Big data is all around us whether we are aware of it or not. Everything you do on the internet, every single search is collected and can be used to help companies market products and services to you. It isn’t just companies looking at this data, the government looks at it too. The scary thing is, they actually collect very accurate data that can say a lot about who you are. With data being collected and used more and more today, people are becoming very concerned about having personal information collected about them. People are now trying to find ways to prevent the amount of personal data that is collected on them. If you are the kind of person who cares about the data that is collected about you, below are five ways to limit your internet footprint.
1. Use Privacy Enhancing Technologies
Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) will not completely stop surveillance from happening, however it can make it more difficult to get access to the monitor. PETs can be as easy as a browser plug-in, some of these simply block websites that track your activity. This is an easy way to not have all your activity on websites tracked. The reason for PETs is to allow users to protect the privacy of all of their personal information.
2. Use Virtual Private Networks
This is very similar to the PETs, however many Virtual Private Networks (VPN) are free and easy to use for people like me who are not tech savy. The VPNs can be downloaded as browser extensions or plug-ins. Things like this are fairly easy to use because all you have to do is download them and then they do their job. VPNs wears a hat as an intermediary server between you and the website that you are busy.
Keep your eyes out for my next blog post, where I will discuss the three other steps you can take to protect your personal information and the amount of data collected about you.
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