Anonymity Online: Do You Know Who’s Watching?

These days, it seems that you can’t pick up a paper or watch a newscast that doesn’t reference a breach in online security or the loss of valuable customer information to hackers or malicious parties.

It’s no secret that the Internet plays a significant role in all of our lives. Many of us do our work online, chat, email, and research movies or restaurants. The online world has become an old friend that we use whenever we need to connect or find information. But the problems involving anonymity online are mounting every day. As I referenced in the opening of this piece, hackers are becoming more and more clever in their abilities to gain access to information, things like your account numbers, address, and even your online passwords. And, you’re probably helping them.

It’s true, we’ve become a world of social networks, and the perceived anonymity of the online world has clouded our judgment when it comes to privacy. We post personal information on our Facebook pages for anyone to see, and surf the Web as if it is our own private space. It’s time to wake up. Everything you put online is there for anyone to access and use for criminal activities. And it’s not just the hackers who you should be afraid of.

The Realities of Online Anonymity

Even the search engines are watching what you do. Every search you conduct in Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. is recorded and stored forever. Who knows what the repercussions of this actually are?

To illustrate our point about the need for anonymity online, think about this. Imagine the power that your search history would bring to healthcare companies if they could access all of your previous information and searches on healthcare topics. It would give them free rein to deny claims based on preexisting conditions or deny policies to anyone.

We’re not saying that you should stop using the Internet altogether. However, you should take a moment to review the things you post about yourself. And, using an online anonymity tool like Anonymizer Universal will make sure that all of your emails, chat sessions, and search histories remain private and secure from anyone who may be watching.