The US Military and Proxies

Right now, the servicemen and servicewomen of the US Military are overseas fighting for your freedom. They chose to serve in the military knowing full well that someday they might be put in harm's way. These dedicated men and women put country above their own safety. Now in far away countries, they defend us on the front lines. Over the years, these front lines have changed. Yes, the danger is still there, but so are options to relieve their boredom. Enter the Internet. Just like us, they have access to the world wide web.

So what would a soldier want to access on the Internet? Believe it or not, one of the things they do is watch TV online. They can catch their favorite programs or watch hockey. Most of the major networks put their some of their newest episodes online. For others, they can access media sites that aggregate content. Another outlet for media is the online newspapers like the New York Times. Or maybe they want to read their home town newspaper online. Today most, if not all papers, have an interactive version. So between TV, sports, and newspapers, they can catch up on the current US media and news.

There are also several social networking websites out there that they can use to keep in touch with friends and family. Sure e-mail works to an extent, but if you have ever used any form of social networking, you know exactly how much simpler it is. You can type a message on your homepage, and suddenly all of your friends and family will be able to see it. Soldiers are very pressed for time, and sometimes there just isn't an opportunity to respond to every single person. This makes social networking extremely important. There is a problem however, a huge problem. Sometimes soldiers cannot get to the websites that they need. Why exactly? Well let's talk about it.

The purpose of companies streaming their television shows onto the internet is so that people will see them, and eventually decide to buy them on DVD. People outside the country however will not be able to buy these because they are simply unavailable. Companies decided that they were actually losing money because such people couldn't get a hold of their products! They didn't seem to consider all of the people IN the United States that were buying. After all, what could it hurt if a few foreigners watched an episode of The Office, or even Stargate Universe? Well you wouldn't think that it could hurt at all, but the production companies didn't quite see it that way. For this reason they started to block IP addresses outside of the United States. The same went for several social networking websites because they suffered from the same advertisement problem. This however did not stop the military personnel from viewing their favorite websites. They instead turned to proxies.

For those who don't know, a proxy is a server that one can connect to. This server will then connect you to the internet via it's own connection. What does this accomplish? It provides you with a new IP address which is based in the United States. You are not visiting websites via your own connection, but instead you are using the ISP that the proxy subscribes to. What you're dealing with there is surfing the internet using a computer across the ocean. The moral aspect is up to you, but if you get a proxy with decent encryption, the ISP you use overseas will never know the difference. This is also a great way to protect your privacy. By using a proxy you will be able to hide your identity while catching up on your favorite shows. The one thing you don't want to do in a war zone is broadcast who you are and what you are doing. With that in mind, start shopping for a good proxy today. Once you arrange a good one, you will be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite shows.

Using A WEP Key

Many people these days have a wireless Internet. It is quite a useful thing: if you have a laptop, you can travel all over your house and work and surf relaxed on your couch rather crunched up on your cramped keyboard. It is always useful too if you are entertaining guests and only have one home computer, and they have brought their laptop. This allows them to use their own system and you don’t have to let someone browse and possibly snoop all over your computer.

There are guests you want and there are guests that were uninvited. Your wireless Internet means that it can be scanned and picked up by anyone with a wireless detecting system, which comes standard on every laptop and computer. This means that anyone with an Internet connection can potentially scan and get hooked up and surf from your Internet.

This could potentially be a problem. While there are some people who are totally honest and just using your Internet signal to get on the Internet real quick and send an e-mail, there are others who are have a more malicious intent. Beware of your neighbors; your signal can only be picked up from a small radius of your router, so no one from the other side of town will be hacking into your server, but your neighbors would be easily within range.

Again, your neighbors could simply just be sending a quick e-mail, but it would asinine to think that all neighbors or people getting access to your connection are this honest. Once they are connected to your signal, they have access to your IP address. If they got themselves banned from a site that you go on, most of the time this an IP ban. Since their IP is your IP because they are using your signal, you will be effectively blocked from the site as well. Also, by getting your IP, they could gain access to your documents, browsing history, and other sensitive information. Your IP address is a portal into your virtual life, and why it is public seems to be quite a strange thing. Try using an IP changer to hide your IP and remain anonymous online. There is also the possibility that the person on your signal is an experienced hacker and could actually hijack your communications from their post, and use your computer themselves. This would be a hacker’s dream; a buffet of information they could help themselves to.

