Law & Society Blog

Internet privacy always entails a tradeoff between usability and anonymity. That tradeoff differs from application to application and from website to website. One of the greatest threats to privacy are personalized search histories. The latest AOL privacy breach is a vivid illustration of how much we reveal about ourselves through the use of search terms. Here is a practical, middle of the road setup for safeguarding your privacy against personalized data collection by search engines.

1. Get Firefox. Really, that should be a no brainer.
2. Install privoxy and tor. This is child’s play with the new installer package.
3. Install foxyproxy. Amazingly, the zero configuration tor/privoxy wizard actually works. The great thing about foxyproxy is that you can designate individual sites that will be accessed through tor/privoxy.
4. Add *google.com/* to the whitelist, so that all google searches will be routed through tor/privoxy.
5. Have Firefox delete all cookies upon exit. (Whitelist those sites whose cookies you wish to accept.)
6. Have Firefox block all cookies set by mail.google.com and gmail.com

As (6) effectively disables Gmail on Firefox, use Safari or IE to access Gmail. Using two browsers is essential, because once you log into Gmail, Gmail sets a cookie. Any search that you run in Google after starting Gmail will be linked to your Gmail identity. (Don’t believe me? Open Google in one tab, then log into Gmail in another tab. Return to Google and run a search. Your name will show up in the upper right hand corner.) The two browser setup effectively quarantines the Gmail session cookie.

Some might ask, sensibly, why I even use Gmail if I’m concerned about privacy. First, Gmail is far and away the best web based email client. I love it. It is a technological marvel. Second, I am not particularly concerned with email privacy, at least not with my private email. If I want some real privacy then I can (and do) encrypt my messages with PGP.

Another solution is provided by scroogle.org. Their search bar plugin is the way to go on computers, where you can’t install privoxy/tor (e.g., in the office).

Technorati Tags: privacy, tor, privoxy, eff

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