I can’t even remember how many times I’ve been asked by both friends and strangers if it’s a good idea to use a proxy server.  The answer I always give is “Yes!!!”

Whenever I travel, I usually drive, so that means when I’m on the road, I’m usually working.  If I stop at Panera for a quick snack or if I’m staying in a motel over-night, I bring my laptop in so I can get things done.  Because of this, I’m relying on public Wi-Fi during my trips.  With all the talk of identity theft and hackers, I always wondered if someone sitting at the next table or staying in the next room was a hacker.  I tried to be cautious, but the worry was still there until I discovered Private Proxy.   Now, I can go anywhere and work on the Internet without worrying about my privacy.  Yes, there are free proxies available, but I was always told that you get what you pay for and some of those free proxies aren’t run by very scrupulous people.  These people can, and sometimes do, monitor the information being sent out and will use it against you.  Another thing to consider is that since the proxies are free, they are public and anyone can use them (just like public Wi-Fi).  No information you send out is encrypted.  With Private Proxy, I’m assured of an unmonitored, encrypted connection at all times.  This way, I feel much safer knowing that no one can read my personal information.

I also like that no one can figure out if I’m home or on the road.  Since Private Proxy gives me a choice of many rotating and static connections in the US, Canada and the Netherlands, I can be “seen” as being in the States even when I’m over-seas.  It also works to my advantage in the opposite way.  If a friend invites me to her child’s birthday party and I have had enough of ball pits and clowns for the year, I can choose one of the proxy servers on the other side of the country so it looks like I’m traveling.  Not that I don’t like my friends, their kids or their parties, but there is only so much of the bad magic tricks and silly string one person can handle!

Millions of people, every day, depend on one piece of electronic equipment to do just about everything:  their smartphone.  Back in the day, very few people had cell phones, and those that did used them to make emergency calls every now and then.  Over the years, the simple cell phone has evolved into the smartphone.  The smartphone is a multi-functional device that allows a person to send e-mail, update social networking, shop on line, play games and do anything else that can be done on a computer.  Many cars have built in GPSs, but if yours doesn’t, that’s OK because you can use your Navigation app on your smartphone.  In fact, one of the least used functions of a smartphone today is actually the one that allows you to make phone calls.  It’s amazing that this one, small device can do so much, but what does this mean when it comes to privacy?  Because the smartphone holds a large quantity of personal information regarding our shopping habits, social networking, e-mail and even banking, it now makes it easier for you to be tracked and targeted for on-line ads. 

Every day, more and more people are downloading hundreds of apps made specifically for the smartphone.  If you’re low on gas, the GasBuddy app can tell you which station has the lowest prices with the shortest wait time (which came in handy during SuperStorm Sandy when gas prices went up and the lines were hours long!).  Banks now offer apps that make it easy to deposit a check from anywhere.  All you have to do is snap a picture of your check using your smartphone and it’s deposited into your account.  If you’re in unfamiliar territory, you can count on Google Maps to find directions to the hotel or restaurant where you are to have your business meeting, then after the meeting, you can use the e-mail function to check in with your office to let everyone know the status of that big project.  After your workday is done, you can relax in your room and read your local newspaper, watch your local news, update your social networking status, play games or even read a book.  If you’re feeling under the weather, just log onto WebMD and enter your symptoms to get a quick diagnosis or if you are having trouble with your toddler, you can check in with your favorite parenting site to see what others have done to remedy the issue.  You are never far from home or the office as long as you have your smartphone.

 But what does all this convenience mean to your privacy?  Every site you log on to and every app you download requires you to enter some personal information, which is all saved to your smartphone.  Don’t forget that many on-line businesses share information gathered with third parties.  Is it worth risking your privacy in order to have the convenience of doing just about everything from this one device?  Surprisingly, most people choose convenience over privacy.  They feel that entering a birth date or zip code in order to have 24 hour access to websites no matter where they travel is well worth the effort.  They don’t realize how this can jeopardize their privacy since millions of people may live in a particular zip code and millions more can have a particular birth date.  One important factor isn’t taken into consideration:  only one person has that zip code and birth date on that particular smartphone.

 Each time you enter personal information for a smartphone app or download, you are risking your privacy.  On-line marketers can use your information in order to target you for specific ads.  They know what city your home is in from your zip code, they know your age from your birth date, they know which websites you frequent, and through the GPS function on your smartphone, they know where you are at any given time.  Add your e-mail address into the mix and these marketers can fill your inbox with ads for more apps, shops, products or anything else.  Your browser will also be giving you suggestions on apps or products you may be interested in because your history shows what you have purchased or downloaded.

