“Of Mice and Megabytes Supplement”

STEALTHY SURFING
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A few weeks ago, I covered a subject brought to my attention by a reader concerned about information stored on his computer by Internet Explorer. I provided instructions on how to delete these temporary files that are gathered as you surf from Web site to Web site. This week, I’ll cover another subject the reader was curious about: How to cloak oneself from prying eyes and from Web sites themselves.

Why, you ask, would anyone want to be “invisible” when surfing?

• Hackers could invade your computer and browse your hard drive’s contents.
• Web sites and advertisers can use cookies or other methods to track then report your surfing habits.
• Your ISP. If you’re up to no good (or innocently up to no good), your ISP could be forced to reveal your name, since doing so would let them off the legal hook.

With these potential hazards in mind, it’s no wonder some concerned users would rather surf stealthily. If you’re one of them, there are solutions -- some free, some not so free.

Anonymous surfing requires the use of a proxy. A proxy acts as an intermediary between your computer and the Internet. It hides your unique Internetwork Protocol (I.P.) address that identifies your computer to others. In effect, a proxy cloaks your cyber whereabouts. If a hacker or advertiser can’t “see” you, they can’t place any spy ware onto your computer.

There are many companies dedicated to hiding you and your computer as evidenced by Google’s search result for “anonymous surfing.” One free example is The Cloak (the-cloak.com), one of many Web-based proxies. Just visit their site and type your destination Web address in the space provided. The Cloak re-directs you to the site while in the background it seamlessly hides your movements.

The Anonymizer’s (anonymizer.com) solution is software-based. They offer both a free (Windows’ Internet Explorer) and paid version (all browsers and computers, $29.95). Their Web site also provides a “snoop test” tool that’ll reveal some of the information hackers can see on your computer.

WebVail’s (webveil.com) site lists anonymous Web browsing services. It also serves up an informative primer about “cookies,” and an excellent summary about I.P. addressing and surfing via proxy.

The same reader (who shall remain anonymous, of course) asked another good question: What procedures are necessary for removing data from a hard drive when donating or giving away a computer? Well, merely formatting the drive isn’t enough. A good computer geek can retrieve your drive’s contents even if it’s been re-formatted. The hard disk needs to be written and re-written numerous times with random 1’s and 0’s. There are many products available and Norton Utilities is one that comes to mind. Their deletion utility can safely remove data following specifications set forth by the Dept. of Defense. Whatever brand you decide upon, however, make sure the re-formatting program can be run from the CD. After all, you can’t run the program from an erased hard drive.

Re-printed from the Rafu Shimpo, February 2003. Copyright©2003 Rafu Shimpo. All rights reserved.