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.

The woman took the identity of her ex-boyfriend, who works as a police narcotics officer. The posts that were mostly self-destructive appeared to be made by him. There was one comment that talked about his being “high all the time”. Others mentioned his disreputable activities like frequenting prostitutes and escort services, and that he had herpes.

Impersonation, however it is done, is aimed at obtaining a benefit for one’s own self or to injure or defraud another. Way back in 2006, the issues of online impersonation and cyber bullying came out and quickly spread. It all started with the suicide of a 13-year-old girl who became a target online by a fictitious 13-year old boy. The case concluded with the “boy” being identified actually as the mother of another teenage girl.

The lawyer of the New Jersey woman nearly succeeded in his attempt to have the case dismissed. The attorney said that electronic communications is not mentioned in the New Jersey law. This prompted the New Jersey legislature to look into the law and to make such needed amendments. The lawyer continued by saying that the move to make revisions on the current law is an admission that his client’s action is not covered by it.

The case at hand may or may not amount to something, but what is clear at present is that identity theft can really be destructive. Just this simple case of faking a Facebook page can ruin one’s reputation and character. There seems to be no effective way of checking with 100% accuracy the identity of a user. There is a possibility that any user could just be pretending to be someone else.

Then, targeted advertising was popularized by companies that use this collected personal information. They have accumulated so much of it that they could build profiles of users, especially when it comes to their product preferences. Immediately, privacy advocates cautioned users to be more prudent when sharing their personal data. Despite intensive consumer education, privacy issues got worse, and problems cropped up.

Sometime later, many websites presented their privacy policies without hiding anything. They gave users the option of whether or not to share their personal information. There are those websites that honestly tell their users the purpose of collecting this information. However, technology is continuously improving and more subtle ways of data gathering are being invented.

One of the latest of these technologies is Amazon’s Silk Web Browser. This is not exactly new because Opera has already been using this same technology for years. The Silk Web Browser is intended to be used with Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. With this, users can surf the internet at optimized speed, giving them a different experience than they had with their previous browsers. On its own servers, Amazon optimizes and compresses every page that users visit, thereby increasing speed and hastening load times.

It is here where privacy concerns again come into play. Amazon can collect and store information about users’ surfing habits. This is because every page that users visit goes through Amazon’s servers. Amazon would be able to record the kinds of sites visited, how much time users spend on them, and what they do there.

The company was asked by Congress to answer the questions that they posed. On Amazon’s side, a representative said that data collected will be anonymous. In addition, users can opt to turn off this feature, if they wish. In the end, users will be the ones to decide whether or not they will share their information with Amazon. They just have to choose between either surfing at faster speeds by allowing their personal information to be collected and used for other purposes, or to not provide information and surf at slower speeds.

Social networking is one site where people could plainly give out their personal information. Facebook for instance has about 500 million users around the globe. This number of users has at least their basic private information open to practically anyone else online. All these data are in the custody of the networking business. These same data are what the government trying to defend in line with privacy laws.

As mentioned before, many internet users have become very careless in uploading information. With technology on the go, the government desires to put added control over data selling. Many government officials support the planned enhancement of privacy rights protection.

On the other hand, Facebook also has taken the test to redesign its strategies in the US. It has accepted the stand of the government leaning towards a stricter discharge of privacy laws. For this, the company has taken a stride ahead of the rest of its counterparts like Twitter, Zynga and LinkedIn.

Lobbying has become the most appropriate approach. Facebook has strategized to hire added employees who are specialists at public policies. Certainly, it is up to looking for some negotiation between the government’s project and the company’s objectives. To remember, government in particular wants to beef-up legislations to protect online users. These would include users’ identities, personal info, and online habits. In addition, policies will also be passed regarding the tracking, gathering and sale of any of this shared information.

There is an apparent hint that the government would launch “do not track” legislation. Senator Richard Blumenthal opts for policies that would oblige sites to obtain specific consent to track and sell data. The same stand is taken by Rep. Edward Markey, but centers more on protecting online activities and data collecting and profiling.

The brighter side of the matter is that both Facebook and government have the same viewpoint when comes to privacy protection. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg consents that people should be guaranteed of their privacy. Similarly, users have to be convinced that they have full control over the data that they submit. These are the same objectives as that of the planned legislation enhancements by the government.

More or less, there is likelihood that new regulatory actions would be implemented before long. This would be great news not only for Facebook but for other groups as well. If ever, these new policies would advantage both the users and companies. On one hand, users could continue to benefit from the fruits of technology. On the other, companies could make use of personal data but still keeping the privacy of millions of their clients.

Paul Weber, who spearheads the Los Angeles Police Protective League, says that he himself is worried. He says that his unit has little knowledge on what the plan fully entails, and they are quite worried about what the repercussions on the public’s privacy will be. He is especially worried about the release of confidential police records and other criminal data.

He was right, and not the only one worried. The online messaging giant Twitter sent out a message to be careful when using Google, because they frequently use “cloud computing”: storing files online rather than in their direct control. This allows the data to be much easier to hack and get into. Twitter isn’t the only one to have this concern though, but it a novel event that one huge company calls out another.

This shift from keeping data and information online is useful, as it cleans up the massive amount of space needed to store all of this data, but it represents many security issues. For one, the whole thing would be accessed by a username and password system, so if a hacker got either, he could be on his way into a gold mine of information. This is also amplified by the fact that many people link their accounts together, so if a hacker gained access to one account, he could actually be getting into many accounts. Also, there are not as many layers of security that prevent an interloper from gaining access.

Twitter alerted the masses after it had a user hacked when a criminal stole his password, or correctly answered his security question. This makes people worried; if this storing of information makes security problems already, then what will an entire database being released do to us?

Imagine what a drug cartel would pay to have the information on an investigation that they are suspects in; or the lengths they would go to in order to steal the information. Releasing this information to the city is making both possible, and the public is worried. The city will meet next week and discuss whether the plan will go through or not. The council is ambivalent; some believe that it will good to be able to access all of this information, while others are worried about the privacy hit the public could endure.

The group has proposed ways to keep you safe and secure online. For one, they say to try and not give away too much personal information. Also, utilize an anonymous proxy server while surfing the web and maintain your anonymity. The private proxy can also hide your identity and IP address and ensure your anonymous browsing.

If the plan is ratified, the city will be making a big leap into the twenty-first century says the mayor. Storing data offline is an archaic way to do things, and storing it online requires less space and memory. The company slated to do the changes, Computer Sciences, has asserted that they have done this kind of thing before and it has worked out fine for other agencies. They also say that the city is thinking about making an upgrade to a higher level system for a slightly larger fee, and this will be even more secure.

There is one factor to consider though, and it is a dark and insidious one: no one yet knows how privacy laws will protect this sent information. The head of World Privacy Forum Pam Dixon, says that Los Angeles doesn’t know what they are getting themselves into and rushed into this decision. She thinks that the transfer of so much sensitive information all at once presents a huge privacy hazard. A spokesperson for the mayor has retorted with an assurance of top-priority safety and the guarantee that the citizens will enjoy faster browsing speeds.

This all sounds like a great philanthropic project, but still be careful online, even if you aren’t a Los Angeles resident, this could still happen in your area. Stay safe and anonymous online all of the time, and don’t let anything get between it.