 App developers claim that a consumer must give their personal information in order to really benefit from their apps.  There is, however, some debate as to what the risks to privacy are that has even Congress involved.  As of now, what is being discussed the most is a way for consumers to choose a “Do Not Track” option on the sites they frequent but, so far, there is no solution to the privacy issue.

We all have many concerns when it comes to our privacy.  There are so many things to think about when it comes to identity theft or being hacked when using public Wi-Fi or wireless routers.  But do parents of young children think about what could happen if their children are given total, unsupervised access to the Internet?  Judging by some of the things I see and read, I don’t think they do.  Children as young as 8 years old are being allowed to log onto the Internet with no parental supervision, which means that these parents either don’t realize that this can put their children in danger, or that these parents refuse to believe that their children will find dangerous places on-line.

Do Not Talk to Strangers

There was a time back in the 60s and 70s when parents were criticized for using the television set as a babysitter.  Busy parents would sit their children in front of the television to watch cartoons while they did their daily chores.  The children would be occupied for hours watching their favorite characters get into all kinds of mischief while mom and dad did the yard work, cooking and cleaning.  Today, instead of the television, more and more parents are sitting their children in front of the computer to occupy themselves on the Internet.  The cartoon characters that the children of the 60s and 70s watched got into a lot of trouble, but those characters never enticed the children watching to come join them.  With the Internet, it’s a completely different story.  There are sites that children are finding that allow them to talk to random strangers.  These strangers sometimes will get the children’s trust, then will get the children’s personal information like full names, addresses and telephone numbers.  You wouldn’t allow your 8 year old to walk the streets of a large city alone, would you?  Well, allowing your 8 year old to “walk” the Internet alone is just as dangerous.

The solution isn’t as simple as not having Internet service.  Because of budget cuts, schools all over the country are turning to the use of e-textbooks because it’s just too expensive to buy new books each year for each child.  In order to access these e-textbooks, students must log onto the schools’ websites.  Here, they can not only study, but they can also get extra help with their homework from teachers who volunteer to tutor.  In other words, today, having a computer with Internet access is a necessity for all students, from elementary school through college.  Since parents also need to use the Internet for various personal and business projects, it’s not uncommon for each member of the household to have their own computer.  Each computer is not only Internet ready, but each one likely has a webcam built right in.  It’s dangerous to allow a child to have a computer with Internet access in his or her own room, but the combination of Internet and webcam makes it all the more dangerous.   There are parents who will not even allow their children to walk to a school that may only be a block or two away, but they will feel it’s perfectly all right to allow those same children to be alone on the Internet.  Parents:  you teach your children not to talk to strangers on the city streets, but now, you need to extend this to the Internet.  Word is spreading from child to child about sites that will let them talk to strangers.  Make no mistake about this; if your child has not yet heard of or found one of these sites, they soon will and you need to be ready for it.

One of these “talk to strangers” sites is Omegle.  The concept of the site was to use the Internet as a meeting place for people who would normally never have a chance to meet in real life.  It is a place where strangers can chat with other strangers from all over the world.  Omegle was created by Leif K-Brooks, an 18 year old living in Brattleboro, Vermont.  The site was up and running on March 25, 2009.  Within one month of going live, there were 150,000 users.  The number of users is not going down and the site is still going strong.  There is no registration necessary to use the site, there is no charge for its use and it’s not monitored.  Yes, there is a disclaimer that says that users must be at least 18 years old, but on the Internet, you can be any age you choose.  That being said, Omegle is one of the more popular sites of very young children.

In the first year or two, Omegle’s chat was done via text only.  Today, users have a choice between text and video.  Mixing a child, a stranger and video chat can be a very dangerous combination.  One young girl’s story comes to mind when I think of children video chatting with strangers:  Amanda Todd.  Canadian teenager Amanda Todd was just 13 years old when she found that she could video chat with strangers from around the world.  She was a pretty girl who liked when boys and even grown men would tell her how beautiful she was.  One day, a man she was chatting with convinced her to lift her shirt and flash her breasts for him.  She did it.  What she didn’t know was that during that brief flash, the man on the other end of the camera took a screenshot of her.  She didn’t realize that one frame of a video chat could be frozen like that.

