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Flink12: The New Social Network with Privacy in Mind

happybiled — Sun, 29 May 2011 18:50:44 +0000

Flink12 is a new social network that let’s you control who and what people see. “Privacy first” approach ensures that your personal information will remain private. Your information will not be indexed on the web by search engines. Flink12 was designed at its roots to be utterly private. Users have complete control.

Other features include:

Easy to upload, free, fast, private photo sharing
Free instant communication one-on-one between you and any person in your Flink. Texting is free on Flink12.
Blogging
Friend Mapping
Playful Icon Themes
Web Apps for every platform
Alerts
Completely free to join!

To learn more, visit: http://www.flink12.com

You Should Surf Anonymously To Protect Your Internet Privacy

happybiled — Sun, 01 May 2011 01:32:14 +0000

Whether you realize it or not when you surf the web information accumulates on your machine that is available to others to look at. These others can learn a lot of private information about you, information that you want to stay private. You address and name are not at all private, but things you have purchased using the internet and websites you go to are definitely private. To surf anonymously to protect your internet privacy you need to be watchful.

Personal information is important to most people and they want it to stay private, on the web or off the web. And most individuals do not want others to know where they have gone on the web either. You can guard your on line privacy simply enough, you simply need to take the steps necessary to do it.

Credit card theft rarely happens on the internet despite what people think. Banks have very secure systems for protecting online purchases. There are other privacy issues that people worry about needlessly because the privacy abuses cannot happen. It helps to know what information can and cannot be collected on line, so you know what to be worried about.

When you visit a website a discreet tag can be installed on your computer known as a cookie. This cookie enables the website to identify you if and when you return to that website. At this point the only thing the cookie tells is that you have been to the website before. But the cookie can be used by the website to tell other websites you have visited and information you have entered on those websites.

All information you enter on a website is kept in a cookie and that cookie can be read by any other site. When you are traveling the Net you are leaving information all over the place at each site you visit. Luckily enough,, secure information like credit card numbers is not stored in cookies. But plenty of non-secure information is stored and spread around by cookies.

Internet addresses also tell a small amount of information about you. They reveal where you are located, but that is all. Internet addresses aren’t used aggressively to obtain information because there is only a tiny amount there. Internet addresses are not a huge concern for this reason.

Cookies are the true problem, in order to be safe assume that all websites know about all the other websites you went to and everything you have entered at those websites. The only way to protect against this is to turn cookies off, but you will not be able to save passwords and/or registration information for web sites if you choose to do so..

Another troublesome spot for internet users is your web browser which stores a history of the Sites you have been to and makes access to that history simple. This may also give others simple access to your browsing history. Browsers also keep information you type into web pages so that it will actually appear when you visit that page. If you do not wish for others to see that information you need to turn this feature off or it can show your information without you knowing. You can Surf Anonymously to maintain your Internet Privacy by employing precautions.

Is the Internet hurting our environment?

happybiled — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:45:11 +0000

Infographic by WordStream Internet Marketing

Private Proxies for the US Military

happybiled — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:26:38 +0000

The men and women of the United States Armed Forces are overseas right now fighting for your freedom. They made this choice on their own yes, but it is a choice they made because they love the idea of freedom, and because they want to better themselves and their country. Remember it is not a choice that is made lightly by any means. It is something that they considered, and probably for several months. In the end they decided that fighting for freedom and making a stand was worth more than anything-even their own lives. That being the case they signed the papers, they boarded a plane, and now they sit thousands of miles away from home. Fortunately there have been some innovations that have provided soldiers with more entertainment than they would have had access to in the past. These innovations are centered around the internet.

So what do they do on the world wide web? Believe it or not, many of them watch television. Sure, they might be able to watch television using a television set, but the shows available in country are either in a different language or they are old reruns of old American television programs. While I’m sure that “I Love Lucy” is still a favorite, and who doesn’t want to watch “Gilligan’s Island”, current US television shows are not usually available. On the Internet, they can stream television shows from the cable networks. They could have watched the last episode of “Monk” or the new “White Collar” show on the USA Network. Or maybe they want to watch football. The Internet makes this possible.

Instead of TV, they might be on social networking sites like FaceBook or MySpace. For those who have not served in the military, you can’t imagine how much of a gift these websites are to lonely young men and women far from home. With a click of the mouse, they can see friends and loved ones. They can catch up on the latest happenings in their families or circle of friends. They can see videos, pictures and general news. And maybe, just maybe, some of the loneliness might go away. Sure, they are still at the front. Sure they are still in harm’s way. But they have a connection back to their normal every day lives. Unfortunately, they can’t always connect back to these US websites. You’d think the Internet is available everywhere.

