Privacy Considerations and VPNs

As important as privacy is, it fast becoming a rear commodity. The current event shows signs that many governments are intent on doing away with the privacy rules that guarantee online privacy. It is thus upon us to safeguard our privacy, using any and all the privacy tools available to us. Herein we will explore just how we should be using VPNs to protect our privacy.

#1. Always Have A Firewall Running

For many, having a Firewall running is a trivial matter that rarely crosses their minds. However, in the interest of privacy, this is not a trivial matter. As such, you should always have a Firewall running, even when you are not using a VPN.

The vast majority of anti-viruses come with inbuilt Firewalls. However, such Firewalls come with pre-configured settings that do not allow changes to be made. For the most part, this is very convenient. However, it does not guarantee 100% security of all the ports, except for the manually added exceptions.

A solution to this situation is to use Firewalls that provide for customization opportunities. Such include UFW or the IP tables, both of which are native to Linux. These two allows users to somewhat customize and configure their Firewalls. However, for one to effectively use it, they require some decent knowledge in the subject matter.

Another solution is to use a stellar anti-virus and Firewall program. A good option is Zonealarm.

#2. Browse Incognito

Whilst browsing openly, many users leak a lot of their personal information owing to the cookie policies that websites in question have. Many websites do make use of cookies but only a few make this fact known to their users. Browsing incognito negates the possibility of being tracked. Alternatively, users should pick up the habit of purging their history as well as cookies right after completing a browsing session.

#3. Disable Geo-Location Services

Granted that geo-location technology helps search engines provide better search results by improving the location relevancy, they still pose a danger to one’s privacy. Many websites such as Google, Facebook, and YouTube do tap into one’s location as part of the data that they collect especially in mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Using GPS, they are able to collect your location data even without you knowing, which may be used to trace and or track you. You should turn off these features to guarantee your privacy, even when you are still using a VPN to browse.

#4. Manage Your Cookies

By design, cookies are meant to improve the browsing experience by storing some of the information of your most frequented websites. By having your preferences natively stored in your browser, you reduce the number request you make to a website’s server, thus reducing the loading time. This effectively improves your browsing experience.

However, the cookie technology has been pushed so much that the some of the cookies now have tracking capabilities. They are capable of tracking your activity and network information, violating your privacy. This information is later on sold to help marketing firm target market to you.

#5. VPN Over TOR

TOR technology has helped people browse the internet anonymously ever since it emerged. The open source program secures the information requested whilst browsing, greatly improving privacy.

However, by combining VPNs with L2TP/IPsec with TOR browsing technology, it becomes virtually impossible for your browsing activities to be tracked by ISPs according to VPN Analysis. Privatopia is working to integrate TOR into its main architecture, thus providing improved privacy and browsing security natively. They already provide TOR integrated Proxy. This new development will push the boundary of online security and privacy even further.

#6. Pay For Your VPN Anonymously

It does not make sense for you improve your privacy while browsing by using VPNs only for your finical transactions to be traceable. You should use the same diligence you use to hide your online endeavors when paying for your VPN. As such, consider paying for VPN services with untraceable currency, chief among them being Bitcoin. This reduces the possibility of being tracked even further.

The post Privacy Considerations and VPNs appeared first on Sixthlife.

from Sixthlife http://ift.tt/2oKEN0U