gmail, most Google services can be used without being signed in to your account.

If you use a computer to access the Internet and pay for the service yourself, you signed up with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP provides the mechanism for connecting to the Internet.

Each computer connected to the Internet, including yours, has a unique address, known as an IP address (Internet Protocol address). It takes the form of four sets of numbers separated by dots, for example: 123.45.67.890. It’s that number that actually allows you to send and receive information over the Internet. 

Depending upon your type of service, your IP address may be "dynamic", that is, one that changes periodically, or "static", one that is permanently assigned to you for as long as you maintain your service.

Your IP address by itself doesn’t provide personally identifiable information. However, because your ISP knows your IP address, it is a possible weak link when it comes to protecting your privacy.  ISPs have widely varying policies for how long they store IP addresses.  Unfortunately, many ISPs do not disclose their data retention policies.  This can make it difficult to shop for a “privacy-friendly” ISP.

When you visit a website, the site can see your IP address. Your IP address can let a site know your geographical region. The level of accuracy depends upon how your ISP assigns IP addresses.

You can block your IP address by utilizing a service based on Tor (such as iProxyEver) which effectively blocks this information.  Another alternative is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN replaces your IP address with one from the VPN provider. A VPN subscriber can obtain an IP address from any gateway city the VPN service provides.  

If you access the Internet with a smartphone or other mobile device, you may access the internet using a data plan tied to your cellular phone service or through a Wi-Fi hotspot.  If you have a data plan, your service provider (such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile) collects data about your usage. 

Anonymity when using the internet is a thing which can be taken for granted in today’s world. When a person surfs the web their computer is given a public IP address. This address can be used to determine much information about a computer which is linked to the internet. Information such as country of origin, state, region and city can be determined from an IP not to mention it can be used to track things such as what sites you may have visited while surfing the web. As a user of the internet you may not want to have such information readily available for anyone in the world to see and for this reason you may want to hide your IP address. You may ask, why would I want to hide my IP address while browsing the internet as I am not up to anything illegal. Many people associate hiding there IP address with hacking or other illicit online activities but the truth is there are a multitude of completely legitimate reasons why you may want to hide your IP.

• You may be connecting to the internet in a public area such as a library, restaurant, hotel or internet cafe and don’t want your surfing to be tracked by others.
• You may not want to take a chance on your private information being exposed so choose to surf anonymously.
• You may not want your surfing habits tracked by companies or online advertisers.
• You may go to a school or work at an emplorer or live in a country where web surfing is greatly restricted or content is highly filtered.
• You may want to access content that is available only to people in certain areas or countries.
• You just may not like the idea of possibly having your every move monitored and tracked.

As you can see there are many reasons why you would want to hide your IP that have nothing at all to do with illegal activity and are simply about protecting your privacy.


Ways To Hide My IP AddressAt this point you are probably wondering how do I hide my IP address? There are several ways you can surf the web and still remain anonymous so we have here are some pages that have more information about some of the methods that you can use to hide your IP.

• VPNs
• Proxy Servers
• IP Hiders

It is important to note that while these methods may hide your IP address and allow you to surf the web with more anonymity there is not really a way to be completely anonymous when connecting to the internet. Your activity and home IP can still be recoreded by what ever service you use to hide your IP so if you were to particpate in some sort of illegal activity these services could link those actions back to your computer.


If you want to be absolutely anonymous, you should definitely choose a proxy chain, in which usually more than 3 proxies are connected in a chain to protect your real IP address and location from being tracked. Tools like iProxyEver provides this kind of functionalities. 

People are lack of privacy on the internet nowadays. Edward Joseph Snowden told us it's time to be arlet and take action now to protect ourselves from network surveilance and traffic analysis.

• Web-based proxies: The most common and easiest to use proxy. These are servers that you connect to through a browser to visit a website anonymously.
• Open proxies: These are proxy servers that are either accidentally left open or are hacked. They are often not secure and can contain malicious software. It is recommended that you avoid open proxies.
• Anonymity networks: These are private networks that are run by users donating bandwidth. They are often incredibly slow and due to the fact that anyone can host bandwidth, they are fairly insecure.
• Paid proxy softwares, such as IP Hider Ever, is often used to hide your IP address so that you can hide your internet traffic and the real location while surfing the web. Softwares like IP Hider Ever makes nobody know what you do on the internet. So you can surf wherever you want on the web without worrying about any of the information leaked. But the question is still that whether you trust the software company.
• VPN (Virtual Private Network): These are private networks where you directly connect to a proxy server maintained by a proxy company or organization.
• Proxy Chain. Currently, the most untraceable VPNs use TOR, where all the network traffic is redirected to use TOR. This redirection can be done simply with the built-in system package iptables of Linux. If you do not want to setup the proxy chain yourself or using windows as your OS, softwares like iProxyEver can do all the job for you.