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.

Backes explained how the tool works. Photos are first encrypted before these can be uploaded. This limits the photo’s accessibility. A special plug-in is required on the browser so that the viewer can see the image. The “key” contained in the plug-in unlocks access to the image. Using X-pire, this key expires on the date specified by the user. The picture can no longer be accessed and hence “erased” from the web. This is how the tool gives the user control over his photos.

This new system might put an end to the problem which many users encounter regarding abuse of uploaded pictures. Pictures in the net have been used with malicious intentions and this has caused unpleasant experiences. Once pictures are uploaded, they can stay there for eternity. Imagine the host of pictures uploaded in Facebook or Picasa. Having no control over them, the owner is at risk of problems coming his or her way sooner or later. Many have experienced the “Streisand effect” which up to now haunts many people.

Although X-pire promises to work well, it is not 100% effective. It has a downside especially when comes to its performance as admitted by Backes himself. However, he sees it as a good start for something more useful and practical. This would inspire other workers to develop their own “web eraser”, with fewer hitches. Users are always reminded to think well before uploading any picture. What seems to be “harmless” today might be a big “headache” years after.

A user loses control over his or her uploaded photos and leaves all possibilities to anyone who views them. The most common of all is using these photos for privacy invasion of the owner. Once these pictures are copied or downloaded, the list of what might happen is endless. With X-pire, there is limit in copying, or downloading.

The tool is now in its initial test phase. After this is completed, Backes will make it available to users. He stated that he intends to charge a monthly flat rate for his service or at $13 for unlimited use. This would mean spending more for added protection to their photos on the part of the users. X-pire will surely become a new name in photo sharing.

Most of the presently existing privacy laws were applied way back before high-tech devices came into existence. In the past, a person when searched has with him no more than a wallet, a purse, a hanky, or a keychain. Times have changed. Powerful computing devices now lurk in the pockets and bags of people. These could be cellular phones, flash drives, netbooks, etc. There are yet many more and even more powerful ones to come.

These devices contain enormous amount of data. Whether for personal or business use, they contain sensitive, private, or confidential data. With the present trend of enhancing personal search, there is a need to “hide” these data somewhere else. Thus there is a need for enhanced mobile data storage. In other cases, self destruction of data is also important.

In California, the Supreme Court has ruled out the detailed searches of an arrested person’s phones. This also authorized search of the suspect’s other devices during the time of the arrest. Even without a search warrant, authorities can comprehensively look into all data in these devices. Imagine them going over your photo, address book, Web browsing history, search history, and many more. This is alarming especially for innocent and law-abiding citizens.

Anything could happen during this inspection. There is the risk of data copying, deletion, and other intrusive acts. This would then be clear invasion of privacy.

Open-source systems of enhanced data storage and self-destruction mechanisms were proposed. He enumerated among others five of the initial attributes that should be included. These are options such as:

1. It should enable users to have continuous and automatic back-up in a secure off-device location.
2. It should enable users to specify the degree of data security that they want on a per-item basis.
3. Enhanced data encryption should be secured for all communications between the mobile devices and remote data storage data facilities.
4. Self-destruct mechanisms should be user-friendly especially during emergency and unusual situations.
5. Deleted data after self-destruct should be resistant to reconstruction using forensic technology.

It is true that government wants equal protection of the law for its citizens. One way to ensure this is to uphold their privacy.

What is an anonymous proxy, you may be asking? First of all, there are two types of anonymous proxies. The one that most people use is the web-based. This is because it is simple to find. All that is required is a search on the Google site for “anonymous proxy” and a vast amount of results will be shown. Choose one of the results and go to the site. An empty URL box will be shown and you need only type the web address of the place you want to visit. The anonymous proxy will then take you to this address without showing your IP address. When you leave the website there will not be a record of your having been there. The anonymous proxy acts as a combination protection and retrieval tool. It gets the website for you and keeps anyone from accessing your IP address. Your IP address can tell a thief where you are located. How many people do you want to know your name?

The second type of anonymous proxy is a software proxy. This is somewhat like the web-based one however, software proxies work by downloading a program to your computer. Many of the software programs are set up so that when the traffic from your browser goes through the IP servers to be changed, they are put through encryption.  This encryption protects the data stream so that a hacker cannot read what you are sending over the Internet.  Without encryption your data stream is wide open for anyone using a packet sniffer.  Unprotected Internet communications is one way that people lose their identity or their money.

