Do you remember a time, long ago in our past, when one had to go out to buy something and bring it home? It seems like a crazy concept, but it really happened. People drove their cars to a sort of vending center, where they exchanged monetary units for perishables and other items. They would then buy enough to last them for some time, and when they needed more, they would head back again and again. Someday kids will read about this very outdated practice in their history textbooks. All joking aside though, the idea that one would actually go out to a store to buy something is becoming obsolete. These stores have fewer users than they did fifty years ago, even with a larger population. The world of explosive technology has penetrated nearly every aspect of life, and shopping certainly under that umbrella.

People’s lives around the globe|world] today, especially those of the United States citizens, are of a highly mobile type. We use our cars to go anywhere, work a whole bunch of separate shifts to augment our bank accounts, and have more entertainment in our house than does a whole circus. Consider going out to the movies in the present day; in the prehistoric days, before the VCR player, you would have to buy a ticket for the theater playing at your time. Now you can simply download movies temporarily whenever you choose by taking your pick from an on-demand service. Our homes these days are like the best place to relax and have fun; it almost defeats the point of going out. This self-containment is a must today though because we have more going on in our lives than ever before.

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Anonymous proxy, what is it? Why would someone need to be anonymous on the Internet? What is anonymous surfing? These are all reasonable questions.

Anonymous Proxy usage is on the rise. This is because an anonymous proxy can help you bypass Internet restrictions or Internet censorship. An anonymous proxy is an Internet server that you connect to and that appears to be your ISP’s Internet server to any site that you visit. The websites that you visit when connected to an anonymous proxy see the proxies IP address and not the IP address of your ISP, or employer. This helps bypass restrictions based on IP address. If your IP address is banned or blocked, then by using the IP address of the anonymous proxy, you are bypassing the ban.

Anonymous surfing is slightly different. In addition to hiding your IP address, anonymous surfing is the process of being invisible on the web. With an anonymous proxy that encrypts your website traffic, you make virtually impossible for someone to monitor your Internet surfing. All they will see is the encrypted traffic which is almost impossible to decipher.

When you surf anonymously by using encryption, then the data that you send not only can’t be read, its hard to block. Let’s say that you are in mainland China and researching democracy. By encrypting your searches, the Chinese government won’t know what you are looking for. This bypasses the block on those searches. Let’s also assume that the New York Times website is blocked by the Chinese. Again, the URL that you enter into your browser is encrypted so it cannot be monitored. This also means it can’t be blocked.

Anonymous Proxy and Anonymous Surfing are keys to being safe on the Internet. Safe from hackers and thieves. And safe from repressive governments.

For most of us, we don’t worry about being anonymous because we don’t live in a repressed society. However, governments aren’t the only ones watching you. Hackers and thieves are watching you too. Using an anonymous proxy can also protect you from would be thieves.

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Everyone knows about hackers and how they must keep themselves safe and secure so that they won’t be hacked online. These criminals can actually break into your system and completely take it over; they will be moving the mouse and not you! A virtual hijacking if you will. More common is the practice of just breaking through your security programs and reading through your personal and sensitive documents, and trying to recover some sort of identifying or useful information; think bank account numbers, passwords, log in names, credit card numbers, etc.

This seems like it would take a master hacker to do, but it really doesn’t. These hackers often are just somewhat computer savvy people with online guides (yes, these are published) on how to break into someone’s system. The great thing for them is that people usually all just keep their stock firewalls and virus protection programs for a false sense of security. These are easy to hack for hackers because you get what you paid for, and they were free. After doing so many of them too, they learn their way around a standard firewall.

Because of this, hackers try to stick to the people who simply have no protection, or just very minimal extra protection. Some people’s Internet signals are completely unsecured, and a criminal would have no problem breaking in. When you log on to your home Internet connection, did you have to put in a password? Look and see if the status is “unsecured” or “open”. Try to avoid this and install a WEP key which is a bunch of figures you put together that acts as a password. This might not stop a pro hacker from getting into your computer, but it will stop your neighbors from mooching off of your connection, reading your documents, and possibly giving you a virus. When they are on your connection, you may notice slower browsing speeds than normal.

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Creative criminals: with its nice alliterative ring, it sounds like a harmonious title of a reality show. Or perhaps some blooper reel where the “creative” is in a less reverent sense. This is nothing to do with television though, but rather another medium: technology. The human race had its humble roots with a barbaric caveman who first struck fire and was maddened and frightened by its implications, although he probably did not know what “implications” were. Soon enough though, or really through millions of years of natural selection, we found ourselves in the year 1950. At this point technology is just making its strong debut, with the radio and the television dominating the airwaves and creating sparks in the minds of the greats who will bring us even more advanced technology later.

Anonymous Proxy to avoid identity theft

Although we did not know it the abstract concept of a grassroots link between users would be manifested to the tangible, yet paradoxically intangible, Internet. This system allowed people to set up their own sites via the WWW service, and brought about many great things. Unfortunately, it is through the Internet that we find ourselves the victims of some of the most creative criminals.

The creation of MySpace, FaceBook, and other social networking sites where people can communicate to one another through personalized profiles and comment, blog, and rate each others own pictures brought about a social revolution. People became addicted to these sites, and soon enough criminals began to notice and try and exploit the general public’s naivete regarding Internet safety. Through the wonderful power of deceit the Internet provides, these ingenious crooks posed as friends of some people, and lured them into the real world to steal, abduct, etc. The more sophisticated criminals even earned themselves a special title of reverence: a hacker. These hackers manipulated computer infrastructure and security systems to go right into people’s documents or bank accounts and take whatever they want.

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For years now we’ve warned people about the need fro privacy and how lack of privacy can lead to identity theft.  Many people think it can’t happen to them.  This You Tube video shows otherwise.  One expert hacker stole 130,000,000 credit card numbers.  Was one of them yours?

One of the issues raised in the video is the use of debit cards.  Again, for years we’ve been telling people not to use debit cards.  They do not offer the same protections that credit cards do.

However, the main item to take away from this, is that protecting your identity, and your privacy, is up to you.  You need to be proactive.  Think through the issues and put safeguards in place so that you do not wind up as a victim.

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When shopping online, there are many security risks to consider. While nobody is going to be stealing your purse or wallet like might happen in an actual crowded mall, you run many other risks a person in real life doesn’t have to. For example, by leaving your connection open and not making it go through some kind of encryption software or any sort of privacy software or program, a hacker could easily break in to your transaction and see what you have bought, are going to buy, or even deleted or put off of your shopping cart. Also, they could even more maliciously hack into your transaction or your account and steal your identity and credit card numbers and passwords. Many identity thefts happen on sites like these; shopping sites. The user is not protected by any sort of Internet software, and the hacker can easily break in with minimal difficulty.

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The United States have always been wary of terrorism and other threats to our national security. Other countries seem to despise us, whether it be for differences in religion or ethics, difference in cultures, or simply a strong envy of our opulence. While America has always been very conscious of our security, the 911 attacks showed us that our defenses were not infallible, and there is always a chance for disaster to strike. This woke us up so to speak, and in today’s day and age, security for our nation is top priority of the government.

You have seen the changes all around you, and they were often blatant. The medium that allowed the attacks, air travel, has been most affected by that fateful day. Many people remember before the attacks when they could go and meet their loved ones in the terminal to greet them, while now they must wait outside. Many people remember zipping through the security lines, while now you are in there forever being searched and prodded. Everyone has heard the news of the airports possibly putting in full body scanners to scan passengers even more thoroughly, and to avoid even more accidents from filtering through.

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