Privacy on the Internet is… well, let’s just say it’s complicated. In this article, I’ll analyze a few open source tools and concepts that you might use to increase privacy on the Internet for yourself. It will not be an exhaustive list of all possible avenues, nor does it pretend to ensure complete privacy even in the face of a concentrated, personal attack. Some of the tips you will find useful, others you will discard, and still others you might use in conjunction with other policies to construct your own privacy model.
The concept of privacy is a difficult thing to pin down. It gets muddled up with other big ideas, like anonymity and secrecy and even criminal activity. Whatever “privacy” means to you and whatever you might associate it with, most people agree that we have a right to it, if not necessarily online or in public, then at least on some level.