How to Protect Your Online Privacy

These days it often feels like online privacy is an unattainable illusion. While it is true that it’s impossible to be entirely anonymous, while online there are many things you can do to greatly increase your privacy. I’m not recommending that you use all of the methods I discuss in this article, and it's by no means meant to be a comprehensive list of all possible options. This article is supposed to present you with some general strategies to protect your online privacy. Please pick and choose the methods that work best for you.

Index

1. Basic Strategies
2. Use an Alternative Search Engine
3. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
4. Privacy Through Your Browser
5. Use Peerblock

1. Basic Strategies

The truth about the internet is that often you can’t be sure who people really are or who's actually running the site you’re on. A general rule of thumb is that if you don’t trust the site don’t give them any personally identifiable information. This includes your real name, email address, credit card number, etc… Priveazy is a very good website which covers the basics of online privacy and safety. It contains quizes in different categories to see how informed you actually are and then provides lessons which can guide you towards a better understanding. It's a very good place to start to really get a good understanding of online privacy. However, after taking a few of these quizes it will require you to create an account with them. This account is free and I would strongly recommend you doing this if you really want to understand online privacy.

In terms of avoiding nefarious sites, which may be either privacy risks or security risks, you should read my article on How to Tell If A Website Is Dangerous. Also, in terms of keeping your email address out of the hands of spammers, please read my article about How to Avoid Spam. In addition it's also of paramount importance to keep your computer clear of malware. For this please read my article about How to Stay Safe While Online.

In addition to this there's also a very useful site which will allow you to opt out of most advertising cookies so that they can't track you. This service can be found at Network Advertising Initiative (NAI). Just go there and opt out of all the companies you want. This doesn't include all, but it does work for a lot of different companies. You should also go to your Adobe Flash Player Settings Manager Storage Settings and click on the 'Global Storage Settings Panel', which is on the left. Uncheck the box to 'Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer'. This will greatly increase your privacy, by blocking many flash cookies, but will not negatively affecting your browsing performance.

2. Use an Alternative Search Engine

Google’s search engine records your searches and aggressively tracks you. So do many of the other top search engines, at least to an extent. For this reason I would suggest that you use an alternative search engine. The best anonymous search engine I've found is called StartPage. This engine allows you to search using Google's search engine, but it blocks Google's ability to track you. It has also been certified not to record your IP address or use tracking cookies. More information can be found on this page.

3. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A VPN securely tunnels all of the connections from your computer directly to the site that you’re communicating with. Thus your connection is secure and nobody can spy on what you’re doing. Also, the site you’re communicating with doesn’t see your real IP address. It only sees the one that the VPN assigned you, which generally cannot be traced back to you. In addition all VPN's will hide your geographic location and even the name of your Internet Service provider. Thus it should become very difficult for anyone to track you.A review of some of the best VPN’s is given on this page.

Currently my favorite is HotSpot Shield. This does place an ad at the top of every page you visit. However, if you use adblocking software then you won't even see the ad. Also, this program does not store your IP address or any other permanent identifieres. However, it does put a cookie on your computer, which you can block by using the methods below. Also, they do record some non-identifiable information for advertising purposes. More information can be found on this page. Also, if you chose to opt out of the cookies, as explained in part 1, then you are already fine. Sadly, I’ve recently discovered that it appears that your IP is not masked when visiting https sites. Also, it appears that HotSpot Shield does not work with uTorrent. In fact I'm having trouble finding a combination of torrent client and fast VPN that work well together.

Another VPN you can use, although it only tunnels only the information sent directly through your browser, is Cocoon. However, note that it only works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. I've been testing it for a little while and it appears to do a very good job. When using it you may note a slight decrease in connection speed. Other than minor annoyances this is a very good addon. It encrypts all of your connections and actually stores the encrypted information on their servers, so nobody can gain access to it. This includes your browsing history, personal information, and passwords used. These are also available for you whenever you log in, even if it's on a different computer.  It will also scan all downloads for malware before they even reach yoru computer. Thus many pieces of malware will not even be able to reach your computer. In addition it also provides you with the option to create a disposable email address through their toolbar. You can create as many as you like and easily keep these for as long, or as short, a time as you want. For more information about the services provided please see this page.