Setting this up is a very simple process. All you have to do is download the software for the anonymous proxy server. The software you are using will have an icon on your desktop. Open the program from here and put in your user name and your password. The next thing will be to choose the anonymous proxy from the ones available that you wish to connect to and hit enter. Your computer will be connected to the server you chose. The browser you use can be opened and your IP address is changed to one from the software program. Eliminating your IP address from showing on whatever site you choose to visit is a terrific move. The electronic trail that is left by your computer every time you go online no longer leads back to your computer. It goes to the server company that has the program you are using. This type of anonymous proxy has more servers to handle the traffic they are getting so it is faster than the ones you can choose free from the Internet. In addition, you are not inundated with the advertisements often put on free proxy servers.

The whole process makes for a safe and secure way of doing anything online. Instead of them being able to have full access to all your pertinent information, the IP address is routed through anonymous proxy servers. This eliminates the chance of a hacker gaining control of your information while you are online. Using a wireless router or a laptop on a hotspot allows everything you are doing to be seen by those who are just waiting for an unsuspecting surfer to come along. Did you know that your ISP even has a log of everything you do on the Internet? The law says they have to keep a record of the sites you visit. Do you think this is anyone’s business besides yours? The best way to make sure no one knows what you are doing while you are online is to make use of the anonymous proxy software that encrypts your communication and keeps them private.

First of all, there are two types of anonymous proxies. The one that most people use is the web-based. This is because it is simple to find. All that is required is a search on the Google site for “anonymous proxy” and a vast amount of results will be shown. Choose one of the results and go to the site. An empty URL box will be shown and you need only type the web address of the place you want to visit. The anonymous proxy will then take you to this address without showing your IP address. When you leave the website there will not be cookies from the site on your computer nor a record of your having been there. The anonymous proxy acts as a combination protection and retrieval tool. It gets the website for you and keeps anyone from accessing your IP address. Your IP address can tell a thief exactly where you are located. How many people do you want to know your name?

The second type of anonymous proxy is a software proxy. This is somewhat like the web-based one however, soft-ware proxies work by downloading a program to your computer. Many of the software programs are set up so that when the traffic from your browser goes through the IP servers to be changed, they are put through a 128 bit SSL encryption. There are several IP addresses for each location and they are changed on a regular schedule. This gives your computer many different IP addresses to use as long as you are online. The only way you can access your anonymous proxy server is by putting in a password and a username. In addition, these proxy servers do not look anything like what they are so they are not blocked or censored. The URL is also masked so that it does not look like a proxy. In addition when using this software all the locations you will be sent to are only accessed by others like you who are using a proxy server.

It is a very simple process. All you have to do is download the software for the anonymous proxy server. The software you are using will have an icon on your desktop. Open the program from here and put in your user name and your password. The next thing will be to choose the location from the ones available that you wish to connect to and hit enter. Your computer will be connected to the server you chose. The browser you use can be opened and your IP address miraculously is changed to one from the software program. Eliminating your IP address from showing on whatever site you choose to visit as well as keeping this site or any other from leaving tracking cookies on your computer is a terrific move. The electronic trail that is left by your computer every time you go online no longer leads back to your computer. It goes to the server company that has the program you are using. This type of anonymous proxy has more servers to handle the traffic they are getting so it is faster than the ones you can choose free from the Internet. In addition, you are not inundated with the advertisements often put on free proxy servers.

The whole process makes a much more safe and secure way of doing anything online. Instead of them being able to have full access to all your pertinent information, the IP address is routed through anonymous proxy servers. This eliminates the chance of a hacker gaining control of your information while you are online. Using a wireless router or a laptop on a hotspot allows everything you are doing to be seen by those who are just waiting for an unsuspecting surfer to come along. Did you know that your ISP even has a log of everything you do on the Internet? The law says they have to keep a record of the sites you visit. Do you think this is anyone’s business besides yours? The best way to make sure no one knows what you are doing while you are online is to make use of the anonymous proxy software that encrypts your communication and keeps them private. Every time you are online, companies can build profiles on you just by what you do. Where you go and what sites you visit are all used to build these profiles. When an unscrupulous individual is trying to see where you are surfing and anonymous proxy servers are used, the data is unreadable because it is encrypted. Your information is safe and the person with thoughts of stealing your information moves on to find someone else.

