Protecting Your Privacy On The Internet

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Taking the following steps should reduce the chances that your personal information will be collected and used over the net.:

  • Shop at secure sites. Secure sites are ones which create a secure line with its authorized user. Information that is passed between your computer and the secure site is encoded. Usually, to do business with a secure site, requires the operator of the site to give you a password which once used creates a secure connection between your computer and the site.

  • Some sites have been set up to use encryption to send and receive information. When information is encrypted, the receiver of the information can only view such information with a key. The site sends you the key prior to any information to your computer is sent. After the key is installed on your system, any information that is exchanged between your computer and the specific site will be encrypted. This is different from a secure site in that with a secure site once you have accessed the site with the appropriate password, information is automatically encoded without the need of sending a key beforehand.

  • There are 2 levels of encryption, 40 bit and 128 bit. With 40 bit, there are billions of possible keys to decode your information With 128 bit, there are 300 trillion times as many keys as the 40 bit encryption.

  • To determine the level of encryption when using Netscape 4.0 and 4.5, look at the location bar, the URL (web address) has "https;" rather than "http:". As well the padlock in the lower left corner of the Netscape window will be closed.

  • With Internet Explorer 4.0, there will be a padlock icon in the bar at the bottom of the Internet Explorer window. Please refer to the websites of Netscape or Microsoft for more information.

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