During her video chats, Amanda didn’t think there was anything wrong with giving her name.  The man who Amanda flashed on camera knew her name, made a page on Facebook showing that he was a boy Amanda’s age and sent her a friend request.  Amanda accepted.  This “boy” told her that the following semester, he would be going to her school and asked her if she could get her friends to accept him as a Facebook friend.  Once he had her entire friends list, he proceeded to send each one on that list the photo he took of Amanda lifting her shirt.  He also sent the photo to the school’s website for everyone to see.  That one moment of what Amanda thought of as teenage silliness made her a target for bullying.  Everyone in the school called her nasty names and not even her closest friends would associate with her anymore.  Amanda was very depressed for months and her parents decided that the best thing to do for the family would be to move.  Things were good for a while and Amanda was making new friends at her new school.  She even made a new Facebook page listing her new school and with a new list of friends.  This is what her tormenter was waiting for.  He again sent her a friend request that she accepted and he sent the photo to everyone on the new list and her new school’s site.  Amanda couldn’t take any more.  She wrote flashcards and used them to tell her story in a YouTube video.  On October 10, 2012, just a few days after posting her video on YouTube, Amanda’s parents found her hanged body.  Amanda’s tormenter has disappeared and has never been identified.

The story of Amanda Todd isn’t the only one of its kind and it demonstrates what can happen to a child when left alone with the Internet.  Children do things on the spur of the moment and think nothing of it, like flashing a stranger.  They sometimes are only thinking in the moment, not of any consequences that their actions might have.  Aside from worrying that they may be inappropriate photos of their children floating around the Internet, parents also need to think about what information their children are giving out that could become a privacy issue.  There have been children chatting on-line, thinking they are chatting with a child their age, so they have given information such as full name, phone number address and school name.  The “child” they thought could be a new pen pal or foreign boyfriend or girlfriend could in reality be a pedophile.  Supposedly, the chat on these sites is anonymous, but that doesn’t stop people of any age from freely giving out information.  Not only do some chatters lie about their ages, they also lie about their locations, so one who is thought to be living in Asia could really be right about the corner.  Even with only a name, someone could look that name up on Facebook and get all the information he or she needs in order to stalk someone.

In addition to Omegle, there is another site where anyone, including children, can randomly chat with strangers.  The name of this site is Chatroulette.  Once again, a teenager created this site.  He is Andrey Ternovsky of Moscow, Russia, who was just 17 when he came up with the concept.  The idea came to him when he was watching The Deer Hunter.  In that movie, prisoners of war were forced to play Russian Roulette as a way for their guards to find amusement.  Chatroulette is like Russian Roulette because every connection could bring you in contact with a different stranger each time, or you could connect with the one you just ended a conversation with.  This site covers the world just like Omegle, but the one difference is that you need to register to use Chatroulette.  This may seem like it would make it difficult for a child to use the site, but it’s not.  Registration is free, so no credit card or bank account information would be needed.

Unofficially, a study was made on the subject of Chatroulette.  Here is what this study brought to light:

1. Connections with and from people in the US accounted for over half of all connections made.
2. Only 11% of all connections were female, while 89% were male.
3. Many video connections showed nothing but an empty chair.
4. 1 of every 8 connections that showed someone on the other side of the camera was of a naked and/or masturbating person.

Will you still allow your child to use the Internet without your supervision?

One other thing to consider that is very troubling is that both sites, Chatroulette and Omegle, as that you allow them access to your webcam.  A lot of children who have computers set up in their rooms don’t turn them off and always have the Internet running.  Think of how remote access to your child’s webcam can impact that child if the webcam was turned on when your child was dressing for school, or even just sleeping.

Concern has been voiced about these sites.  American psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow, who is also a best-selling author commented about Chatroulette that, “Parents should keep all their children off the site because it’s much too dangerous for children.  It’s a predator’s paradise.  This is one of the worst faces of the Internet that I’ve seen.  It’s disconnecting human relationships rather than connecting them.”  Really, now?

On CBS’s The Early Show, Ernie Allen, President of the National Center of Missing & Exploited Children said that Chatroulette is “the last place parents want their kids to be.  This is a huge red flag; this is extreme social networking.  This is a place kids are going to gravitate to.”

Chatroulette creator Andrey Ternovsky was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “Everyone finds his own way of using the site.  Some think it is a game, others think it is a whole unknown world, others think it is a dating service.  I think it’s cool that such a concept can be useful for so many people.”  When asked, he said he was aware of some people masturbating or standing around naked in front of their cameras, but added that this is not a use he agrees with.

Many parents will feel that their children would never know how to find sites such as these, but that’s not the case.  Don’t be so quick to say, “Not MY child” because it’s only a matter of time until your child will hear about these sites from their friends or classmates.  Children are finding and using Omegle and Chatroulette with disastrous results.  The only way to stop this is for all parents of young children to closely supervise them each time they go on the Internet.   Take the computer out of your child’s room and put it in a common area of the house.  Shut it down with a parental password in place when the child goes to bed so there is no temptation to go on-line after the parents have gone to bed.  Even though you know you can’t keep your child innocent until they move out of your house, you still don’t want them seeing adult content when they’re still in elementary school.  If you make a small effort, your child’s privacy, and yours, can stay safe.