4. Privacy Through Your Browser

My advice here is limited to Comodo Dragon and Firefox. I do realize that there are many other browsers out there, but I have had to narrow it to these two. Both of these browsers have an option to start in a mode in which most privacy traces will be cleared as soon as the browser is closed. This is not nearly enough to adequately protect your privacy, but it is a good start. In Comodo Dragon this is called ‘Incognito Mode’ and in Firefox it’s called ‘Private Browsing’. Below I have also compiled useful addons/extensions that work for both browsers. Also, please note that those listed for Comodo Dragon should also work for most other Chromium browsers. Please scroll down to whichever browser you are using for advice on which addons/extensions to use. On a side note, if you are using Google Chrome I strongly suggest that you find another browser. It has serious privacy issues.

Comodo Dragon

In Comodo Dragon go to Options => ‘Under the Hood’. Select the box that says 'Do not allow websites to know where you came from (suppress HTTP Referrer header)'. However, do note that this can cause problems with some websites and may need to be disabled. Now open the ‘Content Settings’ and select the box to ‘Block third-party cookies from being set’. This will prevent sites from loading cookies that are not from the site that you are currently on. Thus almost all tracking cookies will be blocked with very minimal affect on your browsing. The only time you may have problems, and need to temporarily disable this, is sometimes when a legitimate site redirects you to another page. That said, in most cases it will work fine.

More advanced users may wish to just block cookies globally. Then, when it becomes necessary, they can manually add sites to the whitelist. However, this can be somewhat annoying since many sites will not work correctly without cookies enabled. You can configure Comodo Dragon to do this by going to Options => ‘Under the Hood’ => ‘Content Settings’. Then change the setting for cookies to ‘Block sites from setting any data’. If blocking cookies globally is too annoying for your tastes then you can instead select the option to "Allow local data to be set for the current session only". Thus websites won't complain about cookies being disabled, but all ordinary cookies will be deleted when you close the browser.

Also, if you go to Options => "Under the Hood" you should make sure the option to "Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data" is selected. This way when you manually clear the browsing data you will clear all cookies and also the LSO's. For more information on why these are such a privacy risk please read this article.

Extensions to Use (note that these likely also work with other Chromium browsers)

HTTPS Everywhere: This forces many sites that have the option to encrypt your connection to actually encrypt it. Therefore your connection with these sites will be much more secure. Although the version for Chromium browsers is technically stil an Alpha product I have noticed no problems with it.

Do Not Track Plus: This will help to stop third-parties,ad agencies, and search engines from tracking the webpages you go to. It will also help to partially anonymize some of the searches you make. More information is given in this review.

Adblock Plus for Google Chrome (Beta): Although still technically in Beta I have seen no problems with this extension. It allows you to subscribe to many different filter lists, which help block unwanted content. This can include privacy threats such as tracking, web bugs, and marketing-analysis strings. In addition to any other lists you may be subscribing to I’d advise subscribing to EasyPrivacy.

Recommended for more advanced users

ScriptNo: This extension will block nearly all scripts and other possible privacy threats. It’s very powerful in that regard. The only change I’d recommend making to the default configuration is to select ‘Antisocial Mode’ in the options. The problem with using this extension is that many sites use scripts and plugins for legitimate purposes. Thus these sites will often not work correctly unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. Using ScriptNo does take some getting used to but I find that it's definitely worth it.

Recommended for more advanced users

Vanilla: This is a very good cookie manager. However, if you decided to block all cookies globally, as mentioned above, then this extension is not needed. One major downside to this extension is that it can’t block cookies automatically. However, in the options you can select and scroll through the list to ‘Auto delete unwanted cookies after 5 minutes”. You can also configure it to clear unwanted cookies on startup. I would strongly suggest enabling both features. You also have the option to add sites to the whitelist so that those cookies will never be deleted.

