2-privacy.com

People love the internet because they perceive themselves as anonymous when surfing and posting content. Tabling the entire discussion on how anonymous you really are on the internet, I wanted to to talk about the double edged sword of anonymity.

It’s great; you can join a forum on photography, get answers to your questions, and help teach others without ever revealing any real information about yourself. For example, I use Yahoo! Answers frequently to get answers to random questions in my life. I love it because I get quick access to large pool of knowledge without any substantial effort on my end. It’s free and all I need is a Yahoo! account, which is free. I can walk away from Yahoo! without any concern, as well. (more…)

Ever since the “Web” went public and stopped being DARPANET, there has been an ongoing debate over the assumption of anonymity that is implicit in the web. The structure and standards of the web promote anonymity, which as lead to an explosion of creativity, free speech, and free thought on the Net which is nearly unimaginable in the real world. The Web is where you can badmouth your employer without being fired, give an honest critique of a book or movie without fear of being personally attacked by the author, and where you can leak documents critical to public safety without fear of your identity being immediately known. (more…)

This is an important case and turning point in web privacy.
A company called ‘Phorm’ are in tests to introduce personalised advertising online based on the information your ISP sells to them about your surfing habits:

The Open Rights Group has raised concerns over potential privacy violations caused by the Phorm advertising system.
The monitoring system analyses users’ surfing habits and is proving increasingly popular with ISPs looking to more accurately target subscribers with advertising.

Talk Talk, Virgin and BT are all currently working with Phorm on a pilot basis. (more…)