If you are like most internet users, there is a high chance of you placing a high priority value on your privacy. It is also true that you would try anything that promises to uphold that privacy. You want to do what you like without the thought of someone watching over you. This freedom to stay private used to be a privilege of the internet until the commerce and government world got clever with their tracking technologies. This is not to say that all online tracking is bad. It has some good uses such as preventing fraud or providing relevant services to the public and in the case of businesses, to their clients.
Online tracking is good for you, and without it, critical services like your email account could be vulnerable to hacker attacks. This is why you are unable to log into Gmail, Facebook or Yahoo when your browser does not support cookies. You are fine up to this point. From now on, the world of tracking online by commercial interests gets another selfish dimension that you would rather not be part of, especially if it restricts you from accessing certain services. The most common denial of service happens to internet users who are at a different geographical region and use different ISPs to connect to their favorite services. If you are outside the US, it’s impossible to get services like Hulu and Netflix unless you have US VPN.
A VPN is a virtual private network that allows you to surf the web anonymously. You need a client VPN service installed in your computer that will create a secure or piped connection to a centralized server. The server then connects to a network of available computers that let you use their IP address as if you were physically using those computers. Yes, the services you use online will still track your activity because they you will not have shut down the tracking machinery of the internet. What will actually happen is that the services will track you to your fake site. In other cases, you receive an anonymous IP, and it becomes impossible to know your physical location. This anonymous feature led to the creation of the phrase, ‘guarded from Big Brother’, to refer to the inability of state or commercial agencies from tracking you. A good thing about using a VPN service is that it encrypts your network connection and makes it possible for you to send sensitive information across networks securely.
Getting a VPN service is not hard today, you only need to search for companies offering personal solutions and choose a package that suits your needs. Usage is also very simple. You only need a few steps to install the client software to your computer and then configure all internet connecting software, such as your browsers, to connect to the internet through the relays created by your client VPN.
If you are very paranoid about your safety, it’s recommended that you also install a firewall and anti-virus software. On your browsers, you will need to change the setting of your plugging to make them active only on demand and lastly, you will need to disable third-party cookies and mark the check box that tells your browser to prevent websites from tracking you.
