Protecting Your Privacy

The easiest way to protect your privacy on the Internet is to keep all private information totally separate from the Internet. However, this isn’t always feasible or desirable. Large corporations may be able to set up their own private networks physically separate from the Internet, but for most individuals, if they use the Internet, their information is going to be transmitted via the public Internet. Even if you do keep your information separate, there’s no guarantee that the government and any companies you deal with will.

There are, however, some simple things everyone should do to keep their own privacy, and the privacy of others, assured.

Education

The obvious, is being aware when privacy is at risk. Education plays an important part, the first step to privacy protection should be education – educating people on the risks involved with Internet usage, and how they can minimise these risks.

Software

Software plays an integral part, as it is what managed your information on the Internet. If your software has problems – so does your information.

Anonymity

Being aware of what information is transmitted and how to avoid this when necessary is the first step in remaining anonymous. Sometimes it’s not possible to remain anonymous, but at other times it is vital – knowing the difference and how to manage this is important.

Communication

The Internet is a means of communicating. Unfortunately, just who is communicating what and to who isn’t always clear. A user should always know what they are communicating, and to who.

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