Firefox

For blocking tracking cookies I would advise that you enable the option to block third-party cookies. This can be found under options => options => Privacy. Then choose to ‘Use custom settings for history’. Now deselect the option to ‘Accept third-party cookies’. This will prevent sites from loading cookies that are not from the site that you are currently on. Thus almost all tracking cookies will be blocked. The only time you may have problems and need to temporarily disable this is sometimes when a legitimate site redirects you to another page. That said, in most cases it will work fine. You should also select the option to 'Tell web sites I do not want to be tracked'.

Addons to Use

HTTPS Everywhere: This forces many sites that have the option to encrypt your connection to actually encrypt it. Therefore your connection with these sites will be much more secure.

Do Not Track Plus: This will help to stop third-parties,ad agencies, and search engines from tracking the webpages you go to. It will also help to partially anonymize some of the searches you make. More information is given in this review.

Adblock Plus: This allows you to subscribe to many different filter lists, which help block unwanted content. This can include privacy threats such as tracking, web bugs, and marketing-analysis strings. In addition to any other lists you may be subscribing to I’d advise subscribing to EasyPrivacy.

BetterPrivacy: This will automatically prompt you to delete all local shared objects (LSO's) from your computer each time Firefox closes. For more information on why these are such a privacy risk please read this article. However, be aware that using this addon with the default configuration will reset the changes you made to the flash settings in part 1.

RequestPolicy: This will block cross-site requests by default. Thus you will be protected from Cross-site request forgery, which otherwise could send information about your browsing habits to unknown parties. When installing this I would advise that you leave the settings at default. Also, except when it prompts you to add the initial sites to your whitelist, I would not whitelist any sites unless you are experiencing difficulties.

Recommended for more advanced users

NoScript: This addon will block nearly all scripts and other possible privacy threats. It’s very powerful in that regard. You can also configure it to block web bugs to help protect your privacy. For this go to "Options > Advanced > Untrusted" and forbid web bugs. The problem with using this extension is that many sites use scripts and plugins for legitimate purposes. These sites will not work correctly unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. Using NoScript does take some getting used to, but I find that it's definitely worth it.

Recommended for more advanced users

Cookie Controller: This addon extends your privacy protection by blocking all cookies by default. It allows you to quickly and easily allow or block cookies globally and then manually add exceptions for individual sites. Like NoScript this takes some getting used to since many sites will not work correctly without cookies enabled. However, if protecting your privacy is important then this is a must have.

5. Use Peerblock

Recommended for more advanced users

Peerblock can be downloaded from this site. It monitors all IP connections and blocks all connections that are in its lists of known unwanted sites. It comes with default block lists and allows you to easily download more lists. It even comes with a list of known anti-P2P sites that you can select so that your computer will not communicate with them. All of these lists will be automatically updated each time you open the program. You can also create custom lists, either for blocking or allowing sites. You can read more about Peerblock in these FAQ's. As long as you don’t use too many lists your connection speed shouldn’t decrease noticeably when it's enabled. Peerblock can greatly increase your level of privacy, but this comes at a price. Using this program will cause many of the sites you regularly visit to not work correctly. Thus you will need to either temporarily disable Peerblock, when privacy concerns are not as critical, or create a whitelist of allowed sites.

Personally, I do create a whitelist. I have a custom list of sites I want to be allowed. The way I would recommend creating this is by going to the sites you visit regularly and see if important aspects of them are blocked. If they are, and you trust the site, you can select the option to allow the site for 15 minutes for one of the blocked connections. I always start with the one at the bottom of the list, assuming you had just cleared the log before going to the site. After temporarily allowing a single connection, and waiting for about 5 seconds, reload the page. If the site now loads fine then you can select the option to allow that connection permanently. This way the site will always work, even when Peerblock is active.