There is no way to sense if there are interlopers using your Internet connection, except that maybe if both of you are on at the same time, it might seem a bit slower than normal. Also, you are paying an ISP a monthly fee for the services and Internet that they provide, and this other person is completely mooching off of you! This could make anyone indignant. There are ways to stop these people from getting into your Internet and possibly compromising your anonymity and anonymous browsing experience online.

Use a WEP key. When these hackers look around for Internet connections to use, they look for the “security strength: unsecured”. This means that the person’s Internet has no frills and will pose no risk if they connect to it. These are the guys they go after. They avoid any Internet signal that would say “WEP protected” or anything along those lines. These Internet connections are protected with a long password, often over 20 digits, to get in. When they try to connect, they will be prompted to put in the unique password, and will have no idea what it is, and will be denied access. Hacker thwarted! If they somehow do get your password, these WEP keys can be set up to send you alerts when someone new has connected, and if you get one, search the vicinity of your house or your neighbors to find the interloper.

Don’t go unprotected in this rapidly evolving world of technology. Hackers and online criminals prey on those who are unprotected and unsecured. Using a WEP key is a simple way to keep people off of your Internet connection and keep your documents and other Internet browsing safe and secure.

Business Advice

Action Tips is a site for any business person or entrepreneur doing business today. In such a rough economy like the one we are faced with today, these tips are needed to get by, as there are no signs that it will get better. This means that the old concept of Darwinism will be begin to resurface; only the strongest survive. Not the strongest in muscle, but the strongest in brains; who can sell their product to a wider demographic of customers and make the most money?

The site hosts many lessons and tutorials on how to do the most important thing a human can do in their lifetime; make money. To do this, they offer courses and tutorials that you can purchase to bolster your money smarts, and learn how to do more with what currency you already possess. These articles and guides are all ergonomically laid out and easy-to-navigate. Right off of the home page, you can see a list of all the most recent or greatest new articles, and in a thumbnail fashion where you get a little sample and if you like it you can click to see more, the articles that interest you may be selected.

When you click on an article that interests you, you will be brought to another site that hosts the information about the product themselves. This is a god-send for those who always want more information because the site that sells the product will always have more and always be willing to tell you more about it. Once you navigate to the new site, you can read in meticulous detail everything the product does, and often explore incredible deals! I saw one where it was a set of five books at five dollars each, but if purchased all together, it was only fifteen dollars in total, saving me ten dollars! The bottom line is, these money making books are an investment; they will pay for themselves and more in the long run if their ideas are applied.

There are always skeptics about these books, lectures, and other medium to communicate these money saving options through. They don’t think the books or the lectures will really help them at all, so they avoid these things like the plague. What they don’t realize though is that this site offers a fifty-six day minimum day money back guarantee. That is (AT MINIMUM!) fifty-six days to try out your product, listen to it, read it, and enjoy it. If you are unsatisfied whatsoever, the product can be returned for all of your cash back the same day you deliver the product back. Fifty-six days is a long time, and this way you don’t have to rush yourself into using your purchase immediately, as you would if it was only a weeklong guarantee.

When you first log on, you might be shocked or intimidated by the monolith of content the site offers. Don’t fear though! This only helps you. Just think about it, this site is coming to you with almost five years of content, experience, and trial to bring you the best products possible. Think about this: since the products are hand-picked by the site, after five years, this website knows what will work and what won’t. They won’t steer you wrong; they are here for you. You can peruse the first page or check the recent posts section to get an idea what has happened recently on the site. Or, you can view everything in bulk by clicking on the archives section. This will allow you to chronologically view every article from that month in the specific order. The categories section will allow you to narrow down your search to a specific topic that you are interested in. This is very useful when you are looking for a lot of information about one specific thing. For example, if you only want to find information about securing and keeping a successful job, the “employment” category would be where you would find your information. There is also the search bar, which can do a keyword search of the entire site and bring up all information about the words you typed in.

