Web Browsing Privacy

How can you increase web browsing privacy? It’s all over the news: Facebook is using tracking cookies and Google is combining your search data with information about the Google products you use. The big online companies are competing fiercely with one another and collecting your private information.

Online Bill of Rights

The government is working on an web browsing privacy bill of rights, but until it is available to protect your privacy on the web, here are some steps you can take right now to increase web browsing privacy:

When in Doubt, Log Out

When you are done using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail, Google Plus or any other social media application, log out of your account. This not only increases the chances that you will protect your browsing history after you have logged out, but also increases the security of your social media account. If it is not possible to log out of your online email account, for instance, you could also use two different browsers simultaneously: one browser to handle email and a different browser for surfing the web.

Firefox Private Browsing

Once you have logged out of all your social media accounts, try Firefox Private Browsing mode. To enable private browsing mode in Firefox, simply click on Tools >> Start Private Browsing or use the shortcut Control+Shift+P.

Clear Your Cache

If you aren’t interested in using the private browsing feature on your browser, then remember to periodically clear your browser’s temporary internet files and clear your browsing history.

Check Out PrivacyScore.com

You can download a nifty Firefox browser plugin to give you the privacy score of the websites that you are visiting. The privacy score is based on how a website handles personal data and tracking data.

Your online privacy is worth  protecting. Follow these tips and check online often to learn about new ways to guard your personal information and keep it from being collected and used without your knowledge.
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