How much do you value your anonymity?

[Zvinny]

Anonymity and privacy has always been something that has interested me, and something I've always tried to maintain for several different reasons, not the least of which being my use of the deep web and torrents. However, seeing just the small glimpse that was leaked of PRISM has made what was a passing interest more of a hobby.

I utilize the VPN Torguard, the https everywhere extension, along with ghostery and a few other extensions as well. I've also begun using the Tails operating system.

This isn't out of any paranoia, just something I find fun. I realize if the NSA wants to see what you're browsing, they'll probably find it no matter what.

So, do you guys do anything similar, or know of any other programs or the like? Or perhaps an opinion on the legality of things such as VPNs and TOR?

[Deleted]

A lot, I don't even have a picture on facebook because of that.

[Independent voter]

The more you hide stuff, the more the NSA will paint you as a target.

[Drungan]

If you truely belive that you can *hide* on the internet you are kidding yourself.

If none is whatching what you do on the net you are simply not interesting enough ... reality is that most of us are just not interesting enough to be watched *by the man*

No i do not try to play a cool kid and mask my adventure on the internet and if some unlucky bastard has the job watching my data .... poor him he will have no fun tales to tell at the watercooler, but atleast he has a job ?


Edit: actualy not 100% true ... i do things to go un-noted to the internet but thats mainly to avoid spam and being flooded with adverts so i do have adblock when being on some sites like this and i never use my main email to sign up for stuff like forums, beside that ...no.

[Deleted]

I think it's important to have the choice to be anonymous if you want to be.

But don't fool yourself, you will never be able to be anonymous to your own government. Or to foreign governments for that matter, but at least with a foreign government there is in theory the possibilty that it will cause a political incident.

All the stuff the OP mentions, VPNs and such, doesn't do jack shit cause they can just order your ISP to hand over your data. Only encryption works, but that doesn't make you anonymous.

however in everyday internet use you can be "good enough" anonymous.

[Replica]

If you truely belive that you can *hide* on the internet you are kidding yourself.

If none is whatching what you do on the net you are simply not interesting enough ... reality is that most of us are just not interesting enough to be watched *by the man*

No i do not try to play a cool kid and mask my adventure on the internet and if some unlucky bastard has the job watching my data .... poor him he will have no fun tales to tell at the watercooler, but atleast he has a job ?

This sums it up.
If you think you're "anonymous" on the net, guess again.
You have an ipv4 adress - you aren't anonymous.

[Revi]

Depends what the context is. I have a Facebook with pictures and information about me, but I'd never divulge my identity to strangers on the internet. I don't try to hide from spies, because quite frankly it's futile even if I wanted to. If there's something I don't want coming back to me, I won't put it on the internet.

Outside of stuff that concerns the law enforcement, I think everyone deserves to be anonymous if they want to. There's been a lot of groups hacking and exposing the real identities of people that share unpopular opinions anywhere from Twitter to dedicated forums, a practice that I think should be punishable by law. If all you're doing is exchanging words, your identity should be protected if you so choose.

[Kathandira]

I do not care much for anonymity very much at all. On the internet, I behave as I would if you were to meet me in person. I am a reasonable person who has no problem admitting their faults. I also do not find any pleasure in arguing with people in person, nor on the internet.

[Kalis]

If you truely belive that you can *hide* on the internet you are kidding yourself.

If none is whatching what you do on the net you are simply not interesting enough ... reality is that most of us are just not interesting enough to be watched *by the man*

No i do not try to play a cool kid and mask my adventure on the internet and if some unlucky bastard has the job watching my data .... poor him he will have no fun tales to tell at the watercooler, but atleast he has a job ?


Edit: actualy not 100% true ... i do things to go un-noted to the internet but thats mainly to avoid spam and being flooded with adverts so i do have adblock when being on some sites like this and i never use my main email to sign up for stuff like forums, beside that ...no.

Pretty much this.

I avoid giving out my personal contact information (email, home address, mobile number, surname as mine is quite distinctive, etc.), but apart from the spammers, it's highly unlikely that anyone important would be interested in my activities.

[Nadiru]

I'm on the internet. There's only as much information as I choose to put on there, which I suppose is a lot from a size standpoint.

[Independent voter]

Work has been a bigger privacy concern than anything else. If you browse on a company network oftentimes your boss will be able to see everywhere you browse to, and what you posted, etc. Using https will stop this, but he'll still know you went to mmo-champ 112 times that day.

[Deleted]

I am not worried about Government or Intelligence services finding out about me, what worries me is some asshole with a grudge that Doxxes people, people have been harassed and had their lives ruined because of it.

[Theinquisition]

Anonymity and privacy has always been something that has interested me, and something I've always tried to maintain for several different reasons, not the least of which being my use of the deep web and torrents. However, seeing just the small glimpse that was leaked of PRISM has made what was a passing interest more of a hobby.

I utilize the VPN Torguard, the https everywhere extension, along with ghostery and a few other extensions as well. I've also begun using the Tails operating system.

This isn't out of any paranoia, just something I find fun. I realize if the NSA wants to see what you're browsing, they'll probably find it no matter what.

So, do you guys do anything similar, or know of any other programs or the like? Or perhaps an opinion on the legality of things such as VPNs and TOR?

Not to concerned about it really, I mean if someone really wants to know what im doing online, im sure they would find a way.

Bascially they'd find me boring anyway, Porn, MMOC, and more porn, thats pretty much what im doing on the web most of the time.

[Beazy]

Meh, as long as what I do isn't used against me in a court of law, I don't give two shits if the NSA monitors me. Ill even set up a twitch stream for them. . . I would get more viewers that way. =o[********

[Anium]

A lot! Being Bruce man is hard, shit, I mean Bat Wayne...
awk.

[Fencers]

A fair amount. But I don't engage in anything illegal or unusual enough that I believe a degree of paranoia &/or anonymity is super useful to me.

I want to keep my personal finances relatively safe. My family free of external danger.

Though I really don't think the NSA or anyone else for that matter cares about my browsing history of Window Treatments @ Home Goods, my Youtube history of Death Metal songs or my Drugstore.com purchase order for baby & feminine hygiene supplies. Nor do I feel any particular shame in these type of things.

I suppose it is a matter of "nothing to hide", but I do like for example not having a creepster randomly liking a Facebook photo of me from 3 years ago.

However, I do use my husband's name/info when possible online. So he has like a Vicotria's Secret account, an Ulta account and is signed up for several newletters on the state of various video games and music artists. XD

[Cephilia]

I don't think I can be anonymous in the internet, but I do control the amount of data an average user can find about me. I think that's quite enough, I don't think I can hide from governments or hackers, I just don't want a simple google search to bring up anything embarrassing.

[Sathnick]

Work has been a bigger privacy concern than anything else. If you browse on a company network oftentimes your boss will be able to see everywhere you browse to, and what you posted, etc. Using https will stop this, but he'll still know you went to mmo-champ 112 times that day.

Actually not everywhere - thanks to works councils here you can check shit...you are not even allowed to check messanger Status (they had to turn them off completely...now you only see Status of People who specifically allow you to

OT: I do use VPN at home but but not because I am generally worried about privacy.

[Rindrae]

I didn't think much about anonymity until an ex started stalking me on Facebook. Ended up closing my account and being a lot more careful.

[ParanoiD84]

Porn, MMOC, and more porn,

That's the way to live.