This site really is dedicated to you. They even have a whole section at the top of their page devoted to “helpful links” that point you in the right direction and are always pertinent to the business world. Video Tips is another useful section for those who do not have the time to read; you can simply watch and absorb the same information that you would read. If you are still skeptical after all of the offers, you can sign up and get one free course. This will allow you to test out the site and see if it is what you need, and give you a little sampling of the knowledge you could possess.

To get ahead of the pack, look no further than Action Tips. Following their advice through their money back guarantees and low prices will enable you to best your competition and make more money than you ever thought.

Marines Barred From FaceBook

The networking giant FaceBook has quite an opinionated buzz to it. Some people love it for its ability to put people who are far away together and the quick ability to organize and chat with friends. Although it seems the biggest draw is the fact that you can customize your profile to any extent you want and show everyone your true personality. On the other hand, some people despise it for its somewhat superficial conversations held amongst users, clunky interface, and just general fear of automated conversation. Perhaps their biggest complaint is how much out there people put about themselves, and how much of a privacy risk this can be.

The Marines have recently been blocked from FaceBook. The exact reasons are vague, but the corps say that the service, along with all other social networking sites, (MySpace, Xanga, etc.) provide too much information to an average person about one of their recruits, and this could possibly prove detrimental to their role as soldiers. They are also worried that the soldiers will reveal information about the corps that no one outside the service is meant to know, and that this could create a big privacy problem.

Previously, Marines used the service to catch up with friends and family who were often far away as recruits could be sent anywhere in the United States, as well as be required to have active duty on a traveling ship for some indefinite period of time. Some unfortunate troops can even be sent overseas! The soldiers found a convenient avenue through which to communicate with the people whom they left behind, and a good way to stay in touch and in the loop as to what is going on back home.

The loss of this program hit some of the troops hard. Homesickness is a big problem for even the most battle hardened soldier, and these marines were not spared from it. Imagine the sorrow a new recruit felt, and how he misses his parents and friends, possibly never having even left his town before!

These marines deserve to use the service. We can trust them with our nation’s security in armed combat, we are sure they can discern about which information to put on the Internet and what to leave off. No marine has “twittered” off his battle plans and ruined the mission for everyone yet. Either way, by using a readily available change IP proxy, these marines could change their IP addresses and get past the Internet blocks. An IP changer can also cover their Internet tracks, in case their drill sergeants run a tight ship on Internet access.

There are many soldiers who already use a change IP proxy to travel anonymously around the Internet, and many more signing up daily. Get with the program and change your IP to connect back with friends and family again. Fight and win the battle against homesickness; change your IP. That’s an order soldier!

This Message Will Self-Destruct In…

Usually, this meme is supposedly just a cliché in futuristic action movies in which the main character receives a sensitive message that cannot be read by anyone, so it blows up. Researchers at the University of Washington have developed ways to make messages “blow up” after they have been read. Not in the sense that you will get a letter, read it, and it will burst into flames the second you are done, but e-mail. The message you read can be set on a timer, and once the timer is up, the message will deleted permanently from any servers, and any other people’s mailboxes. The new software will called Vanish and it will require encrypted messages for the service to work.

The service is part university experiment, and partly made out of necessity. Many companies use these services because more and more, things are being stored using cloud computing; storing data online rather than in personal computers and data banks.

Cloud computing is useful because the Internet has an unlimited amount of space, and is free to store on. This saves companies money on saving the information, and protecting it, and it allows them to use their saving space for other useful things. This also protects the information from being lost if the company data base were to collapse.

This presents some safety hazards though, as the companies themselves are not ensuring the messages and data anymore. The messages and other data then sit on these often unsecured servers for an extended period of time, just waiting for someone to unrightfully gain access.