There are a couple of issues that prevent people from accessing websitesbased in the United States from overseas. The first is that the Internet connection they are using might be censored by the country they are stationed in. Don’t believe me; just do a web search on Internet censorship. You will be both amazed and horrified. What we take for granted in most democratic nations is not true around the world. The second reason they can’t access some of these sites is purely financial. Many media websites are financed by advertisers. Advertisers only want to pay to reach their target market. So for instance, if a candidate for Senator was running ads, they really don’t want to spend money to campaign in Asia. Their target audience is much more defined. As with every problem though, there is always a solution. In this instance the solution is to use a proxy.

So what is a proxy, or anonymous proxy? A proxy is an Internet server that changes the IP address that the user has. It does this by establishing a connection to the user and then acting as the originating point for the Internet communications. In this way, the destination websites will see the IP address of the proxy and not that of the user. If the proxy has a US IP address, then the websites will think that the person is in the US and not overseas. This is how websites blocks can be bypassed. If the proxy also uses encryption, then blocked websites can be accessed too. That’s because the encryption defeats the censorship. So by using an anonymous proxy, our military personnel stationed abroad can still access the websites they used to enjoy at home.

Privacy is a Top Concern

happybiled — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:35:24 +0000

Whenever a company of any sort says that privacy is their top concern when you are using their site, try not to fall for it. An Internet site that sells a privacy product can be trusted, but make sure they are a legitimate business. Even ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are known and have been under fire recently for selling their customer’s information to third party advertising agencies for a cut of their profits. Anytime you see a non-Internet company making this privacy claim though, it is often just talk.

In Japan, the legal age for people to be allowed to smoke cigarettes is twenty years old. When they reach this age, they are issued a “Taspo” card, which can be swiped in a cigarette vender or used at a store to purchase their smokes. These cards keep a log of the kind of cigarette they bought, the quantity, and how much they spent.

These cards, when swiped, are relayed back to a central data base, which houses all of this information. This is when you raise an eyebrow, what are they doing with this information? Not anyone except the company owners know, but they assure the public that the information is heavily secure and no one will see it ever.

Turns out this was a bit of a lie. Remember, if it isn’t an Internet company, don’t trust its privacy guarantee. Especially don’t trust a mercenary company that sells cigarettes with your personal information; it is all about the profits for them.

While it is likely that these companies were selling these people’s information to third party dealers for some time, no one was the wiser. This happens quite often; supposedly secure information sold for a discreet profit. The card company sells the information about all of a particular cigarette companies buyers so that the company can gather behavioral data on them to help them market even the better. The innocent customer is doubly ripped off; now he will be hit twice as hard to smoke and buy these products, and his “secure” information was just unknowingly sold to some other agency.

In this particular Japan case, the deed was a bit more righteous. The Japanese cigarette companies and the Taspo card distributors actually teamed up to give their information to a Japanese police agency to help track down a criminal who was a known smoker, and they followed his location by the cigarettes he often purchased. This is the first time the use of these cards and the involuntary releasing of their “private” information was performed in Japan.

This puts everyone in a tough position. It seems like a great idea to give up your personal information to help catch a wanted criminal, and it is good to see him off of the streets. On the other hand, this information was supposed to be private, and not released to anyone, not even the police, without the people’s consent. It seems something has to give; do the people give up their privacy rights to help fight crime, or do they remain private and secure with the possibility of a criminal getting away? It is a harrowing decision, but one that must be made soon.

Privacy Protocol at Google

happybiled — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:34:02 +0000

According to Yahoo!News and Reuters, Google is going to make a significant change in the amount of time it stores the surfing habits of users. Originally, the information was stored for eighteen months. Now it will be stored for only nine months. That is quite a drop, especially when you consider that as recently as March 2007, Google had no policy concerning storage and kept information indefinitely. Google’s global privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer stated that this and other new policies ‘are part of a broader trend that is increasing across the industry for companies to compete in good privacy practices.”

Google also plans to make the data anonymous faster. This might have something to do with the YouTube/Viacom situation. This is an excellent precautionary action on the part of Google to protect our Internet data from companies that would sue them for user records. Companies like :::cough::: Viacom. In nine months, the IP’s and data are disassociated and can no longer be traced back to the user.

Google instated the eighteen month data retention policy because the European Union was pressing them to increase privacy measures. Then the new nine-month policy was implemented to increase user safety and privacy while they surfed the net. This new policy makes Google the “Top Dog” online as far as privacy goes. Yahoo keeps data for thirteen months, and Microsoft hangs on to user information for eighteen months.

