Tag: Terms and Conditions May Apply

Remember how net neutrality made waves just last month? Well, going forward the online security issue seems to only deepen as news about data collection, monitoring and surveillance practice go far beyond just access.

Since it’s only weeks before the start of the new school year, we figured it’s only relevant we address a very interesting report, conducted in schools in England and Whales by privacy advocates Big Brother Watch. The said report found more than a thousand of them to be using surveillance software to monitor students in class and while on campuses.

The very first paragraph of the report reads: “Unless you are a teacher or have a child in school, it is likely you are not familiar with a modern classroom. Your memories of school may be of chalk boards and scribbling down lessons in a workbook. Answering a question meant putting your hand up, whilst talking to a friend, or enemy, was done by scrawling on scraps of paper. Information came from books and encyclopedias not the internet, in fact the only time you may have used a computer was in a specific information technology lesson and even then there weren’t enough computers for every student to have a go. That vision of school is already out of date and will soon be obsolete. The analogue classroom of old has been replaced with smartboards, internet connected devices and communication via instant message. And rightly so. Learning in the 21st century must revolve around technology in order to teach children the skills required for a digital life in a digital society. The challenges of the modern classroom have changed. “

A pretty accurate description of how the internet changed the classroom environment wouldn’t you agree?

Whether this monitoring software (amounting an extra £2.5 million in school expenses as per the whole specimen included in the study) is used in aid of keeping students focused on educational goals or whether we are talking about a real privacy intrusion and possibly pecuniary driven data collection, is the real underlying matter in question here. Looking at the key findings of the report the results don’t offer much comfort in setting the bottom line privacy issue straight. Before raising concerns, let’s go through a few of these numbers as revealed in the study:

70% of responding secondary schools in England and Wales were found to use a Classroom Management Software package. Out of 1000 schools, only 149 (15%) provided Use Policies, of those 149 schools: 26 (17%) gave detailed information about the type of Classroom Management Software and how it was used, while 123 (83%) failed to give any information beyond the fact that students may be monitored when using computers

This is of course not just a case for UK, Australia also, has a few universities tracking students to the point of telling the exact room a certain student is in, at a certain time. There is no telling as to how these data catalogues influence the grade systems if at all, but the very fact that these institutions are storing this data could be revelatory of them analyzing patterns and behaviors for a so far undisclosed purpose.

Getting around this panopticon system your educational institution might have in place too, is actually a pretty simple task at hand. The most practical way to avoid being monitored by your school or university is simply to get a VPN service.

SET YOURSELF WITH A VPN CONNECTION AND ROCK ON:

No longer an exotic tool, VPNs are now entering the mainstream and given the context it’s easy to understand why.

Simply put, when you’re using a VPN, all your data travels through a tunnel encrypted from end to end. In other words, your school or university will not be able to block access or make sense of your data, since you’ll have all your online data happen elsewhere, not going through your ISP servers and encrypted all the while.

But it’s not just your school that might be keeping track of your browsing data, your cell phone provider too, most apps, operating systems, and other services do the same.

Smartphones with preinstalled tracking software, secretly bundled with tracking files are sold everyday, while some companies try to leverage the very problem they created by charging extra for privacy.

So, having a VPN in place is the smart approach to getting around all this. Think at a VPN as the middleman between you and the internet, where your ISP (that can be your school, while on campus) can only see a bunch of encrypted traffic. And since your VPN knows as much as your ISP would, it’s very important to choose a reliable one with a zero log policy and a strong encryption.

Services like MyIP.io will offer you a self-managed VPN network platform, delivering fast, secure and reliable VPN service , The platform caters to a wide demographic through three channeled directions:Personal,Dedicated andBusiness, so it makes for a wonderful choice for corporate or personal use at the same time.

Engineered as a global platform,MyIP.io is a VPN service provider committed to developing applications and services that preserve an open and secure Internet experience while respecting user privacy.

In times like these, as the bill to save net neutrality is still 46 votes short in the US House it is only relevant we should have an open discussion on internet security, especially since the effort of re instating it has unclear odds of success. Rather than getting wrapped in all the media headlines and speculation, we say it’s time we cut a shortcut through all the debate and aim for a solution to overthrow the effects of net neutrality repeal. It all sounds very sophisticated, but net neutrality is actually a common thing that can affect your internet connection in a very “tangible” way. If your ISP is no longer legally binded to remain neutral, think of how they can affect your connection by throttling access to services they are not partnered with, while creating “fast lanes” for preferred partners. And we are not talking hypothetically. It has happened already and under the new rule of the law it can continue to happen undisturbed.