The concept of the self-destructing message is not new however. Some documents in the past have been wired to do this, but Vanish will be the first publicly released software to give these capabilities.

The software is groundbreaking and necessary in today’s society. These important messages are just sitting on unsecured servers waiting to be hacked, and if they are, sensitive information and data would be released to people who were never supposed to see it. This can also be used for public e-mails too. There are situations in both the public and private world that would warrant the use of this technology, but right now the aim is at big business people.

The technology is made with security at the top of their list. First, the selected message will be written by the sender, and then encrypted with a high quality encoding service to make sure that if it is somehow intercepted, all the hacker would see is a bunch of hieroglyphics. Then, when it arrives at the recipients desk(top), it will be unencrypted so that the user can get the data and read the message. Then, if the user decides delete the message then, no qualms, but if the user forgets or simply decides not to do so, the sender can put a time limit on the message so that it will delete itself.

While this program is still in the developmental stages, the technology is almost ready to be released, and could prove to be an asset for business owners and family members alike.

Remain Safe While Traveling

When you are traveling, there are many things to keep in mind; and safety is at the top of the list. Being safe and anonymous by using a change IP proxy while traveling abroad is very important. Using an anonymous proxy server will help you get past government censorship in order to surf the sites you wish to go; never miss another Internet television show again!

While Internet business is important while traveling, if you have children, they take priority. Everyone knows how much care babies take, but only people who have one themselves truly know how much equipment is necessary. That’s right; equipment! High chairs, bibs, rocking chairs; all tools of the trade and all needed to keep children safe.

Any concerned parent can vouch for how fragile babies are too, and how easily they can fall ill. While many adults could eat a spoiled meal and have nothing but an upset stomach, babies can touch a slightly dirty object and wind up in the hospital. Germs are all around us and on everything we touch; how do we keep out little ones safe?

First, make sure to sanitize everything, and do so often. This will keep any harmful bacteria from contaminating anything your little one might touch. You may consider keeping a sanitary room where they are not pestered by tons of little micro-bacteria. One more thing, always wash all of your food that your baby will eat.

This is just a rudimentary list, but it already seems like quite a handful. Now we’ll touch on equipment… just kidding! Let’s just say there is quite a few things that are needed for a child to be healthy and safe. Any parent can attest to how heavy and expensive some of these things are. Now the question is posed; how do I travel with any of this? Many people have trouble getting their bags to meet the stringent weight and size requirements set forth by the airports.

Enter Babysaway.com: a god-send to travelers with little ones. Instead of carrying all of your weighty baby apparatus while flying or driving, you can simply rent these items! Once you order all of the items you require through a simple e-mail, they will have it set up and ready as soon as you arrive. Imagine, instead of lugging all of your high chairs, bottles, diapers, and other miscellaneous baby paraphernalia around, you can quickly type out an e-mail, and have it all there as soon as you arrive.

They have locations in many states and their delivery services can find any object you need that they might not have. Best of all, the “profile” section states that the site is run by parents and grandparent: you know they are experienced in handling and caring for babies.

Some of you may be worried about the equipment they send being dirty, but they have a strong sanitary guarantee. Everything is washed and cleansed as soon as it returns and they personally guarantee that your child will be perfectly safe in their equipment.

Traveling parents, don’t fret over bringing all of your baby apparatus around ever again. Babysaway.com has got you covered with safe and reliable services run by fellow parents and seasoned grandparents. Best of all, it won’t break the bank. Take the fuss out of traveling: send your brief e-mail, relax on your flight or stretch out in your roomy car and know Babysaway.com will have clean services ready for you as soon as you arrive.

Privacy Mode

As Microsoft’s much anticipated Internet Explorer 8 was launched, many people looked forward to the Privacy Mode, called the InPrivateBrowsing. Although people are excited about this all encompassing privacy technology, it may not be everything it seems. According to PCAdvisor, the privacy mode doesn’t really do much at all in terms of protecting. Although all of the security locks and other advisory warning are pretty to look at, they are not pragmatic at well and the information can easily be retrieved.

