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TNPC: What your web surfing tells others…
By DanB | September 1, 2006
TNPC Newsletter
by Dan Butler
24 August 2006
Thank you for reading - I really appreciate it.
This week I have more on Internet privacy, an update on the
special along with a free product, and a book review.
Still time to get in the drawing. You can find the steps to join
the free drawing in last weeks issue. Where is last weeks issue?
You can read it on the web here:
http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/blog/2006/08/24/tnpc-what-is-privacy/
The piece on productivity related to larger monitors had some
interesting comments from people actually using larger or dual
monitors. Share your story and read the others at the blog:
http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/blog/2006/08/18/big-monitors-can-increase-productivity/
** Update on the special offer and a free product
I sent a quick note yesterday about a unexpected free product
from the Hypnosis Network is giving to TNPC readers. A lot of
you called and emailed saying you wouldn’t have time to listen
to the freebie and still get in on the special offer. So we
extended the special until Friday 25 August 2006. And that is
it. We only extended it because Michael tossed in a free product
at the last minute.
Anyone can sign up and get the free product ($29 value). No
purchase is necessary. If you purchased the “Productivity
Engineering” product be sure to go back and get the free product
as well. They complement each other. The URL is:
http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/hypnosis/productivity_time_management/1540.php
Some comments I received about the free product:
“I really like the audio. He has an excellent &
relaxed speaking voice–almost elegant. I got all
relaxed then got really focused in the moment
while I was washing my dishes. Boy, did I have a
lot of energy for housework!
He’s an inspirational speaker. I think it’s got to
be an excellent program.”
And that was just about the free program. So go check it all out now.
** Privacy and Trails on the Internet
Leisha W. wrote and asked about privacy on the Internet.
Specifically she was concerned about posting to a blog
anonymously then having other people be able to track her
through her I.P. address. I am still putting together a detailed
answer. Look for that next week. The privacy and tracking issues
apply not just to blog postings but visiting web sites in
general.
My interest in this runs pretty deep. In my corporate life I
spent a lot of time analyzing the logs and trails left behind by
web surfers. On a monthly basis I generally worked with between
7 and 9 million records of visits. Looking for trends, improving
the sites, figuring out who may be visiting and why, and lots
more.
The bottom line is your web activities are logged at the various
web sites you visit. Then, sometimes by other servers in
between. A proxy server is an example of a server between you
and the Internet.
What is a proxy server? Basically the server sits between you
and the Internet. Without a proxy your web request goes more or
less directly to the web site you want to visit. With a proxy
server the request first goes to the proxy and the proxy
requests the page you want then sends the page back to you after
it receives it.
A common business use is a “caching proxy” server. A company may
use this to help minimize traffic on their Internet connection.
Let’s assume you have 2,000 employees. If everyone showed up and
checked the home page of Yahoo! every morning that would mean
that page was downloaded over the companies Internet connection
2,000 times. Many times it is the same page.
With a caching proxy server in place the first person to
download the page gets the page. When other people request the
same page the proxy checks to see if it already has the page
stored. If it does show up as stored, then you get the stored or
“cached” page. If the page has changed the proxy will retrieve
the new page before sending it to you. Multiply this by
thousands of web requests a day and you can see how a proxy can
save on time and bandwidth.
If you are web surfing from work, you should assume that you are
going through a proxy server first. You should also assume that
proxy server is logging all Internet requests and can tie those
visits back to the machine where they originated. In a closed
environment like an office those visits can usually be traced
back to you easily.
If you surf from home you may be going through a proxy - it
depends on your web host. If you are using AOL you are going
through a proxy. Some of the larger ISP’s use proxy servers.
From home your surfing habits can still be narrowed down but it
would take much more effort. More importantly, the people doing
the looking need access to the data. Not just anybody has access
to the data captured at various web sites.
Take that last statement with a grain of salt. AOL recently
released several months of log data onto the world wide web.
They had replaced the AOL ID with a random number. Even doing
that you could still piece together a pretty good profile of
where people were going.
What information is “left behind” when you surf around the web?
I wrote an article a few years ago about what information web
sites collect from you when you visit. You can read it here:
http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/dan/pgp/snooping.html
Note: the article mentions Norton Internet Security which I no
longer use or recommend. What tools do you use? Let me know at
the discussion board:
http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/discuss/
Web sites can collect more information than what I have
described in the article. Your screen resolution and color
depth for instance. They can collect personal information, but
you generally have to supply it first. For example if you supply
your name and email to log in to a website, that information is
available to the web site.
Does this information get used against you? It is possible but
not very common. Most websites use the information to present
you with pages and information more specific to you and your
interests.
Then they use the aggregated information from all customers to
help arrange the navigation on the website and to choose what
content to present to visitors in the future.
One last observation - in the case of malicious web sites such
as phishing and scam sites all bets are off. They will use any
and all information gathered in any way they can. So be careful.
I will go into more on all of this in the answer to Leisha’s
question next issue.
Do you have any questions about privacy or what is gathered as
you travel the Internet? Let me know and I will put all of this
together in my next newsletter.
** From the Bookshelf…
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
Ever wonder how the lowly paper clip came to be? Can you imagine
spending your days working on the perfect functional design
for… a door knob? This book is a fun, readable introduction to
usability in design.
Whether you drive nails, write software, or are just tired of
spilling coffee from the office coffee pot you need this book.
You will never look at the ordinary objects in your life the
same way again. A fascinating read.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385267746/tnpcnewsletter
Recent Popular Books
The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1572243759/tnpcnewsletter
How to Read a Book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671212095/tnpcnewsletter
–
© 2006 Dan Butler
Dan Butler is the Editor-in-Chief of TNPCNewsletter.com and the
author of the amazing new book that shows you how to save your
identity, get your email read, and put more time into the things
you really enjoy…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tired of fighting identity thieves? Tired of all that junk in
your email box? Want to have your messages seen by the people
that matter? “Tame Your Email” reveals the secrets to taking
control of your inbox while leaving the thieves and spammers
out of sight and out of mind.
http://www.TameYourEmail.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+++————– Recommended Resources ——————–+++
Have you thought about starting your own little business on the
Internet? Then check out the new book I just finished. It will
tell you how to start, setup, and get going in a business of
your very own with your own product. I call it Quick and
Effective Internet Business. Give it a look:
http://www.tnpcnewsletter.com/p/quickbiz/
+++———————————————————–+++
>> “Can these 11 Principles Help You Too?”
I started applying these principles earlier this year. My family
and I really enjoy this. I think you will to.
http://www.banabu.com/cmd.php?af=391576
+++———————————————————–+++
I use this software all the time to look up personal information
about myself and others. A friend of mine used it to research
the former owners of a property for title purposes. I have used
it for years.
http://zcat.com/qpp/x.php?adminid=8&tid=9
+++———————————————————–+++
Copyright 2006 Dan Butler
All Rights Reserved.
ISSN: 1522-4422
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