Having stated the above, some sites are very clear on their privacy policies.  For example, look at the Trollbeads privacy policy.  They state that they do not give out your information.  Given that this is a jewelry site, they would gain very little in giving it out.  The site’s goal is to sell jewelry.

Google on the other hand is interested in your information.  They make money based on it.

If you are concerned about privacy, there are two simple steps you can take to obscure the information that any website or search engine sees.

1. Use multiple user names or ID’s when you access a site.  This spreads your data across accounts which breaks any direct linkage to you.
2. Use an anonymous proxy that changes your IP address so that your accounts are not linked to your IP address.  Even better would be to use a shared proxy because many people will be using the same IP addresses thus rendering the information collected by the website useless.

Whenever you sign on to the internet, your IP address gives away your location.  If you are not in the United States, a website that you need to access may be blocked.  Whether you are signed up for a webinar, or need to do research, or if you just want to relax and watch your favorite TV show or a movie, if the site you need is blocked, it doesn’t help you much.   In order to “fool” these sites into opening, you must hide your IP address.

To hide your IP address, you must use a proxy server.  When you use a proxy server, the IP address used to locate you will be the address of the server.  This allows you to hide your true location, which opens up websites that would normally be blocked in the country you are in.

If you connect to a server in the US, then your US IP address will always show that you are in the United States.

You will be able to attend that online class in the United States while you are studying overseas.  You will also be able to watch movies and TV shows that would normally be blocked in some other countries.  There will be no limits on where you could go on the internet.

Want to try if for yourself?  Sign up for the risk-free trial and you will be hooked from the first time you use it.

Sa state ng California sa United States of America, itinatag ang bagong eCrime Unit upang manghuli at maglitis ng mga internet crooks. Ang team na ito ay binuo ng isang state attorney general at kinabibilangan ng dalawampung abogado at imbestigador. Bihasa sila sa mga makabagong paraan upang matunton at matukoy ang mga maysala. Kabilang sa mga tinututukan ng team na ito ay mga email scams, piracy, child pornography, online fraud, at marami pang iba. Kawawa lamang ang mga taong nabiktima at patuloy na nabibiktima mapa-offline man o mapa-online.

Naipakulong na ng team ang isang lalaking nahatulan ng guilty sa kasong hacking ng mga email at Facebook accounts. Marami nang nabiktima ang lalaking ito na ang karaniwang modus ay pasukin ang account ng ibang user. Pagkatapos ay maghahanap siya ng mga kontrobersiyal na larawan ng may-ari ng account. Tatakutin niya ito na ikakalat sa internet ang mga larawan kapag hindi sinunod ang gusto niya.

Ang internet ay napakahalaga sa ekonomiya, sa mga tao, at sa mga negosyo. Dahil dito, hindi na kailangang maghanap ng biktima ang mga cyber criminals. Napakaraming maaaring maging biktima ng pagnanakaw ng mga impormasyon. Ang taong 2012 ay nakikinikinitang magiging taon ng matinding pakikipaglaban sa online crimes. Naranasan noong isang taon ang napakaraming mga scams at inaasahang marami pang darating ngayong taon.

Ito naman ang dahilan ng pagpapaigting ng kampanya laban sa ecrime. Ang bagong eCrime Unit ay naglalayong makagawa ng isang bagong trend ng pakikipaglaban sa online crimes. Sinabi ng attorney general mula California na gusto nilang manguna sa makabagong paraan sa paghahanap at paglilitis ng mga maysala. Gamit ang internet technology na siya ring gamit ng mga criminal, mapatutunayang ang batas ay mangingibabaw sa lahat ng oras.

Today, businesses and government agencies should prepare for all of these looming disasters. Each should have an individual plan for disaster recovery. In today’s information-driven world, further disasters can result from power outages and network failures. There should still be time for every business to adjust and respond to risks. In any possible event, there should be uninterrupted and continuous access to either personal or corporate data.

There should be a system for disaster preparedness. For any company, it is a well-known fact that its most important assets are its people. Unquestionably, for these people, their most important asset is their family. Is there a company or agency plan on how to move its people, including their families, if the need arises? Another consideration is to make a communication plan that is timely, clear and honest.