The premise of InPrivateBrowsing is that it deletes surfing history, cookies, and other things that can tell where you were, what you were doing, and even the amount of time on a site! While this all sounds good, it appears to be a superficial facade; all of the information was easily retrieved by forensic experts. Their major selling point is that cookies are not stored; these show log-in names, passwords, and definitive proof that you visited and lingered on a particular site. It also doesn’t allow Internet browser history to be stored either.

The major downfall of InPrivateBrowsing is in their incessant chronicling of cache files. The programs on the Internet use these to store websites so that can be accessed more quickly later, and the websites will even load faster. Anyone even with the most rudimentary knowledge of the Internet can see where this would create a privacy problem. Although a user can go deep into the software and actually delete these files themselves, most people wouldn’t bother to learn how, or don’t know of this, and therefore, security is completely compromised just by one little aspect.

Although they have good intentions, don’t be fooled by the glossy exterior. The bottom line is, even if cookies, browsing history, and everything else is deleted, if one thing is left out, it’ll be the death of the project. The program is still in its infancy though, and changes can still be made. A program and company as big as Microsoft is sure to look at the feedback and realize and re-test. The great thing about products online is that if there is an error, all they have to do is design a patch and everything will be fixed up by a simple download.

In the mean time though, don’t trust it with your online security. Internet crime rises every year in correspondence with the amount of Internet travelers, and as more travelers become more protected, hackers prey on the ones still living in the dark ages of a simple firewall or a rudimentary virus scanner. If you are currently using InPrivateBrowsing, don’t wait for a patch to get protected. Use an anonymous proxy server and get your secure tunnel of access for which to travel safely and securely through.

Advertising Controversy

BT, the U.K.’s largest Internet provider has opted out of using “Phorm”, a large-scale behavioral advertiser. Phorm can gather information about the surfers on a particular ISP and then tailor ads to the persons needs and wants. For example, if a certain user frequents car sites, and automobile tuning sites, then they will likely see ads about motor oil, tires, and the like. Phorm’s philosophy is that, instead of being bombarded with random advertisements that the people probably won’t be interested in, they will create product demographics by performing an involuntary interview with the person, and figure out their likes and interests. BT is still interested in the program, but chose to take the philanthropically route and use their money to bring people the fastest Internet possible, and all of the technological advances that come with it.

Phorm knows it has an intuitive and breakthrough technology, and charges a pretty penny for its services. What ads of old would charge to be posted is nothing compared to the fees Phorm would charge, but for good reason. Think about it, if a guy interested in football and weightlifting gets a pop-up about the latest Cabbage Patch Kid to hit the scene, he will most likely just grunt and dislike dolls even more after he smacked the “x” button. Phorm aims to eliminate these ill-placed ads and replace them with ads that are custom fit to the user’s needs. Based on his habits of browsing NFL’s website, managing his fanatical fantasy football team, and ordering protein shakes, Phorm would conclude ads showing these types of products would be most appealing to him, and more likely to get him to buy than would the new clothing options on the hot new Barbie doll.

As one can imagine though, there are many security and privacy risks with this new technology. Such concerns are inherent with the nature of the product, as it (without permission) inspects your browsing history and other documents you view in order to find out what interests you. Privacy advocate groups believe this is just one step closer to the dystopian world of 1984, and are fighting against it. The program assures the public that no information is personally recognizable and no names are kept while the browsing is in progress, only numbers and incoherent data.

In some areas, the concerns for privacy invasion have been too much for these behavioral advertisers. Nebuad, an advertiser like Phorm, withdrew from the market after a controversy over its blatant privacy invasions put it on the blacklist for many ISPs. Analyzing people’s data is a strong gray area, and these companies must be careful to walk the line carefully, lest they fall over and snoop somewhere they shouldn’t have.

BT found themselves the subject of such criticism after they, unbeknownst to their customers, ran Phorm for around three months. The people caught on, and many resigned from the Internet Service Provider because they felt betrayed and unprotected.