The premise is simple; give people ads that they might actually consider. Imagine a dainty young woman into flowers, teacups, and all things cute and cuddly. If while on a beauty website, she encounters an ad for a protein shake that is guaranteed to put on fifteen percent more muscle in one week, she probably isn’t going to even think about clicking it. On the other end of the spectrum, if a muscle-bound college kid is managing his fantasy football team, and an ad for a miracle garden solution pops up, he probably won’t think twice before exiting it out.

These may be a bit extreme, but everyone has had something like this occur. One can see two sides of the coin to this new behavioral advertising; one is good and puts ads that you may actually consider on your screen, and another is bad and completely invades your privacy without permission.

While these invasive ads may seem to violate privacy laws, they actually don’t. The ISPs will allow them to do so on their customers because the ads will pay them a percentage of their profits. This still doesn’t quell the public’s concerns… someone is getting into their personal and private browsing history and compromising their anonymous browsing experience online. Although the people are outraged and concerned, there truly is little they can do.

Well, little they can do in the form of laws and regulations anyway. If you want to avoid these advertisers and their hands-on tactics, try using an anonymous proxy server. When you download your private proxy for just a few dollars a month, you will quickly see it was money well spent.

This useful piece of software actually changes your IP address, which will thwart any possible hackers or trackers, as your IP address is the key to any data you have on your computer. The best anonymous proxy servers will actually have an encryption service built right in, which can encode all of your Internet traffic so it looks like hieroglyphics to any snoopers.

This serves two purposes; first, it protects you from hackers and other criminal scum, and secondly, it scrambles all of your data so the behavioral advertisers can’t read any of it. If they can’t read it, they can’t try and forcefully solicit their products to you. An anonymous proxy is the perfect remedy for a situation that will plague the public for quite a while before somebody finally does something about it. Don’t let your ISP give away your information for a profit, secure your browsing with an anonymous proxy now and never let anyone in on your documents again.

We were able to fend them off for some time, and did so quite well. It wasn’t until the 911 attacks that we faltered. These terrorist attacks jaded our nation and knocked down our confidence. It was similar to the Titanic; the impossible and the impenetrable was broken down. America seemed like a huge fortress, but some ramshackle terrorists were able to infiltrate it and deal us some swift damage. This woke the government up, and made them protect America even more diligently, and think of many new ways to do so.

Some of these ways have been met with some controversy from the very people that is sought to protect. Perhaps the most noticeable and complained about is the ridiculously tightened  up security in the airports, where the 911 attacks originated. Instead of just having to go through a casual bag check, you now have to go through a long line waiting for the x-ray machine to be scanned. On top of that, people must remove shoes, purses, and sometimes even belts in order to be patted down.

Another aspect of security is not so blatant. The fact that the government can view or intercept anything that we do or say via the Patriot Act concerns many privacy advocates. While it is indeed the government doing so and not some malicious hacker with the intent to steal an identity browsing through your documents, and it is safety’s sake, it still is a bit worrying to know we are being watched in a Big Brother-esque manner.

While there is not much to do from having the government perform surveillance on you, you can stop your snooping neighbors, or an identity thief. Using a private proxy server will allow you to surf the Internet anonymously, and with strong encryption software, there will be no way anyone could intercept your transmissions!

Some people use these cache systems to help out with their P2P (peer-to-peer) transfers. This will store part of the data that needs to be transferred and copied, and will allow it to load much more quickly. The cache will also hold other data that will cause the Internet to be a faster place for users and allow more data to be transferred more quickly.

The cache also comes with some risks too. Anytime identifying data or browsing history is stored on your computer, you will have some sort of privacy issue. The less information you keep about yourself and your browsing habits on your computer and on the Internet, the safer and more anonymity you will enjoy. It is possible that a hacker could gain access to your data by using your IP address to hack into your computer. It is also possible to just steal your computer and get into your cache. It is one thing for your system to be physically stolen, but if a hacker could remotely access your computer and get all sorts of sensitive information and other browsing habits, it could be forever before you found out and tried to stop it, but by then the damage could be irreversible.

There is also the practice of ISPs using a cache system for all of its users to enjoy. This seems ideal, because with so many users going on so many different sites, yet sharing the same cache, they could all use the giant cache system to load many sites faster, instead of only the ones they previously went on. This seems great, but if someone were to somehow gain access to the gigantic universal cache, they would have access to so many people’s data that it would be a privacy nightmare. Imagine, so many people’s data compromised so quickly!

Today though, the cache system is archaic. It was a good idea when Internet connection speeds were slow, but with today’s DSL and broadband being the norm for most Internet users, the connections are so fast that the cache became a liability. People worried about the security risks.