For more tips and suggestions on how to keep you and your family safe, please download the free Privacy Guide offered at the top of this page.  You will be glad you did.

In this age of cyber-crime, you would be surprised at how many people still use the same password for everything.  What makes this practice an even bigger threat to security is when that password is something like “abcd1234”.  I don’t know if it is laziness or forgetfulness, but this dangerous practice has been going on since the beginning of the Internet, and it seems as if it’s here to stay.  If you are one of those people that use the same password over and over again, or if you know someone who does, please read on.

The password is a valuable security mechanism.  Every website you register to asks you to make up a password, usually consisting of at least eight characters, both alpha and numeric that is case sensitive.  That means that if you choose the password “sEcUrItY65”, you will not be allowed access to the site if you type in “security65” or any other combination of upper and lower case letters.  It must match exactly.  It gets tedious and confusing when you must think up a unique password for everything from on-line newspapers to banking sites.

Another mistake people make when making up passwords is to use easily discovered children’s names combined with birthdates.  Some even use their pet’s name.  If a hacker should break into your line of communication while you are using a public hotspot and gets the password for your Facebook account, he just about has it made.  From Facebook, he can see your kids’ names and birthdates, your pets’ names, your birthdate, your spouse’s name and birthdate and your e-mail address.  The hacker can even try using your Facebook password on your e-mail account and banking sites.

Are you one of those people who are addicted to posting status updates on Facebook?   “Vacation time again!  At the airport now.  Catching flight to Paris in 15 minutes.  Only hours away from two weeks of touring the French countryside!”  If you have ever posted an update similar to this, you need to read further.  Posts like this have led others to big trouble, and you could be next.

Millions of people use Facebook daily; however, very few of them bother to set their privacy preferences.  This means that friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, co-workers and everyone else can see what you post.  Not only can they see your comments and photos, they can also read your profile that tells them all what city you are currently living in and where you work.  Now that you have told the world that you aren’t home, a simple search will turn up your address.  That status update may as well have said, “I’ll be away for a couple of weeks.  The key is in the potted plant next to the back door.  Feel free to take whatever you want.”

Vacation time isn’t the only instance where status updates can get you in trouble.  There are many people who like to vent and rant about problems or gossip in the workplace.  If you comment on your boss’s habit of taking his secretary out for extra long lunches every day, or about your co-workers’ inability to do their jobs, or even your habit of bringing home some office supplies, you could be in for a very unpleasant work environment.  In this time of high unemployment, some companies have started asking employees to give all of their social networking sign-on information to the Human Resources department.  Illegal you say?  Well, it’s completely on a voluntary basis.  Just be aware that if you don’t do it, you may find that your position has been eliminated due to “budget cuts”.

That being said, let’s discuss that vacation again.  You land in Paris and take a cab to your hotel.  You’re greeted at the front desk, where you give your credit card information and ID to the clerk.  Your bags are taken up to your room by the bellhop and you decide to order room service so you could enjoy the view while dining on your balcony.  You’ve only been in Paris a couple of hours and already there are many strangers who know your name, what you look like, how long you will be staying at the hotel and your credit card information.  Are you familiar with the backgrounds of all of these people?  Facebook is popular in France, too.  Your name could be searched and your post about “Going sightseeing all day tomorrow” will let anyone at the hotel know you won’t be in your room for the day.  Did you ever think about how many people could have access to your room when you are out?

I’ve seen and heard many stories during my time as a Private Proxy Client Services representative.   I get calls from people asking about our services all the time.  Unfortunately, a lot of these people are seeking our services after something has already happened to compromise their privacy.  Lately, a big issue is the privacy of children.

Many new parents are so excited, that they think nothing of posting every baby picture they take to social networking sites.  They shoot videos of first smiles, first laughs, first steps, first baths and post them on YouTube.  Because they are proud parents, they want the world to see their gorgeous children, so the videos are usually public.

What these parents don’t understand is that by making your pictures and videos public, you are endangering your children.  Baby’s first bath might seem like a cute, innocent picture, but this video could be captured and placed on a child porn site.  This is also true with pictures.  Imagine if one of the pictures you posted of your child in her first bikini was posted to a child porn site.

Child porn sites aren’t the only dangers.  Anyone who can see your pictures on your social networking site can see where you are located.  In other words, if someone was determined enough, he or she can find you and your child.