Every company and agency has a host of information that is vital to the uninterrupted course of activities. There should be a data back-up plan which should be verified and validated, and situated out of harm’s way. It should also be accessible to the recovery location. To ensure better data privacy, cloud service is now available for the storage of key data.

There is no certainty as to how long catastrophic events could last. Some may last for days, others for weeks, and still others for months. There have to be options if the facilities, network, technology and people could not be available. It is also very vital to think about those other businesses associated with “parent” companies. Their preparedness has a direct effect on any company or agency because jointly, they form a chain or network. There is more impact if not only one, everybody else involved is well-prepared.

There is an expectation that the role of social media in big data and analytics will grow and broaden. Given that there will be new data sources, more organizations will use these in order to generate their transformations. After all of this has been done, there will be more considerable benefits gotten out of social networking. The growth in the number of organizations using the social media command center in 2011 was remarkable. The number is expected to grow even more in the coming year. The familiar use of marketing services agencies is slowly replaced by the more advanced, and more effective use of social media.

There are also big expectations on the issue of security in 2012. Organizations have started the extensive use of mobile devices in data management, which increases security risks. Given this scenario, analysts say that organizations have to learn to compromise with technology. They have to expect data breaches to happen anytime, and corporate networks have to be always prepared for any form of malicious attack that may be brought about by such breaches. With the increasing number of employee-owned devices comes the increase in the number of data leakage points.

Through technology, corporate information is made more accessible from anywhere. Mobile devices are extensively used by employees who have access to such data. Nowadays, the personal computer is being used as an additional major corporate tool. It has also given way to “personal cloud” that uses mobile and web applications. Everyone expects that new and bigger happenings will take place in the world of IT in 2012.

Mobile technology is now widely used in almost all private and public organizations. The use of smartphones or tablets has made it very convenient for people to manage data. Doctors and other health care professionals are now using these gadgets for electronic health records. These tools, as observers point out, lack the much needed, required security. Working on their own, some doctors are using these gadgets without ample knowledge on the use of encryption technology, or even passwords.

A spokesperson for the American Health Information Management Association said that there is a need for education and awareness. He admitted that there are ongoing trainings on the use of mobile technology in relation to data management. But according to him, these are not the same as education and awareness. Something else must be done if health professionals are to have the right awareness when it comes to patient data security.

At present, it is surprising to note that 4 out of 10 health care professionals surveyed are confident that patient data accessed by mobile devices is secured. It is also astounding to know that 81% of them are using these devices to collect, store and transmit patient records. But the most shocking of all is that almost one-half of the participants surveyed said that their organizations do not have a data protection mechanism at all.

In the United States, at least two regions have reported a large increase in identity crimes, most of which are data breaches. The cost of information that is stolen from companies costs more than $150 billion in the national picture. This was reported by LifeLock Consumer Education that spanned the years from 2005 to 2010. The theory is that this is a result of technology that criminals take advantage of, plus human error on the part of consumers.

Studying the number of data breaches, it can be said that in the U.S., there were more than 800 million records exposed from 2005 to 2010. Analysis of this data reveals that 15% of these were credit card fraud and 9% were bank fraud. One interesting fact to note is that credit card fraud takes the major percentage of the crime. The reason can be attributed to the story of one shopper who experienced identity theft two years ago. Since that distressing experience, she said that she uses her credit cards only occasionally. She added that she has not gotten over that incident. She did not know how her identity was stolen in such a short time. Even now, she still cannot be sure if clerks or waiters will really run her card through genuine credit card readers.

Even the status of identity-related crimes on state highways is also worsening. Police records show that identity crime arrests have increased by 53 percent in the past three years. These can be broken down into forgery, falsification, using a fake driver’s license, giving a fictitious name to an officer, or signing a false name on statements.

The emails sent bear the subject InDesign CS4 License Key, and looks very convincing. It is not easy for users to suspect that the emails are spam. It uses very subtle encouragement for them to explore what is new about InDesign and how its features were enhanced. The email bears an attachment that supposedly contains tips, tutorials, and eSeminars.

It was noted that there were different versions of emails; each one being slightly different from the other. The emails also used different reference numbers in the subject line. Some attachments bear the filename “AdobeSystems-Software_Critical Update Dec_2011-[random].zip”; others have the filename “License_key_ID[random number].zip”.

