In Today’s Cyber World, Does Privacy Still Exist?

If you read the news headlines, it is hard to imagine that we can still keep parts of our lives private. From ubiquitous corporate data collection, to all the online database breaches to the recent clashing of the FBI and Apple over creating backdoors into the iPhone, privacy seems like a thing of the distant past. But it doesn’t have to be.

Just because we live in a digital world does not mean we have to leave digital traces of ourselves everywhere we go.

I can’t help but liken this issue to that of employees wearing their ID badges outside of their offices for everyone to see. If you want to stay private and make sure no one can identify you, use common sense. In the case of my employee badge example, simply take off your badge when you leave your office. In the digital world, it does not have to be any more complicated. Like the badge, where you need to show it to access many buildings, you need to provide personally identifiable information to use many websites but you can control when and where.

Online privacy comes down to what we are putting out there about ourselves, and what others can learn from our activities. As a digital society we tend to build an online identity without a thought toward the danger we are putting ourselves in. One way to mitigate that danger is to reduce traces of ourselves online preventing attackers and even the government from having a front row seat into our everyday lives. Using a secure browser that protects our online identity is key to preventing unwanted tracking and identification. By blocking all tracking and targeting by default, you can then choose which sites you want to know your identity, and where and when you want to assert your privacy.

Unfortunately, if you wait for privacy policies to change to give you protection you will be waiting a long time, time we don’t have. If you are serious about your privacy, then you have to accept full responsibility for protecting it. Taking responsibility for your online identity is not as daunting a task as it may seem. Our secure browser, Passages, is uniquely designed to hide your identity and corporate affiliation from would-be attackers and unwanted onlookers. It can be the jacket pocket where you hide your badge when out of the building. Don’t sit idly by while your online identity is paraded around for all to see; check out how Passages can help you retain your digital life without compromising your right for privacy.