- Image via Wikipedia
Experts say we are approaching the age of information transparency. In other words, they expect that sometime in the future, everyone will be able to find out anything, about any one, at any time. However, much of this speculation is fueled by people’s willingness to provide their information indiscriminately. As social networking sites flaunt privacy concerns, more and more users are looking for guidelines on how to protect their privacy online.
Before you take steps to protect your online privacy, determine exactly what you wish to protect, and why. Are you uncomfortable with the government gathering your information? Prospective employers? Have you had problems with online harassment or stalkers?
There are four main precautions you will want to take to protect your privacy online. First, be careful about how easy you are to Google. If you have (and use) a name like David Smith, you will be naturally hard to find. Be mindful of what comes up when people search your user-names. The second privacy precaution is related; be careful that you are really using online services in the way that’s most beneficial to you, and not revealing too much un-necessarily.
Third, be selective about what information you provide. Some information can be combined to get a lot more information. For instance, if you say what year you bought your house, what neighborhood it’s in, and what decade it was built, it might be possible for someone to narrow down the purchase records and find out your name and address. It’s best to decide what things you will and will not say online, and stick to it. Part of choosing what information to reveal is being mindful of your privacy settings; make time to review your privacy settings at least once or twice a year.
Fourth and lastly, consider the technological side of online privacy. Keep cookies disabled on your browser whenever practical, and clear out the logs regularly. If you’re concerned about people tracking your physical location based on you online access, use a proxy site.