Safer searching

In light of AOL's recent disclosure of "anonymous" search information, the EFF has issued a simple set of tips to keep your search history private. Some of them are pretty common sense, such as avoiding using personal information in your searches. Others are worth looking into, but require a bit more effort. For instance:

• Don't accept cookies from your search engine. If you use a service like web-based e-mail that requires you to accept cookies, don't let the personally-identifying information in your e-mail get linked with your searches. For Firefox users, the free CustomizeGoogle extension will allow you to anonymize your search cookie without breaking GMail (see the "Privacy" tab in the CustomizeGoogle options).


• Use an anonymizing proxy, or proxy network like Tor, to prevent search engines from learning your IP address, especially if your ISP gives you the same IP address each time you use the Internet.

It's short and sweet, but we could all use a reminder every now and again.

Update: If you're uncomfortable installing an extension from a third party website, you can refer to the CustomizeGoogle listing at Mozilla. And of course, always exercise caution when installing software from the 'net.

Link