hoverfly

Thanks Jo, I knew I could tempt you to share some more with us. LOL

Yes, the IP address, your unique identifier on the web. Not that it is possible to do without, at least there is nothing that comes to mind.

The iEverything these days. Oh, just in case anybody is wondering if switching any mobile will help? Sorry, it doesn't. The only time a mobile device really shuts up is when you either take the battery out or smash the thing up.

Mind you, as close as I am to the sea, I wonder what they would make of me throwing it into the ocean?

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jobleau

Looks like Hoverfly pushed one of my buttons...

I posted a few things so far. Hopefully, they might help some people. But at the same time, I realize most people don't really know how it works and what can happen.

While I won't pretend to know it all, after 25 years earning a living in the computer technology industry I sure learned a few basic things/facts and I'd like to share some of them.

Disclaimer: This is a long post. I can only hope the system can take it. And if you don't care about your privacy, don't bother reading it.

First and foremost, there are no possibilities of real PRIVACY on the net. Face it. I'm sorry to blow that whistle on you if you weren't aware of it, but that's how it is... But don't get paranoid either. Not everyone is after you personally. Yet, in a somewhat impersonal way, well, they are pretty much all after you...

Why is there no privacy possible on the net? For a very simple reason that I mentioned in a previous post:

Let's try an analogy. If you want someone or an organization to be able to reach you, you will provide them with some means of contacting you, a phone number, an address. Your bank or suppliers request that from you and that's pretty normal. Obviously, if you want to receive your electrical bill, they need to know at least your address.

And if you move/change phone number, you need to advise them.

- Reality check:
While these (phone number/address) may seem somewhat private to you (hey, they do refer directly to you, and you only give them to whom you want to right?) these are actually stored in databases with pretty much all the organizations you deal with and also in the rather easy to access phone book, be it printed or on the net (just try searching your
name/phone number/address on the net. You'll be amazed at what you can find that is publicly available. Hell, you'll even find a view of your house on Google Street. But be aware your searches will be indexed and stored somewhere.).
- End of Reality check

So, as I said earlier, face it. There is no real world privacy as you need to divulge contact information at least to some people/organizations. I mean, to be totally anonymous in the real world, you'd have no phone, no address, no bills, not even a birth record. In such a case, you would not exist and you sure would not be reading this.

Now, there is a very subtle difference between the real world and the virtual world of the net. Even if you were homeless, had no phone or anything else traceable in the real world, the very second you'd connect to the virtual world, with whatever device you want, you'd get assigned an address (called an IP address). You don't even have a choice. That is how it works, pretty much as turning a light on by flipping the switch or starting your car by putting the key in the ignition and turning it. You do it, it happens. Period. Simple enough I hope.

So here you are with that nifty so called virtual IP address that allows you to communicate with the rest of the virtual world. And that IP address gets logged pretty much everywhere you'll go on that beautiful virtual world.

Herein lies the lack of anonymity that most people might think they have. IP addresses have been logged on servers since the very beginning of the internet, even before it became mainstream in the early 1990's.

A little sidetrack...
This is partially but not really true. Most connections actually get a dynamic, rather than a static, IP address, whatever your provider is or the technology used to connect to it. I won't get into the details but usually, only corporate/businesses get a fixed IP. 99.9% of individuals get a dynamic address under a dynamic protocol of some flavor (DHCP, PPOE to name some). These protocols allow for a leasing period of the IP address assigned when you connect. The default for the leasing period usually is 24 hours but this is configurable. So if you don't disconnect, or reconnect within the lease period, you will end up with the same IP address. That may very well look like you're getting a static IP. But in reality it's not the case. Note your IP address. Shutdown everything and go for a vacation for a week. Then reconnect when you come back. If you get the same IP, then your provider either really assigned you a static IP or their lease rate is unusually higher. With the current shortcomings on IP V4 addresses, the later would be very unlikely.

Yet, that been said, whatever IP you get does gets logged everywhere you go. And that is only the beginning...