As more and more major ISPs are considering running this software, Phorm could be the status quo of online advertising. While it does seems useful to get advertisements tailored to your interests rather than complete guesswork that is usually completely off, one must ponder the repercussions of allowing such an open window into our Internet habits just so people can solicit products we MIGHT enjoy.

Stay Out Of The Limelight with an Anonymous Proxy

Your IP address is very important during your Internet travels. It is similar to a dog-tag your computer wears, with all sorts of information engraved. The difference is, people are supposed to read your dog-tags, but you wish to keep your IP address hidden.

Just by knowing your IP address, a hacker could find out quite a bit of information about you; location, server, etc. This is why many people choose to browse anonymously on the web.

In order to accomplish this, they visit an anonymous proxy website. A proxy website simply is a page that has a box to enter the website you wish to visit. When you enter your desired destination, the proxy server replaces your IP address with one of their servers. The proxy acts as a middleman, allows you access to the sites you want, but leaving no trail of it. All your ISP would see is that you visited (so and so proxy site) a bunch of times, and not what you actually visited. This is the simplest type of anonymous proxy.

For enhanced anonymity, we recommend using a software-based proxy that also encrypts your data and changes it IP address regularly. Either type of anonymous proxy will work, some just work better than others.

These anonymous proxies are completely legal and almost a necessity in today’s Internet-based society. With so much traffic on the Internet, criminals are just waiting in line to get some unprepared surfer. Don’t let it be you; be anonymous today.

Mind the Fine Print

One never really pays attention to the “Terms of Service”. Most just check “I agree”, and get on with their business. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has just launched a new program that can automatically (by the hour) scan for changes in the Terms of Service agreements in 44 big name websites; Myspace, Facebook, Google, Ebay, Amazon, etc.

The program is located on TOSBack.org, and works in conjunction with the WayBack Machine. The WayBack machine pulls out old drafts of the Terms of Service agreements, and the TOSBack compares them with new versions, even highlighting certain sections that have been changed, deleted, or added.

Tim Jones, the company’s technology manager, attests to the confusion most feel when reading the Terms of Service. “Most skip it because it is boring and confusing.” This is true; it takes a lawyer to understand what the document is saying sometimes, and it is often quite vague.

“Some changes to terms of service are beneficial to customers, and some are not”, states Electronic Frontier Foundation Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. This is especially true in today’s internet travelers, trusting websites with friends, locations, and even personal photos.

Some of these documents hardly ever change, while some do rapidly, as Ebay did five times in two hours. Often, these changes are simply to clarify issues or just to correct a punctuation error, but are sometimes more drastic.

The TOSBack can’t explain the changes made to these Terms of Service documents just yet, but they can alert users who could. The system will continue to evolve and will support explanation capabilities in the future.

International IP Addresses, Not A Problem

Leaving one’s home is a difficult thing to do: leaving for college, moving, or (for some) just going to work! It is especially hard to leave one’s home AND one’s country. While traveling internationally, some Americans can get homesick. If you are in a different country for an extended period of time, loneliness can easily dominate your trip. If you find yourself forgetting the colors of our flag while abroad, (red white and blue, not white red and blue) watching some good old American television is a great way to restore your morale.

Unfortunately, re-runs of “I Love Lucy” and “Friends” get old quickly, and can lead to a strange affinity for communism. Don’t fear; you are still an American, just an American without a connection to current events back home.

Along came internet television; a godsend to the nomads of the globe. They can catch up on affairs overseas, whether it is watching the stock market, or just to see what antics Miley Cyrus has been up to lately. Soon enough, some media companies wised up, and blocked these homesick people from connecting with their familiarity. All the websites had to do was read your IP address, and once confirmed that you were not in the United States, you were on the blacklist, you got the boot, and quite possibly a “this site has been blocked” message. What is a poor traveler to do?

Simple. Use an anonymous proxy to convert your IP address from the foreign one back to one located in the U.S. While many of these are readily available, many are slow and easily recognized as a proxy, leaving a data trail right back to you. Using a software based proxy, such as Private Proxy, will allow you unrestricted internet travel from anywhere on the globe. You’ll never miss the morning news (or last night’s American Idol) ever again.