A SIMPLE, TROUBLE FREE SOLUTION:

The simplest way to go around this and regain control over the situation is to set yourself up with a VPN service. For example, under the new rules, you could be charged more for accessing Hulu instead of Netflix. With a VPN in place however, your ISP won’t even know what you are accessing, since all your data will appear encrypted.

But which VPN to pick, you may ask? Since your VPN provider can pretty much know all your ISP knows, it is important to chose a reliable one, ideally with a zero log policy. To spare you the trouble of reviewing different VPN services, we tested things like speed, encryption, locations and costs as main indicators of a good VPN service forMyIP.io VPN.

Here are the features that we you will most definitely find a value in when using our service:

1. High Speed: Fast uploads even for big transfers.

2. Open Ports: Not many VPNs will allow you to use PPTP and even fewer will help you use this feature by guiding you on how to do it. MyIP.io offers comprehensive support given by a very responsive customer support team.

3. Static IPs: Usually an extra feature, static IPs are marketed at extra fees. On a MyIP.io you’ll get a static IP on a $5 plan.

4. Cost

You’ll pay less than $6 if you go with an annual subscription and $8 for a monthly. The costs are even lower for a dynamic IP, which comes with the “personal plan” for less than $3 a month.

5. Master VPN Account for teams

If you decide to go with the “business plan” we will allocate a whole subnet to you or engineer a custom solution to meet your needs. In a nutshell, the business VPN solution allows multiple accounts into one master deck, a convenient scenario in term of having control, management and payment. Simultaneous connections up to 50, on this plan.

6. Strong Encryption and a Zero Logs Policy My IP.io comes bundled with all the strong encryption protocols, supporting all the latest security protocols such as SSTP, PPTP, IPSec, L2TP, SSTP and 128bit –AES, OpenVPN cipher. They will not keep any logs of your activity on their server, so you can be sure no 3rd party is spying on your data.

7. Locations

You’ll have a diverse location offering to chose from with My IP.io that you can use to bypass geo-restrictions.

In the end, whatever you chose, be aware that a VPN provider is the middleman between you and the world wide web, so make sure you get a reliable one that ticks all your boxes. For us, that’s MyIP.io.
KEY IDEAS THAT YOU CAN KEEP AND CALL YOUR OWN:

With all the crazy headlines surrounding the online security, net neutrality ordeals, you kind of get the feeling that it’s been a pretty intense year. But wait 2018 it’s only half way through and signs of weird outcomes are seen almost everywhere, counting the World Cup results as one.

Whether it’s the Facebook scandal, self-driving cars or politics, there’s no denying that technology is taking over and chances are you are affected by all or at least some of these narratives.

Out of the bunch, net neutrality is the one we are focusing on here and how you can circumvent it.

Summing up, the common sense solution to go around net neutrality repeal is to set yourself up with a VPN service. If you take nothing but the main idea from this written material, this is it:

1. First, make sure your VPN provider has a zero logs policy. Most of VPN providers will claim they don’t keep logs, but will in fact document logging data that they can trace back to you. Going with a service that can not keep this information by design, like MyIP.io, is an exciting option.
2. And second, beware of throttling of traffic. Your ISP might try and throttle VPN traffic, however it is difficult for your ISP to do so since it can affect all traffic, including the one that goes to their partners and customers.

All in all, net neutrality could be at some point in the future revoked, but even if it is, naturally there will be a great deal of back and forth in this kind of matter. Attempts for another repeal might and will be pushed forward, if the case. ISPs have a lot at stake to simply give in that easy. While fighting a good cause is important, we think that focusing on circumventing the effects of net neutrality repeal is equally important. Especially since, going around it, requires just a simple education and making sure that we’re a bit more savvy then yesterday, when it comes to our individual rights and preserving them in an increasingly digitalized world.

“Terms and Conditions May Apply” is probably the most enigmatic phrase that you will encounter when reading the privacy policy of virtually any site. It’s also the name of a Netflix documentary that goes on exposing the truth behind pages upon pages of uninviting text that we usually give a swift scroll, followed by a vacant “I agree” click.

Produced in 2013 by Cullen Hoback, the film is relevant today as online service providers everywhere, starting with the biggest, most popular names, are proving ambiguous practice when collecting user and customes information. Today, we simply expect our data to be used without our knowledge or consent when surfing a website, installing a software or purchasing goods online. It has become so much of a given that keeping track of all privacy policies of all the sites we use on a regular, would consume enormous attention, the grey matter we seemingly are using less and less, while online or at least on definite, short spans.

