Hide your tracks — Regain your privacy
Good privacy is all about layering – no single tool exists that provides a comprehensive solution to privacy. You need to build a multi-layer complementary approach that starts with your browser. Everyone needs to be using a secure and privacy-friendly browser and Internet connection services for these important reasons:
• Browsers can be compromised in many ways.
• Browsers contain lots of private information about you.
• Companies can read, retrieve, record, monitor, and store detailed information about your computer and browsing habits.
• ISPs can track and record all unencrypted content you send and receive when connected to their network servers.
• Google, Amazon, Yahoo, etc. can all track and record all search activity performed using their search tools.
• Search requests are sent thru unencrypted DNS servers that route your search to correct web sites.
• All of this data can be used to identify and track you through browser fingerprinting and profiling.
To see how you are tracked by your IP address, go to https://www.cogipas.com/whats-my-ip/. The sites listed there demonstrate what is just the tip of the iceberg about the kind of hidden information that your web browsing activities reveal. Increasingly, your online digital fingerprint is being determined by other factors too. This Consumer Reports web page has a great checklist of 66 things to do to improve your online security and privacy that include many actions not covered by my site.
The EFF Surveillance Self-Defense web page is an expert guide to protecting you and your friends from online spying.
The web site, privacytools.io provides services, tools and knowledge to protect your privacy against global mass surveillance.
The following graphic offers a glimpse as to how companies track internet users.
If your really value your privacy, your should eliminate use of all Google products. All products made by Google, and parent company Alphabet, are designed and built to monitor, track, collect, record, store, analyze, and monetize every user’s personal data, regardless of its type. This includes Google Search, Google Docs, gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, Android OS, AdSense, Analytics, and many more. For a more detailed list of Google products, check out the following Wikipedia web page: https://about.google/intl/en_us/products/?tip=automatic-photo-backup