Hackers know that users are concerned about their security so they use subtle threats in their emails. To make sure that users open the attachment, they “promise” such things as advanced features. Furthermore, there is insinuation that work productivity would not be enhanced unless users open the file.

Users who do not have sufficient knowledge about how malwares are spammed out are likely to open the attachment. Not realizing that it contains malicious software, they will install it and so, their Windows computers are infected with it. Sophos said that its antivirus software detects the malware as the Troj/Bedo-MY Trojan horse. It also reminded users that Adobe would not send emails to people and attach its updates in them. Users have to always remember that Adobe only uses its own website where users can visit for legitimate updates.

Kung ikaw ay naghahanap ng trabaho gamit ang mga online ads, umiwas sa mga nanghihingi ng iyong mga personal na impormasyon. Marami sa mga cyber criminals ang nagtatago sa likod nga mga legal na job sites para lamang magmukhang tunay din sila. Ang iba sa kanila ay gumagamit pa ng mga sikat na logo o ng mga salitang nakapanghihikayat nang sa ganoo’y makuha ang iyong atensyon. Malalaman mo na lang na peke pala ang mga links na kanilang ginagamit. Kapag pinindot mo ang mga ito, dadalhin ka lamang sa website ng isang kompanyang animo’y totoo, subalit wala palang ganoon.

Kung hindi manghihingi ng iyong personal na impormasyon, meron namang pagbabayarin ka kapalit ng isang serbisyo. Marami nang naging biktima ng ganitong estilo at sa katunayan, dumarami pa ang naloloko. Pagkatapos magbayad, saka palang nila malalamang wala naman palang ganoong klaseng serbisyo. Mahirap pa naman silang mahuli dahil biglang “nagsasara” ang kanilang kompanya at hindi mo na sila mahahagilap.

Para sa mga online job hunters katulad mo, mainam kung maisasaulo ang mga simpleng tips upang makaiwas sa ganitong sitwasyon. Unang-una, huwang basta magbibigay ng iyong personal na impormasyon online, lalo na iyong hindi job related. Walang lehitimong employer na manghihingi ng social security number, date of birth, home address, at iba pa kaagad agad. Isa sa mga pinaka “no-no” ang pagbibigay ng impormasyong personal sa pamamagitan ng telepono, email, o fax.

Pagdating naman sa iyong resume, dapat mong isaisip na ito ang iyong pinakapuhunan. Napapaloob ditto ang mga sensitibong impormasyon na dapat manatiling “private”. Huwag na huwag mo itong ipamimigay nang walang mahalagang dahilan. Kung kailangan mo itong i-post online, pumili ng job site na may malinaw na privacy policy. Doon ka sa hindi basta-bastang binibigyan ng access ang mga recruiters sa iyong personal na impormasyon.

Kung kailangan mong ma-verify ang isang employer, hanapin ang contact number nito at tawagan. Kung magiging praktikal, mas mabuting bumisita ng personal sa kinaroroonan ng kompanya o opisina nito. Saka mo pa lamang masasabi kung ito nga ay lehitimo o hindi.

But why are these privacy advocates reacting negatively on the proposed law? The reason is that such legislation would turn each person who uses the internet into a victim. They argue that this law, if passed, would oblige all internet service providers, or ISPs, to track all on line activities of every user and save the information for 18 months. As an additional requirement, ISPs are supposed to store this data together with the user’s name, home address, bank account and credit card numbers, and their assigned IP address.

An argument raised says that tracking all of the user’s internet activities is not the solution to the problem on internet child pornography. Compared to the millions of internet users, there are only very few child pornographers who are hiding online. So why place everyone under “surveillance” where all internet users would become suspects of a crime that most of them would not even think about? Its final effect would be detrimental to freedom of speech and threatening to the online privacy of every American.

Even if someone is not yet under investigation, the law would allow the tracking of that person. The simple reason of doubt would be sufficient enough so that his or her internet history can be accessed by the police. One state representative said that the law would create several risks that far outweigh the benefits that it would give. He is not convinced that it would have a major positive effect in protecting children. But since these are only arguments, it is still possible that the law could be the real solution to the problem of online child pornography.