The World Wide Web

[SimplyJakeAndAlex]

Some of you may enjoy this cool animated look at the internet, following a little packet as it makes it's way around the world. It's a decade old now, and a little out of date in some ways, not to mention over-simplified, but non-the-less very cool IMO!

B.

Ah you most love Reboot the 3D animation... I do

 

[ritsuka]

It most definitely is not necessary to keep an easily searchable index of information linked with your full name on the internet. It seems like a good business plan to facebook, youtube, amazon, google, etc. to have you consolidate and link up your entire online life together as an open book, but it can sometimes offer considerably less advantages to the random user, can leave you open not only to malicious spies but to a government order if these corporations decide to release your records. If you post and share anonymously, then your secrets can probably hide on the internet for a considerable amount of time.

 

[SimplyJakeAndAlex]

Some of you may enjoy this cool animated look at the internet, following a little packet as it makes it's way around the world. It's a decade old now, and a little out of date in some ways, not to mention over-simplified, but non-the-less very cool IMO!

B.

Thanks GB very nice little vid... love the way they illustrate the All Mighty Router AKA "GOD" that did remind me that I have to update my Firewall OS... now it's all your fault I'll be working like a dumb ass when I'll go home:angry:, if there's something I hate to configure it's fucking Pix firewall... finally leaving OZ land ... love it there but love my country better

 

[SimplyJakeAndAlex]

If you post and share anonymously, then your secrets can probably hide on the internet for a considerable amount of time.

Yes you are right but see the picture of that is that if you slowly look at the history of social networking and apply some marketing logic to it, you will quickly notice that with the creation of Facebook people started posting their actual name on the net. Many didn't think through when posting their Facebook link that their real name was going to be broadcasted to the world because the very first version of Facebook did not really allowed people to create pseudonym... I have my Facebook account almost a year after it was launch.

Also the wonderful people behind their computers just need to know that they are on an open field... GB is and I are both System and Network security admin (and there must be more on this forum with similar or even more advance knowledge than us two)... and thus we know a great deal of what forms the Internet and therefore understand that even the strongest firewall can fail in hiding your name, credit card number and many other things.

I always keep the information I have genuine and similar... my boyfriend's name and picture doesn't change from one forum to another neither does mine... if one want to give information about who they are they can... but that information has to be controlled. I gave a lot of details on this board about who I am... but trust me you'll have a great deal of difficulty finding my real name because I have about 4 official last names which I can use in different fashion and they'll still be accurate with who I am. A little awareness on how privacy works would definitely do good to a lot of people. Understanding and controlling what can be shared, how, when and where... check with Facebook... people went nuts for their stupid 15 minutes of fame and some today have lost so much displaying too much.

In all social network sites there's what we call a Privacy statement and a Term of Service... before going on those websites and start jerking off like a teenager... people should take sometimes to read those doents, because I have been writing those for years I can see quickly any loopholes or missing details about your private details being sold to third party... I use very specific username for different site and have three Garbage collector email address and all of them are specific to different category of site that I go... using this methods I know which site eventually sells their user list to third party because those emails that use are on my own protected email server DMZed to the max and I erased those emails and create new ones continuously and catch those assholes, because a new email shouldn't receive crap after a week of being on a new social network when I did provide this email to only one site.

In short protect yourself and read those darn TOS and Privacy and ask question when you smell something fishy. :cheers:

 

[gb2000ie]

Secrecy and anonymity are very different things. When you use a pseudonym, the information is not secret, it's just not linked to a real-world person, so it's anonymous.

The thing is, it's getting easier and easier to break down that anonymity. Advertisers are driving this technology forward, but it turns out that even with cookies and flash fully disabled, it's quite easy to track people across the internet and tie their pseudonyms to their names. Every computer is a little bit different, so if you start to combine the information websites can find out about a computer using only legitimate API calls you soon find it's a lot of information. The list of fonts you do and don't have installed, combined with your screen resolution, what browser you use, what plugins you have installed etc. etc. etc. soon adds up to the point that you can have a 98% confidence that two supposedly anonymous users are the same user.

Of course you have the more straightforward threat too, your ISP sees all your traffic, so your ISP knows that your user on this forum is the same person as some other user on your bank's website is the same person who IMs with X username, is the same person as such and such a Facebook page etc..

The chances are you're a lot less anonymous than you think you are, and with ever day that passes you're getting just a little less anonymous. The trend is strongly in the direction of anonymity breaking down unfortunately.

If you want to keep something secret, best not to post it on line at all!

B.