All this is well and good, but you have to keep in mind that your data is being recorded and tracked. Changing policies is helpful, but when last comes to last, you’re responsible for maintaining your privacy. The smart thing to do is to use an anonymous proxy server when surfing the net. It will maintain your anonymity, and protect you far better than even the best new privacy.

You Are An Internet Superstar!

happybiled — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:09:53 +0000

Every one has heard of the online video giant YouTube. This is a massive site where people can enjoy content uploaded by other users. That is the novelty of it; you can “broadcast yourself.” It is average people doing average stuff, or showing off amazing talents. You can find hilarious living room comedians, people ranting about something or another, or a great guitar player. These people sometimes get famous via this site! There are literally millions of videos uploaded each day and even more watched each day. With this much online traffic, they are bound to spring imitators, and YouTube is no different. Most notable is the slightly more racy themed Break.com. There are tons of imitators though, and these too have high volumes of Internet traffic. YouTube and its affiliates and imitators are spearheading the media assault the computer is waging on the television.

With all of these users, YouTube has to have some strong guidelines to keep their site running smoothly and not violate anyone’s rights. They have set up a self regulating system; the community is allowed to “flag” videos they deem inappropriate and have to have the users who wish to view them be eighteen or older. These videos are then reviewed by a committee working for YouTube twenty-four hours a day that tells whether to ban the video, set an age limit on it, or just leave it alone. This way, no bad content can leak onto the overall family geared site.

Although this dedicated team can stop potentially scarring or just flat out innapproprate videos from coming through, they can’t completely stop any privacy issues the site would have. Consider for a moment all of the people who are featured on these videos; ordinary, every day civilians. These videos were often shot at a party or some other social gathering and people could be featured in something they didn’t sign a waver for or any release form.

There are cases where people have filmed videos of just them and their friends hanging out, but a friend is dialing a phone number or inputting a password in the background and it is readable and noticeable. Only the account responsible for uploading it can take it down, so this person’s sensitive information is now being viewed and probably blown up and hacked by ten million viewers daily! As you can imagine, this can be quite a problem. And it has; YouTube is really starting to crack down on these privacy problems now.

They have implemented a new set of rules that says you can’t cause an invasion of privacy by going and filming them and then placing it on the Internet without their consent. This may seem a bit outlandish, but actually happens quite often. Also, any videos that include any credit card numbers, bank account numbers, passwords or any other identifying information will be promptly removed.

Although YouTube is stepping up to the plate here, you never know what could happen, and things could slip by them. Try not to post any videos with any friends in them who don’t wish to appear, and try not to be that friend!

Who Has The Rights?

happybiled — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:33:10 +0000

Some Internet users have been telling others about their ingenious privacy system; they say all you have to do is call Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc and tell them your identity, and to keep your records and browsing history private. This is due to UK’s Data Protection Act, which protects personal data. What is personal data though? There is a heated debate among privacy advocates about whether an Internet Protocol (IP) Address counts as personal data.

Although many people believe the IP address is not personal data due to anyone being able to see it, people are quite terrified about what can be done with it. One’s browsing history could be accessed, and that is one thing, but having your location compromised is another. That’s right: one’s IP address often pinpoints their location. Some data protection analysts are saying that there are now ways to make Internet companies count any information about you as private, and this way they would have to protect it all.

Basically, people argue that all of their data should be counted as “personal” because it applies to them. Internet companies insist that some things are okay to be known though, although their motives are sketchy at best. Internet companies send this data to behavioral advertisers to get their customers to spend money on their advertisements, and there is the simple fact that the organizations don’t want to pay all of that money just to protect someone’s public username.

Obviously, there is quite a discrepancy between the public and the Internet companies. The people have a plan though: starting as a grassroots movement, they will call these companies and tell them to make all of their data private, and once the companies see many people doing it, might automatically treat everything as private.

The public’s main concern right now is the matter of the IP address. It is hanging in the balance right now: private or not? Internet companies will argue that for sake of law enforcement being able to track criminals, and the necessity of knowing who is who online, that IP addresses should not be classified as personal data and therefore should not need to be protected. The people argue that their Internet anonymity is being compromised because of the company’s incompetence, and that even their real life locations are being revealed!

The people have a valid point, but it takes a strong movement or protest to change the status quo, which is little or no protection. Don’t let yourself rest on the unstable world of politics; be proactive. If they are going to protect your anonymity, do it yourself. Using an anonymous proxy server, you can change your IP address so it doesn’t appear as though you are you. Your location will appear to be somewhere completely different, and your safe and secure browsing will be guaranteed. Although the fight is still hanging in the balance, who knows if the public will win. In the likely even that they don’t, it’ll be every man for himself, and if you acted preemptively, you will be set.