Users and service providers alike are now trying to adjust to the new online environment which is still far from being appropriately regulated. For users, the solution is more in the direction of setting protective measures in place and some of the service providers are trying to limit credibility loss by doing the same. However, most of the so called “protective measures” taken by service providers still sound like liabilities instead.

Take Facebook ‘s new menu item called “Protect” — the blue shield icon that takes you to Onavo, a VPN service owned by the company. Onavo is basically the same piece of machinery as most VPN services out there, but here’s the catch though: it’s owned by Facebook. Without making a point that Onavo is not trustworthy in absolute terms, but simply stating the obvious that in there lies a possible conflict of interest, one that we would not recommend you gamble, it’s probably for the best that you get your VPN service elsewhere.

No longer an exotic tool, VPNs are now entering the mainstream and given the context it’s easy to understand why. There are tons of VPN providers, but one should probably be aware of their business affiliation. The painless solution here is to go with an independent provider, free from such affiliation and/or partnerships.

And as we already know by now, it’s not just Facebook that keeps track of your browsing data, it’s your cell phone provider too, most apps, operating systems, and other services do the same. Smartphones with preinstalled tracking software, secretly bundled with tracking files are sold everyday, while some companies try to leverage the very problem they created by charging extra for privacy. Setting yourself with Facebook’s Onavo could not only mean that Facebook is keeping track of your activity when you use the app, but also when you browse away from the social network, stretching the net even further.

Having a VPN in place is the smart approach to getting around all this. Think at a VPN as the middleman between you and the internet, where your ISP can only see a bunch of encrypted traffic. And since your VPN knows as much as your ISP would, it’s very important to choose a reliable one with a zero log policy and a strong encryption. These 2 benefits are not in the cards for Onavo, which has a very slippery way to explain the way it stores user’s information in the following:

“We may use the information we receive to provide, analyze, improve, and develop new and innovative services for users, Affiliates and third parties.” Customer information is also stored according to “applicable laws and assist law enforcement.” which is not exactly music to our ears, considering net neutrality recent repeal. Services like MyIP.io offer privacy focused VPNs and can not store personal information of their users by design. Engineered as a global platform,MyIP.io is a VPN service provider committed to developing applications and services that preserve an open and secure Internet experience while respecting user privacy.

On the other hand, Onavo’s statements on data collection are far from being focused on user’s privacy unequivocally: “The app may collect your mobile data traffic to help us recognize tactics that bad actors use. Over time, this helps the tool work better for you and others. We let people know about this activity and other ways that Onavo uses and analyses data before they download it.”

All in all, online data privacy has never been more present on the public agenda than in the past few months, when news about Facebook data misuse broke as the Cambridge Analytica scandal unfolded. Whether the scandal is purely political, having the can-not-be-ignored Trumpian element attached to it, or the billion dollar pixel empireof Sillicon Valley ( as Wired describes it), there is a certain collateral that goes much deeper than politics or the Valley. And that collateral element is how easy we ourselves give away personal data in our idealized, highly curated virtual identities we create.

Stepping aside from the Facebook scapegoat, since we all know it’s not just Facebook that allows public data collection, but many more, let’s think about the positives in the wake of recent events. We are now more aware than ever before about the consequences of our online activity and how easy that data can be manipulated if given the chance. It’s time we should all be more responsible about our online footprint and take ownership of our data, take charge of our own protection. In all of the above, the no brainer is to set ourselfs up with a VPN service, one that is reliable and free from aforementioned affiliation.

Using their users as servers by converting them into a botnet, some VPN providers have been revealed, while others admit in their lawyer-eese terms of service, they can sell your bandwidth to other companies.

In other words, by searching a bargain you can be faced with two main issues:

1. Slower computer and internet connection: as you’re sharing your bandwidth and processor with others;
2. Higher Security Risks: assuming responsibility for what other users do online, that can be tracked down back to your IP.

A good VPN will have its own servers and encryption protocols designed for it, reducing possible security failures to a minimum. Free VPN services are often an open door to malware and can be easily used by scammers.

In the FREE vs. PAID matter, its is important to understand that most legit businesses will offer 7 days of free trial, but a free connection on a indefinite period of time is sure to get its profit elsewhere; in ways that can harm your security and defeat the whole purpose of having a VPN in the first place.

We suggest you do yourself a favor and invest a good 5 bucks for a reliable VPN like the dedicated VPN you can get from My IP.io or from another reliable provider.