Privacy on the Web, Part 4: How to Hide from Web Beacons

by Steven McElwee

Why would I want to hide from web beacons and consolidated web traffic analysis? I don't have anything to hide. We each make decisions about how much privacy and security to give up to gain convenience. The settings in web browsers - to save passwords, accept third party cookies, and keep authenticated sessions persistent over many days and across many sites - make using the web easier. For some people this is an acceptable trade off. For others it is a more serious matter.

You may want to consider some privacy measures if you are:

• A regular user who wants to keep your web browsing habits out of the hands of marketers
• A parent who wants additional protection for your children online by hiding their IP address
• A member of the military or are involved in covert activities
• A citizen in a country that monitors the web and enforces information standards
• A whistle blower who wants to remain anonymous
  
• A journalist, writer, or blogger who publishes sensitive information
• An activist concerned about privacy
  

At the most basic level, hiding from web beacons is as easy as turning off cookies in your web browser. Unfortunately, many web sites won't work if you do not enable cookies. You can limit the exposure of your web browsing by clearing your cookies frequently, such as each time you close your web browser. This segments the trail of information about your web surfing habits and makes your browsing less identifiable across web sites and over a period of time.

This approach only helps to reduce your exposure to web beacons. It does not protect the normal web traffic that is part of the HTTP protocol. HTTP traffic is the network information that passes from your web browser, over the Internet, to a web server, and back again. It is what makes the web work. Each request contains your IP address and the page you are requesting. It also contains the web address of the web site you visited, if you clicked on a link to get there.

If you are really serious about web privacy and feel that you need to hide from web beacons and HTTP traffic analysis, you need a complete solution that bounces your web traffic off of several relays and manages cookies. One solution for this is Tor and Privoxy.

Tor is short for "The Onion Router". It uses relays distributed across the Internet to hide your HTTP traffic from the web sites you visit. When configured correctly, it provides a high degree of privacy on the web. It does not, however, provide protection from web beacons, which run from the content of the web pages, usually using Javascript.

Privoxy provides a flexible solution for handling of cookies and blocking various types of content. When used with Tor, it provides the content-level privacy from web beacons.

Both Tor and Privoxy are freely available, but they may require some time to learn and configure correctly. There are also commercial solutions available that may simplify the setup and configuration.

How much web anonymity is right for you? You need to decide the right balance of convenience and privacy for yourself. When writing this series of posts, I tried some of the measures described here, but found that I'm more in favor of convenience. I have gone back to allowing cookies, web beacons, and HTTP traffic that can be traced to me.

How much privacy is right for you? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.