25 Shocking Facts About Censorship

happybiled — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:34:34 +0000

College students in the U.S. often are heard to complain of hard classes, tough competition, and rigorous study schedules. While they do have quite a hectic and stressful life, they still enjoy an Internet that allows them to find resources easier, or just whittle away Mathematics 101 playing online chess. This may not seem like a productive way to spend class time, it helps some cope with the rigors of the full-time student. In other countries however, some students might have trouble accessing a concise summary of Shakespeare, let alone surfing Internet games! Good luck “tweeting” with all of your friends back home while in China, even that service is often blocked.

Internet police are the system of governing in China, with almost 30,000 combing the e-streets for the deviant YouTube users. Also, keep in mind that the government monitors and makes note of every keystroke that is typed on any civilian’s computer. “The Internet Detective” is the weapon of choice for internet surveillance performed by the Chinese government. They say that this technology which records all transactions, e-mails, instant messages, and other communications will help find criminals quickly, especially those who flee to Internet cafes seeking shelter from the constant monitoring. That is if the “Great Firewall of China” doesn’t stop them first.

If you are caught in the act of “Broadcasting Yourself”, one could find themselves doing jail time. Was that video of the cat singing really worth it? Or perhaps, if the offense is less strong (maybe accessing an e-mail account) a simple fine of 180$ would be in order. Also, U.S. corporations are not exempt from Chinese restrictions. Google offers its services around the world, but in China, the services are heavily restricted and censored. Recently, the government completely banned the service after accusing it of propagating anti-communist documents.

Luckily, you don’t have to go all the way to China to find out if your site is blocked, there a myriad of tools that can tell you if your site crossed the line. This censorship all depends on the media though. If people begin to speak out and make a fuss that all of their favorite sites are blocked, suddenly the blocks will be lifted, and the world will once again be pacified. Soon after, things will go back to the way they were. With interest waning, China will reinstate the blocks.

Sometimes they get a bit crazy though. During the 2008 Olympics, when athletes downloaded a pro-Tibetan song, China blocked iTunes. Apple’s giant was shut down, and China had done the unthinkable; a major, sovereign company was censored for a little ditty that probably meant nothing to the people listening to it. They can’t always win though. A dirty pun that translates to “grass-mud horse” in English, but ALMOST to something much racier in Chinese slipped through the Great Firewall, and stayed in the public light before officials wised up and blocked it.

They have truly disillusioned their people though; some are so scared of getting into trouble, they don’t use the Internet at all, and others police themselves so strictly there would be no need for the censorship. Some have decided to fight back though, using anonymous proxies and other services to bypass all of the Internet blockades.

To get more information and browse the full article, head over to http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/07/05/25-shocking-facts-about-chinese-censorship/ and find out how fortunate you really are.

Internet Privacy, A Word of Caution

happybiled — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:05:33 +0000

So many people love to share their thoughts, dreams, and ideals and just about anything else you can think of online with their friends and there are quite a few places where they can easily do just that. How much can someone learn about you from what you have, seemingly innocently, placed online for everyone to see? Actually, the answer, and you may not like it at all, is any and everything. Protecting your Internet privacy is not just about where you go or how to clean up after yourself or even what software you may have on your computer. Ultimately, you are your own greatest threat.

Have you ever been to one of those websites where you put up a bunch of simple information about yourself, maybe even a picture of you and your friends doing various things? Many people use these sites on a regular basis to talk to friends and keep up with things; however, some people may use that information against you. Information in this day and age is everything, and the information you may so eagerly supply can be your undoing.

What kind of information you may ask? Great question and the answers are simpler than you can imagine. Your birth date can be used to begin the process to impersonate you. Combine that with your place of birth; maybe your school history and your address and you are giving someone a great start to impersonate you. What can you do to protect your Internet privacy and your good name?

First off, be very wary of any personal information you place online for everyone to see. If you can make a profile private, do it now. If you don’t have to add any personal information about yourself then do not add any as the less you let people know, sometimes the better. If you can make it so that your pictures can only be viewed by people you select, then that should be done as well. From a picture, your location can be gained as can well as personal information that may be in the picture without you realizing it. Having multiple email addresses is also a good idea as you can use one for public profiles and one for more personal or even business matters. Lastly, never, ever leave personal information on a public computer such as in a library or a place of employment.

Now this does not mean that you shouldn’t share things with your friends online; not at all. It simply means that you should be aware of what information you are putting out there for anyone to see. Your personal information is, after all, your information and therefore, it is ultimately your responsibility to protect it. Those sites are there for you to do just that and they are wonderful in that sense and provide a wonderful service. The best advice you can take is to always think before you post any personal information anywhere. Just remember that your every effort to protect your Internet privacy can be negated simply by what you, yourself, put online for everyone to see.