Today, proxies don’t use the cache system either. One of the concepts for a proxy was specifically for the caching of sites making your browsing faster.  Companies cached the sites that their employees went to thus speeding up the web browsing. They used to have a system like the ISPs, but they have pretty much abandoned that due to the speed of Internet connections. Although the cache still is in effect on most every computer, it has taken a backseat after the Internet became so streamlined and fast.

Now proxies are used primarily for Internet privacy.  By using an anonymous proxy a user can surf the Internet anonymously.  An anonymous proxy can do two things for the user.  First it can change the IP address of the user thus protecting their location.  And if the proxy uses encryption it can also prevent hackers from intercepting and reading the data sent over the Internet.

Cache, however, remains on your PC.  These are now mostly garbage files and should be deleted regularly.  All browsers have the ability to clear the cache upon exiting.  Some call these files temporary Internet files, some call it cache.  In either case, you don’t need them anymore.

The demand for Internet privacy got to be so strong, that there began to be a market for it. People would pay for the services they provide, and would do so willingly. At first, these companies charged ridiculous amounts for their services, but today they are often dirt cheap.

Anonymous Proxy usage became more and more important. These are programs or web sites that actually alter your IP address, which is a virtual nametag showing location, browsing history, etc. The programs then allow you to surf on their encrypted networks to be sure all of your information is encoded upon you sending it. Then, they actually go and retrieve the websites you wish to visit for you, allowing you to bypass blocks set on work and school computers (or possibly an oppressive government) and enjoy the sites you want to. They will allow no traces of data such as cookies or cache to stay on your computer, allowing no one to see your browsing session. All your employer or teacher would see is the name of the anonymous proxy over and over and over again. If this isn’t good enough for you, professional fee-based proxies offer a “delete session information” function that completely deletes history of your browsing for that session, leaving no traces anywhere.

There are two major types of proxies; a software based proxy and a web based proxy. We’ll focus on the web based one first.

The web proxy is activated by going to the proxy site. From there you put in the site you wish to visit, and your IP address is changed and you are now anonymous. These are often free and are readily available on the Internet. These will also help you get by those filtering site programs at your work or school. These have some downfalls though; they are often very slow, can be unsecure, and are very finicky. First, you are traveling on one network with many different people, and using a lot of bandwidth. This makes you travel quite slow. Then, who knows if these web proxies are scams or not? Bandwidth costs lots of money, web proxies use a lot, and keep in mind the owner of the proxy can still see all of your data. Maybe they dip into some customer’s unknowing bank accounts to extract some money…

A fee based software proxy is a much better bet. These offer all the advantages of a web-based proxy, but are often lightening fast, much more secure, and offer encryption services, which are essential to true Internet security.

The decision is obvious, and the real-world axiom applies in the world of privacy as well. Web proxies are okay to use on a public computer, but definitely not for home use. Using a fee-based anonymous proxy can keep you completely safe and ensure anonymous browsing while online; and you don’t have to break the bank!

With blogging becoming such a popular and widely utilized pastime, people are beginning to see the security issues it represents. First of all, there is the possibility of someone tracking the blogger from his or her page, and maybe even posing as a friend (which isn’t hard to do online) to arrange a real life encounter. There is also the simple possibly that the blogger is just putting too much information out there. While they may talk about other things, blogs are often centered around friends and their activities together. Oftentimes you will see a blog that lucidly describes the place they are discussing, (sometimes even an address…) people involved in the event, and usually a picture attached of the person and their friends. This is everything and more than a criminal needs to find this person and rob, kidnap, or steal from them.

This new awareness of blog safety brought about the anonymous movement. People realized that the root of their problems and the biggest danger in their blogging lives is that they were being tracked and identified in real life. These blogs are often public too; imagine if a boss or potential employer were to view someone’s blog and turn them away from the job! The reverse of this happened a little while ago; a woman who constantly blogged about her disdain for a local politician and his methods was anonymous online. After some time and after having built a strong fan base, she decided to go public, and posted her name, a brief bio, and a picture of herself. Her boss, being an avid supporter of the ousted politician, fired her and forbid her from coming back to her job. She is now blacklisted from many employers in her area, for fear of being guilty by association.

Use an anonymous proxy to stay anonymous online. This is the best and most powerful way to do so. High bit encryption services will protect your identity, and a changed IP address will ensure you safe and anonymous browsing; and the avoidance of any identity-based privacy issues.