Internet Privacy

[Jalpha]

Lion? What lion?

[Gensokyo]

While this is indeed actually somewhat of a serious issue nowadays, I'm a bit confused on how it took you this long to notice it.

[loftar]

My permission was never asked.

I agree that the whole practice is pretty shady and everything, but to be fair, it is you who contacted their server and requested a URL. A store clerk doesn't "ask for permission" to look at your face and remember it when you visit the supermarket. Sure, much of the tracking is done by half-invisible third parties that are merely linked via the page in question, but it's still your browser that follows the links and notifies those third parties. Virtually all the power to prevent said tracking resides in your hands.

[shubla]

My permission was never asked.

I agree that the whole practice is pretty shady and everything, but to be fair, it is you who contacted their server and requested a URL. A store clerk doesn't "ask for permission" to look at your face and remember it when you visit the supermarket. Sure, much of the tracking is done by half-invisible third parties that are merely linked via the page in question, but it's still your browser that follows the links and notifies those third parties. Virtually all the power to prevent said tracking resides in your hands.

If every single site I visit would tell me with popup that they will track me and I would have to press OK. That wouldn't be cool.

[MagicManICT]

My worry isn't the corporations as so far their power is somewhat limited by local and international laws. My concern are police states gaining access to this information, and most are doing it outside of legal and moral means. Just look at the data trading going on between the US, Germany, and UK. I can guarantee there isn't a single piece of information that moves digitally that isn't recorded somewhere to be sifted through at will.... unless you're on a completely private network, of course, and then you have to make sure it hasn't been bugged.

@zeler: funny, but the reality is closer to what you see in science fiction movies. So far governments have been using their quasi-legal actions "for the common good," but who defines that? What oversight do they get in doing it? When does the common good outweigh personal liberty?

[Granger]

So far governments have been using their quasi-legal actions "for the common good,"

The information leaks of the recent years point to a different conclusion, sadly.

New hotness: New York wants to install facial recognition enabled cameras at crossing points. Better lifestock control comming to a corner near you...

[borka]

VirtualBox+FreeDos+Arachne = solved

[shubla]

For complete anonymity you have to buy new computer in disguise with cash that has been found from streets or something in a way that it can not be tracked back to you.
You can only use the computer in public free wifis and even then through multiple good proxies. After each session you must completely destroy computer and all data in it. You must also pay attention to the browser you are using and addons, tor is not really giving you too much privacy. And don't do stuff that could make you identified, such as logging in your own accounts during the session. Also dont carry any devices that you could be tracked with. Such as phone, leave it in home or something, also dont use wifi that is near to where you usually work/live/are. Don't have too long sessions. 15 minutes max. Actually try not to even go inside the cafe or such, as there might be cctv cameras and such that could be linked to you.

To mention some points ^^

[loftar]

If every single site I visit would tell me with popup that they will track me and I would have to press OK. That wouldn't be cool.

The vast majority of cases would be squashed by the browser simply not auto-following external resources, like "Like" buttons or Google analytics scripts.

[shadyg0d]

For complete anonymity you have to buy new computer in disguise with cash that has been found from streets or something in a way that it can not be tracked back to you.
You can only use the computer in public free wifis and even then through multiple good proxies. After each session you must completely destroy computer and all data in it. You must also pay attention to the browser you are using and addons, tor is not really giving you too much privacy. And don't do stuff that could make you identified, such as logging in your own accounts during the session. Also dont carry any devices that you could be tracked with. Such as phone, leave it in home or something, also dont use wifi that is near to where you usually work/live/are. Don't have too long sessions. 15 minutes max. Actually try not to even go inside the cafe or such, as there might be cctv cameras and such that could be linked to you.

To mention some points ^^

Also don't type in such a way that your style could be recognized. Use a different vocabulary every time you post. Only use extremely common figures of speech. No run-on sentences. Spell check everything. Dont talk about similar things at similar times of day. Connect to the internet at random times and stay on for ranDom amounts of time. Type at different speeds. Click though sites using different paths every time. Don't search for anything using your typical tricks and keywords. Don't redirect from one webpage you common to another webpage you common. Etc...

Basically it's impossible, especially with how fast machine learning and neural networks are progressing. There will always be a pattern that once discovered can always be used to identify you.