We at Privacy Partners receive many comments and suggestions via e-mail every day.   We strive to answer all e-mails, however, every now and then a comment will leave us “speechless”.

Below is an e-mail sent to our support e-mail address.   This e-mail has us stumped as to how to respond:

“Scum like Bill Gates are the reason that you need anonymous surfing to begin with.  Not to mention that PCs a nothing but a junk computer.   

Perhaps you should consider making a Mac version of your product for those of us not stupid enough to buy a PC…”

This is the e-mail in its entirety.  I’m not sure if this person finished his thought or if he had more to add but submitted the unfinished comment in error.  Whatever the case is, I have a proposal for all of our clients and anyone thinking about becoming a client:

We are offering one FREE month of Private Proxy to the person who sends us the best response to this comment. 

The only restrictions of this contest are that your answers must be suitable for children who might read this page and you must own a PC.  Just post your answers in “Comments” to this blog post; we will notify the winner via e-mail and post the winning response on the blog.  Contest ends August 30, 2012, so let the responses begin!

Young Boy Plays On Computer

Before they are in kindergarten, today’s kids know how to use technology.  Computers, in the form of “toys” are introduced to children as young as 18 months.  Cell phones, iPods, iPads, laptops and many other gadgets are so important in our daily lives, so is it any wonder that babies are being introduced to this technology?

Once a child reaches school age, they must have access to a computer.  The cost of textbooks has skyrocketed, making it necessary for schools to resort to on line textbooks.  These textbooks are available on each school’s student website and they are what the students use to do their homework.   Aside from the textbooks, the student websites are also a sort of social networking area for students and teachers.  Only students and teachers have access to these sites.  Students can communicate with each other here and teachers are available for tutoring.

Even though having a computer is necessary for schoolwork, there should be strict rules in place on its use.  A computer should never be placed in a young child’s room.  Parents need to know what sites the child is visiting at all times, and if the computer is “hidden”, this isn’t possible.  Young children aren’t set loose alone in the world, nor should they be set loose alone on the world-wide-web.

If left alone to surf the net, a child may be tempted to explore.  Even if this exploration leads the child to an on-line game that some classmates play, it could lead to danger.   The game may be age appropriate, but there are usually chat boxes at game sites so the gamers can “talk” to each other.

Microsoft has recently announced its plans to add an automatic Do Not Track feature to the newest version of Internet Explorer.  Until now, users would have to choose to enable the Do Not Track feature.  On Version 10, Do Not Track is a default setting.  Ironically, the Do Not Track feature isn’t acknowledged by Microsoft’s ad network.  In other words, even when users choose to enable the feature in their browsers, they are still tracked.

There are advertisers who do not agree with Microsoft’s decision.  They are of the belief that since Microsoft has aided in the development of Do Not Track standards, it agreed that this should not be a default feature.  In fact, many advertisers are expected to make a choice to ignore any Do Not Track indicators.

There are also those who believe that Microsoft’s decision to make Do Not Track a default setting is a portion of the company’s plan to hurt Google’s successful online advertising.  In fact, to try to compete with Google, Microsoft at one time tried to purchase Yahoo.

The announcement by Microsoft came as a surprise to many.  The World Wide Web Consortium is developing Do Not Track policies.  According to Aleecia M. McDonald, who is co-chair of that agency’s Tracking Protection Working Group, the organization didn’t know there was going to be an announcement of this kind until actually it happened.

Ms. McDonald, who is also a privacy researcher with Mozilla, sees Microsoft’s action as a reason to come to a determination on the issue now, rather than wait for a later date.  Alex Fowler, Mozilla’s privacy and public policy lead person does not agree with Microsoft’s plan.  He references the World Wide Web Consortium’s latest Do Not Track report that states that in order for Do Not Track to work, it must be based on users’ preferences.  Making it a default setting would take the control out of the end users’ hands.  In fact, Fowler wrote in a blog post, “If DNT is on by default, it’s not a conversation.  For DNT to be effective, it must actually represent the user’s voice.”

The “Download Your Information” tool was first introduced by Facebook in 2010. This was used to retrieve all users’ videos and photos, wall posts, sent and received messages, and about 5 other categories of information that users uploaded. Downloadable as a .zip file, users were able to make a back up of what they have previously uploaded to the social networking site.

Privacy issues about Facebook’s access to private information and its advertising services prompted critics to ask the company to improve the tool. They urged the company to let users know of other information that it stores about them in its database. The aim is for users to become conscious of how much data they have shared so that they could have more control over it.