There’s a scramble by governments to track their citizens online. Because of rapid advances in technology, it’s possible to build complete profiles of people through their online aliases and email accounts. And anyone with enough know how can do it too.

Do you have a Myspace? How many forums have you posted to in your life? How many of your comments would give away a political preference? How many would give away a religious bias?

Even a trip down to the local library’s internet is now completely logged in the US. In order to use the public internet, you’ve got to provide an ID, and all of your web browsing habits are stored with your personal ID. It’s enough to make even the most jaded person paranoid.

Data mining massive amounts of personal data is already going on. Big companies use it to build consumer profiles, and governments use it to build databases of potentially “dangerous” people. But who determines what constitutes a dangerous person looks like, and how do we deal with people who only have the profile to do wrong?

The answer is, of course, that a “dangerous” person looks like whatever’s convenient to the current political power. If there’s a problem with land shortage, the “dangerous” person becomes the person who controls a large portion of property. If there’s a problem with people talking about Democracy, the “dangerous” person becomes the one who talks about it.

So, how is the average person supposed deal with this sort of data mining and profiling?

The short answer is, they don’t. They probably won’t even realize it’s going on. The long answer is, it’s difficult but getting easier.

If you think people should be allowed to look at and disseminate information without being tracked, you’re not in the minority. The only problem is, technology has made this process very easy, and the amount of observable information exchanges has risen exponentially with the internet.

Ten years ago, it would be impossible to track exactly which books you read in the past year, and what sort of information you’re into. But with the internet everywhere, it’s extremely easy to build a profile. Just start with a search for your name. Find any aliases you use - email addresses, usernames - and do a search for those. Within 10 minutes, you can find out a lot of information on what type of person someone is. If they’ve got an Amazon account, you can see books they’re into using their Wish List.
If you’d like to have your internet actions stay anonymous you should:

• Be aware of the information you post, and who it’s available t
• Use protection when posting potentially damning evidence
• Use multiple aliases, and dump them
• Be careful of where you post your name
• Use a DemocraKey while surfing (So no one listening to your internet can tell what sites you visit.)

Joining the EFF helps if you want to donate something to fight for freedom of thought. Otherwise, researching for yourself and letting others know what’s going on is the most efficient way to get things done.

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