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Previously on "Privacy/Security 101 for us numpties?"

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  • mrdonuts
    replied
    using a VPN allows you to circumvent those sites which try and send you ads based on your ip address which is spooky and also good for creating multiple aliases on message boards allegedly

    Leave a comment:


  • NickFitz
    replied
    Originally posted by cojak View Post
    Arf! Even I wouldn't fall for that!

    (Does it come with free pr0n?)
    The whole internet comes with free pr0n

    Leave a comment:


  • SimonMac
    replied
    Now the simplest way to make sure your broadband account is not in your own name, only fool proof way of not being convicted of torrenting

    Leave a comment:


  • d000hg
    replied
    Originally posted by wim121
    If you torrent through a client through your normal connection, you should go back to school and learn how to use the internet
    Making the claim that using proxies and hiding your usage from your ISP is the "proper" or "right" way to use the internet is just untrue.

    Considering Wim has stated it is risky to the level of stupidity to put ANY of your data online, I wouldn't base a strategy on his advice.

    Leave a comment:


  • doodab
    replied
    The most obvious benefit of using a VPN to some other country is that it allows you to disguise your source IP address so your traffic appears to originate from elsewhere. Aside from circumventing geographic restrictions on streaming services the main reason you might want to do this is to prevent people tracing things back to you based on IP addresses appearing in server logs or on P2P networks. In many countries ISPs are obliged to keep track of who is assigned an IP address at a particular time and to hand this information over to the relevant authorities upon request, so having your traffic appear to come from a different source address provides a measure of protection.

    As regards ISP snooping on my activity, I'm really not too worried about my ISP knowing I waste a lot of time on CUK & youporn, it makes little difference to me whether they have the potential to look at what I'm doing or some guy in Sweden does. If it came down to it I'd probably be less inclined to trust some foreign guy whose business model was predicated on facilitating dubious activities, although it's not as if either of them can look at any actual content because anything of import should be end to end encrypted anyway.

    If you want to get paranoid have a google for cloudshield.

    Leave a comment:


  • TheFaQQer
    replied
    Originally posted by eek View Post
    But a VPN doesn't change anything.
    No - it changes everything, if used properly.

    Originally posted by eek View Post
    It simply moves the point of snooping from point a to point b under a different ISP or country.
    Exactly. And if you move that point of snooping to somewhere that has a better privacy law, then you get better privacy protection.

    Leave a comment:


  • TheFaQQer
    replied
    Originally posted by eek View Post
    What would happen if passpack disappeared from the net? How would you get into those websites then (not that I'm suggesting its likely to happen). Just looking at the potential risk.
    I'd use the password reset button on the places I log into.

    You can download the passwords from Passpack as well, which I should really do and then keep them encrypted somewhere.

    Leave a comment:


  • cojak
    replied
    And here's a website I've come across - it's American but still useful.

    Online Privacy: Using the Internet Safely | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

    Leave a comment:


  • eek
    replied
    Originally posted by TheFaQQer View Post
    My one security thing is having lots of secure passwords - that said, I trust them to a third party provider.

    I use PassPack which is free up to 100 passwords. You need a user name and password to log in, and then you also have a passphrase that they use as the hashing algorithm - so even if they get hacked and the data stolen, the hackers still need to hack each individual account with your passphrase to get to the actual password. There are more attractive hacking targets than something like that

    I know there are others, but I was attracted to the idea of not having to install anything anywhere, apart from to stick an auto-login button on the toolbar in Firefox and Chromium for me. Sites that I think are pretty secure passwords / frequently used (e.g. email), I don't store in there.
    What would happen if passpack disappeared from the net? How would you get into those websites then (not that I'm suggesting its likely to happen). Just looking at the potential risk.

    Leave a comment:


  • eek
    replied
    Originally posted by TheFaQQer View Post
    Rubbish - that used to be the case, but not any more. People are becoming more privacy conscious, and rightly so. One of the easiest ways to offer some protection is to use a VPN, and more people are using them now.
    But a VPN doesn't change anything. It simply moves the point of snooping from point a to point b under a different ISP or country. It may just be me but I really can't see what legal benefits there are apart from getting round geographic restrictions to allow me to watch US telly and use Pandora instead of spotify.

    Leave a comment:


  • TheFaQQer
    replied
    My one security thing is having lots of secure passwords - that said, I trust them to a third party provider.

    I use PassPack which is free up to 100 passwords. You need a user name and password to log in, and then you also have a passphrase that they use as the hashing algorithm - so even if they get hacked and the data stolen, the hackers still need to hack each individual account with your passphrase to get to the actual password. There are more attractive hacking targets than something like that

    I know there are others, but I was attracted to the idea of not having to install anything anywhere, apart from to stick an auto-login button on the toolbar in Firefox and Chromium for me. Sites that I think are pretty secure passwords / frequently used (e.g. email), I don't store in there.

    Leave a comment:


  • TheFaQQer
    replied
    Originally posted by eek View Post
    Using a VPN to keep you surfing habits private is not something people do so when you see people do it the first question to ask is why on earth are you doing that.
    Rubbish - that used to be the case, but not any more. People are becoming more privacy conscious, and rightly so. One of the easiest ways to offer some protection is to use a VPN, and more people are using them now.

    Leave a comment:


  • TheFaQQer
    replied
    Originally posted by eek View Post
    If push came to shove the police would ask why on earth are you doing that if you've done nothing wrong and then investigate in detail what you may have done wrong.
    There is nothing wrong with using a VPN to protect from anything snooping on my web traffic.

    There needs to be some kind of evidence / suspicion first - assuming that everyone who uses a VPN is committing a crime would be a little bit silly. One of the reasons that MI5 and MI6 were against the Digital Economy Act was because it meant that anyone downloading anything illegally would start to use VPN and other technologies which made their job harder since more "casual" surfers are now taking their online privacy more seriously.

    Leave a comment:


  • eek
    replied
    Originally posted by cojak View Post
    OK, point taken.

    But don't worry I won't buy anything though them either, and I'll tell my clients not to bother with VPN in future because it's such an obvious waste of time, money and effort.

    Now, back to the 101.
    That's not what I meant (and you know it). Using a VPN to keep internal communications private is sensible.

    Using a VPN to keep you surfing habits private is not something people do so when you see people do it the first question to ask is why on earth are you doing that.

    Leave a comment:


  • cojak
    replied
    OK, point taken.

    But don't worry I won't buy anything though them either, and I'll tell my clients not to bother with VPN in future because it's such an obvious waste of time, money and effort.

    Now, back to the 101.

    Leave a comment:

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