Internet Privacy - Protect Yourself

Every day your computer is used to check and track things that are very important in your life. Things like your bank balance, credit card statements and maybe even some trades on the stock market. Did you know that every single thing you do on your computer is logged somewhere on your hard drive? Every web page, password, document and place you visit is recorded and stored. There are a few simple things you can do at home, with what you already have to help protect your Internet privacy and each one only takes a minute or two. Lets go through a couple of them.

First off, when you go to web pages, something called a cookie is placed in a folder in your computer that records information about you. Most of these are completely harmless and beneficial to you the next time you go to the website. However, some can cause problems and should be removed. If you are using Internet Explorer, all you have to do is click on tools and then click on Internet options and where it says browsing history, click delete all. This will clear out all the cookies and web pages you have visited. You can also set up IE to do this automatically. If you are using Firefox, all you have to do is click on tools and then clear private data; you can choose what you want to remove.

Another quick trick is to check your security and privacy settings for your browser of choice. These privacy settings are there to protect you when you visit a website that may try to automatically download something to your computer without your permission. In IE simply go back to tools and then click on the security tab and click the default level if it is available. If it is not available, you are already good to go. Now, click on the privacy tab and do the same thing. If you can’t click on default, you are already set up. Firefox users can click on tools and then options and click on the privacy and security tabs. Once there, check the items you want Firefox to handle for you. Internet privacy is all about limiting the amount of information you want out there and generally, the less there is, the better.

Lastly, another feature of Windows is a built in firewall. A firewall is a layer of protection between your PC and the rest of the Internet. Simply put, it blocks unwanted access to your computer and logs any attempts from any outside PC that tries to access your system. To check your firewall status, go to the control panel and then to the security center. There you will see if you have one active and if not, it can direct you to a firewall you can use.

Remember, your Internet privacy is your responsibility. Taking simple and easily available steps can keep you and your information safe and where it belongs, with you. There are much more effective ways to protect your privacy, such as purchasing anonymous proxy software, but this is a great place to start and will help you to take small steps toward securing your Internet privacy.

Internet Privacy and You

There are many reasons a person might want to have Internet privacy when surfing the next. You might want to hide who you are when making comments, or be uneasy about the whole “Homeland Security” issue and feel like you have a right to protect yourself from spying eyes. Not everyone wants to be a hacker. Still, sometimes Internet Service Providers say they will give information to authorities simply if requested. In the US no warrant is required to acquire this information. So, it makes sense to be concerned about your right to Internet privacy.

The fact is ever since the World Wide Web came into being, there have been ways to surf anonymously, usually by using an online proxy server. Basically, you go to an anonymous proxy website and tell it the web address you want to visit by typing or pasting in the link. The proxy server then pulls up the page and shows it to you through their site. So, any info the visited website receives isn’t from you, but from that website. Any scripts, images, cookies or other tracking ware is blocked from access to your computer.

It sounds good in theory, yet every silver lining has a cloud and the use of anonymous proxy servers for Internet privacy is a double-edged sword. Your information may not go to the website you are visiting, but ALL of your information is made available on the anonymous proxy server logs, so even they aren’t completely secure.

Free proxy servers don’t encrypt data, so it’s there for any prying eyes with access to see and use. In the case of legal issues, your information could be turned over to the courts and consequently, you could be located. Not very good Internet privacy when you think about it. In addition, there’s the info left on your own computer from using the proxy server.

The good thing is there are a large variety of Internet privacy software programs you can install directly on your computer that can help you surf anonymously and get rid of the tracks you leave behind. They can also offer secure tunnel connections and rotate IP addresses to further increase online protection. Having these kinds of options depends entirely on how good the software you purchase really is once installed.

