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"On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog."
| The legendary cartoon above, which appeared in The New Yorker
several years before the Internet became a household word, captures the
sense of anonymity that many people feel when they surf the web or post
a message to a news group using a pseudonym. Yet, as more and more
net residents are beginning to realize, surfers often reveal a good deal
of information about themselves online and web site operators can and do
make use of this information.
Anonymous remailers, which forward e-mail messages to recipients after stripping off the author's identity, have been available for some time. More recently, several systems which allow surfers to visit Web sites anonymously have become available. The newest and most sophisticated entry into this field is "Web Incognito," a product of San Jose, California-based Privada, Inc. This product will allow users to send e-mail, take part in on-line chats, browse the Web and even make purchases with complete anonymity. Using client software the firm is distributing on free CD-ROMs, the system encrypts information before it leaves the user's computer, then passes it through Privada's server on the way to and from its destination. Perhaps most significantly, it stores the subscriber's "cookies" in order to allow the user to maintain a consistent on-line identity and get the benefit of personalized content without divulging his or her identity. Individual subscriptions are $5 a month. |
Links:Find out what information you are revealing on-line at Privacy.net
Other on-line anonymity services:
AAAS Project on Anonymous Communication on the Internet (including information about the study and an excellent list of links)
Special Issue of The Information Society on "Anonymous Communication on the Internet," reporting the results of the AAAS study (Vol. 15, No. 2, April-June 1999)
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