There is an opinion that anonymity is an integral part of the Internet, but a lot of examples show that nowadays web anonymity is disappearing. The collective intelligence of Internet users, as well as digital fingerprints, make it possible for everyone to be identified if their sensitive information, including photos, videos and e-mails, is made  public.

Such destruction of anonymity is the result of the availability of social media services and video web hosts. Social media sites require that people provide their real identities and make their users’ private life more public that it has ever been. Susan Crawford, professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, claims that “Humans want nothing more than to connect, and the companies that are connecting us electronically want to know who’s saying what and  where. As a result, we’re more known than ever before.”

There are different attitudes towards loss of anonymity and privacy. On the one hand, this phenomenon has a lot of positive effects. For example, it can facilitate the identification of criminals, disproval of fraud and even help people become popular all over the world.

But, nevertheless, a lot of people prefer to protect their online privacy and do not want to unveil their identity. Moreover, users from countries with repressive regimes are afraid that certain private information could affect their  future life and career should it become available. That’s why they use the best VPN services to stay protected online.

Get the Best VPN NOW!

The Canadian government is going to enact the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act. The Act contains points that violate the rights of Internet users. For example, this bill will put the Canadian users in legal jeopardy for the content of a webpage they link to and will make web anonymity illegal.

A summary of the bill, placed on the Library of Parliament’s website, reads that “Clause 5 of the bill provides that the offences of public incitement of hatred and wilful promotion of hatred may be committed by any means of communication and include making hate material available, by creating a hyperlink that directs web surfers to a website where hate material is posted…”

This point of the bill makes people scared of placing hyperlinks, because they will be legally responsible for the content of a destination webpage, even if it was changed after the link was created. According to the bill, Canadians will not be able to create a blog, because it will be open for public comments and anyone can place a link which the blogger will be responsible for. That’s why, to blog safely, a Canadian should disallow any links.

Moreover, according to Clause 11 of the bill, Canadian users will not be allowed to use aliases while “sending false information, indecent remarks or “harassing” messages”. It makes everybody who use an alias on the Internet  a criminal and jeopardizes web anonymity. This clause also makes it possible for the government to identify and criminalize any user for placing information disapproved of by the authorities.

Get Your VPN NOW!

Facebook gives people a unique opportunity to stay always in touch with their family and friends. But on the other hand, it also enhances the chances of scams set up to steal the users’ sensitive information. That’s why it is better to protect your account properly, if you don't want to become victim of identity theft. Luckily,  Facebook lets us adjust our privacy settings so we can be more protected.

According to the latest changes in Facebook's privacy policy in May 2010, the social networking site divulges your personal data including your name, profile picture, gender and networks and makes it visible to all users. You can’t hide it, but you can still protect your photos and other sensitive information from being accessible for everyone.

It is wise to restrict your private information to "Friends Only" or "Only Me" until you decide that you want it to be accessible. If you don’t want to share all the information with some of your associates, make them "limited friends" and they will be able to access only a cut-down version of your profile. Moreover,  you can always remove friends if you don’t trust them anymore.

Consider browsing Facebook with the help of a VPN connection, whilst using wireless public networks. It will protect your account from illegal access from third parties. The usage of a fast vpn connection provides  you with reliable protection and it won't cost you a lot.

Get Your VPN NOW!

The Indian government has recently toughened the Internet censorship in the country. The new rules are an update of the IT Act 2000. It regulates the content of online posts. Indian officials claim that the new measures are in tune with international laws and do not violate users’ rights. 

According to the regulations, Indian users are not allowed to post information which is "grossly harmful, harassing, blasphemous,  defamatory, obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, libellous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, racially or ethnically objectionable, disparaging, relating or encouraging money laundering or gambling, or otherwise unlawful in any manner whatsoever".

The Department of Information Technology can block websites that display content of the type mentioned above. Any citizen can demand the blocking of content that they consider to be objectionable. The task of doing the "dirty job" will lie with the Internet service providers and websites that publish user-generated content.

Even though the Indian government is attempting to regulate the published content, it does not agree with web anonymity. The rules require that cyber cafes store data about their customers including their name, address, photo and browsing history, making it possible to find a person who has placed prohibited data on the Internet with the help of a public computer. The cyber cafe owners are obliged to keep a one-year log of all sites accessed by their users. The rules insist that "all the computers in the cyber cafe shall be equipped with safety/filtering software, in order to avoid access to websites that contain pornography, obscenity, terrorism and other objectionable material."

Get Your VPN NOW!

The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, made up of a representative from the data protection authority of each  EU Member State, released a document with recommendations about the protection of users’ privacy. The recommendations appeared soon after it had become clear that Google and Apple were storing location information on their customers’ devices.

The Article 29 group is responsible for data protection in each EU member state. Its recommendations can be accepted in some of the EU States or the whole European Union. Moreover, they can influence USA as well. But it is not compulsory to accept and follow their recomendations; the final decision depends on the local governments.

The report says that companies can store their customers’ private data only when they get  the users’ consent to do so. Also, people should be “continuously warned” of when and with what purposes their sensitive information is used. It can help  avoiding  “secret monitoring”. According to the recommendations, users should have an opportunity to remove their data, “without any negative consequences to the use of their device”.

Recently it has become widely known that iPhone and iPad are tracking you, collecting your current location information. This event made urgent the following questions: why do companies store data about their customers?, do users get anything in exchange for letting them do it? and, what can customers do about it?

First of all, it is worth mentioning that customers don’t give their personal information without indemnity, they receive offers in exchange for information. Companies use gathered data to create an offer that would suit you. This method of tracking was invented by marketers long before the Internet became widespread, the Internet just made it almost perfect. For example, supermarkets give you a discount for one of the products, in exchange they receive information about all the products that you have bought and give you discount coupons that you can use on your next visit to purchase similar things. And the gathering of location data doesn’t differ that much.

If you don’t want to disclose your personal data, it is easy to avoid it by switching off some options in the software on your phone or computer. Many people don’t do it just because they don't care about protecting their privacy or because they like to receive services/offers in exchange for their personal information.

Recently, Freedom House has released its report Freedom on the Net 2011: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media. The report contains information about internet freedom in 37 countries. It says that the violation of users’ rights has increased and has become more varied during the last few years. Among the main threats to online freedom are the cyber attacks, politically-motivated censorship and government control over internet infrastructure.

Bans against access, restrictions on content and users’ rights violations were the major points of evaluation regarding internet freedom  in the countries studied. In accordance with the report, Estonia has the highest level of internet freedom. The United States are on second place and Iran is last. Eleven other countries are evaluated as "Not Free", among them Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia. There are also plans to restrict the internet freedom during the next twelve months in countries  such as Jordan, Russia, Thailand, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

The situation is very difficult in the countries where internet is under the total control of the governments. Sanja Kelly, managing editor of the report, claimed that “the ability to communicate political views, organize, debate, and have access to critical information is as important online as it is in the offline world. A more urgent response is needed to protect bloggers and other internet users from the sorts of restrictions that repressive governments have already imposed on traditional media”.

Get Your VPN NOW!