Again, this option for Internet privacy is for the ordinary individual who just wants to protect himself during his daily web browsing from the usual intrusions of scripts, cookies and malware. This is not for those individuals who plan to try to use this technology for any illegal activities. If you take that route, law enforcement will definitely make a concerted effort to find you. So, another good way to ensure your Internet privacy is not to have the government looking for you! Utilize your online time legally.

Take out the time to research the Internet privacy software that’s available. Read reviews and comparisons. The ordinary surfer will find them an invaluable aid to protecting both privacy and peace of mind.

Anonymous Surfing for US Military Personnel

Using an anonymous proxy is important for U.S. Military Personnel around the world who want to maintain connection with the U.S. This is because they cannot expose their identity over the Internet for obvious reasons.

The Internet has become the main medium of communication in today’s digital world. U.S. Military Personnel should look for the safest way to use this connection. This is why many have discovered that they can use an anonymous proxy that has an IP address in the US in order to access US websites safely and securely.

An Internet Protocol (IP) address identifies a specific device or machine when it participates in an Internet communication. It is composed of four groups of numbers separated by dots. An example of an IP address is 216.27.61.137. Today, there are two systems of IP address - the 32-bit and the 128-bit systems. The 32-bit system is the original one and is named Internet Protocol Version 4 or IPv4, while the second one is called Internet Protocol Version 6 or IPv6.

This IP address can be used to track the Internet activity of any US military personnel around the world, or for that matter, any user. To avoid this risk, anonymous surfing using an anonymous proxy has become the safe and more secure option.

For U.S. Military personnel outside the U.S. who want to watch US TV on the Internet, access US websites or communicate with loved ones back home, using a proxy with a U.S. IP address is an added benefit. With a U.S. IP address, sites that would be blocked with a foreign IP address would be accessible.

The Internet is a dangerous place. With a simple Javascript tracking code, a malicious website can expose a surfer’s identity - the IP address, the computer operating system, the web browser used, the surfer’s geographical location, and practically almost all of the user’s information.

By using an anonymous proxy, you are protected from attacks and fraudulent websites because your IP address is hidden from the specific website that you access.

The above situation can be avoided by using a proxy. In its simplest sense, when you connect to a website, you actually connect to the proxy and it is this computer that connects you to the web site. In short, the web site does not know your identity, what is known is only the proxy server. However, you should be careful when choosing a proxy web server. Since it knows who you are, you should choose one that can be trusted. Chances are you might end up with even greater problems if you fall in the trap of unscrupulous proxy sites.

US Military Personnel can choose an anonymous proxy that has an IP address in the US. This way, they can safely and securely access US websites, communicate with loved ones back home, and even watch US TV on the Internet through anonymous surfing.

Anonymous Proxy use for Business

With more and more people earning a living using the Internet, the competition is becoming more intense. Whether you have a web based business or a non web based business with a web site, you should consider using an anonymous proxy.

In our article titled Anonymous Proxy use for Business, we outline some of the reasons why you need to surf anonymously for your business. In summary, your competitors can find out who you are and block your view of their web sites. Competitive intelligence is one of the keys to being competitive whether you are a pure web based business or not. Being blocked from competitive web sites gives your competitors an advantage, one that you can not afford.

Anonymous Surfing is more than using an Anonymous Proxy

Last week I uploaded a video on anonymous surfing and why hiding your IP address is not enough. Basically, you need to follow these simple steps as outlined in the video to protect your Internet Privacy.

Anonymous Surfing Involves More Than Using an Anonymous Proxy

This Squidoo lens features information on Anonymous Proxy surfing. It was written by our VP of Marketing and provides tips on how to stay anonymous on the Internet. I'll post one of her tips below, but click the link for the full article.

E-mail Addresses
If a site requires an e-mail address, or the e-mail address is part of your post, then you might want to have multiple e-mail addresses. They are easy enough to set up and if you do it correctly using an anonymous proxy server, then your e-mail identity is masked. Let's use Google Gmail as an example. If you use one of our servers, let's say the one in Tempe Arizona, set up an account with Google. Then, when you use Gmail, the header information in the e-mail will show an IP address from Arizona.