More and more organizations try (and succeed) to track IP addresses movements on the net.
I don't want to make a case of who's doing right or wrong here. But communication technologies have brought as much bad stuff as they've brought good stuff. Problem is, the bad stuff is not readily advertised on your local news. So you have to watch for it. There is a saying that goes by "If it's too good to be true...". I find it so applies to
communication technologies. Another popular quote from an American series also apply here: "Trust no one". And the "one" here is not so much an individual than a corporation. Here is an outstanding example: Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook:
Facebook's Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over

At least he is being up front about this, contrarily to most other sites. Yet, that does not mean he is right or that I agree with him.

Just check these:

facebook privacy issues - Google Search

That might open your eyes on a certain number of things.

My pet peeve is that all these nifty corporations (insert whatever names you feel like here) are actually gathering data about us in all manner they can and they are using this data for their own profit while we, end users of their products, have no say about that. In my mind, this is just plainly morally wrong.

Have a look at these:
online privacy issues - Google Search

You'll find many places you're dealing with in there. And they all do it.

Now that I got you paranoid, you're probably going to try to find some smart way to bypass all this. Pretty much like using a PO address instead of your actual mail post address.
Nice try. But no cigar!

Services like these can be full of deceptions:

privacy tools - Google Search
And so called anonymizer tools are not reliable. Even The Onion Router (known as TOR) is not perfect:
Tor (anonymity network) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now, that is an interesting find. I'll have to investigate that.

hoverfly

Jo, thank you very much for this magnificent post and I do stand corrected on a number of issues. Much appreciated and well worth anybodies time.

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jobleau

My pleasure. Hopefully it will help some people.

hoverfly

Let's hope so, the thread did have 184 views as of today, so let's hope that wasn't just us. LOL

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jobleau

I'm a bit busy these days... But I'll get to investigate this search engine. Anything that might improve your privacy on the net is worth that.

They say in their privacy policy that:
If that is indeed true, it is an excellent start. But the exception does have a somewhat bitter taste. How can they determine the search is abusive from a certain IP address if they don't already have a record of it?

I'll dig further into it when I have more time. But that little part lowers expectations a lot...

jobleau

I've been playing with ixquick for a while now and I'm very satisfied with it.

It is not a standard search engine like Google or Bing. Rather, it is a meta-search engine. The difference is that a meta-search engine returns results from many other standard search engines. The advantage of a meta-search engine is you get the aggregated best results from a bunch of engines. However, usually, there is a performance penalty using a meta-search engine as it queries and waits for the other engines instead of searching it's own databases. But surprisingly enough, this is not the case with ixquick. It feels as fast and responsive as Google or any other standard search engine.

One other thing I like from ixquick is that they offer a SSL option for searching. SSL, while not the panacea to all privacy issues, sure is a nice feature. For those who don't know, SSL is a secure encrypted transmission protocol encapsulated within the standard HTML protocol used for transmitting web pages. That little padlock icon you get when you go to your banking site or when buying something online, that is SSL protecting your data. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. And a layer it is indeed, a supplemental layer protecting you. Of course, like any other security measures, there are ways to circumvent SSL. But any additional security layer can only be good. I strongly suggest you use that feature. It won't slow you down and will add to your privacy since the data is encrypted. This way, no one can know what your searching for and the results you get and use.

Just for these 2 reasons, it would be worth switching to ixquick. But there is another one. They claim that they do not record your IP address (see my previous post for more info about that) and that they do not use cookies. The second claim is true. I verified it personally. Unfortunately, I have no way to verify the first. But I'm inclined to believe it is true. And this comes down as the utmost privacy you can get on the net. So a GREAT feature it is. Just remember though, as soon as you click one of the results, you're out of SSL and that site you're now visiting will record and track you IP like everywhere else. The only privacy you get is on the search itself.

As Tinydick4u said, I think it's pretty secure and ixquick is now my default search engine.

Give it a shot: https://us2.ixquick.com/. This is the SSL encrypted version.

If you want to add it to your browsers, got there with each of your browsers: ixquick browser plugin

@hoverfly: thanks for the excellent reference.

hoverfly

I am pleased that this was of help. I've been using their SSL search for a good while and as Jo said, never noticed any delay that wasn't down to my rather rotten connection.

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