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How Do I Disappear Online?By
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
A year ago today, I was busy unraveling a bank heist...
It didn't involve guns or ski masks. But tens of thousands of dollars disappeared just the same. The money was stolen online... from the bank account of a close family member. A thief somehow hacked into the family member's e-mail and possibly used a "keystroke logger" (which tracks everything you type on your keyboard) to get the bank account's password. The thief locked the family member out of her e-mail account and then wired money to his own bank account. (You can read the full story here.) We acted quickly enough to get the money back without a problem. But it opened our eyes to the very real dangers of "living" online. Outside of going "off the grid" (which I can't imagine doing), what can we do? Apparently, not a lot... "Privacy no longer exists," a lifetime friend told me at a Christmas party a few days ago. This friend should know – she works for one of Google's biggest business partners. She continued... "I can know more about you in five minutes than you can imagine. Google, for example, basically knows everything you've done online. When I go to hire someone, they're amazed at what I know about them. I'm not using anything special. People with sophisticated tools and malicious intents do serious damage. Worst of all, you can't hide." Well, now, that's not very encouraging. We can do the obvious things... like not opening e-mails (or especially clicking on attachments) from people we don't know and not giving any more information than you have to online. But that doesn't make you safe... That's just the equivalent of living in a dangerous neighborhood but not walking the streets at night. I'm willing to try other things to protect myself... Wired Magazine recently had a great cover story on a writer's attempt to vanish. The writer disguised his online activity by using Tor. He explained: "Tor masks a computer's IP address by diverting its requests through designated routers around the world. So when I logged in to Gmail from IP 131.179.50.72 in Los Angeles, the logs showed my request originating from 192.251.226.206 in Germany." Beyond things like Tor, there are also anonymous e-mails, remailers, anonymous web surfing... But honestly, I don't know if using some of these services is jumping from the frying pan to the fire... What I mean is, Google is the devil we know. We know Google, but we don't know these anonymous sites. Some unknown privacy "cure" could be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Also, even though I'm just trying to protect my own privacy, I feel like I'm either a weirdo or I'm hiding something if I use some of those services. This is one case where I need your help... I am an investing guy, not an Internet privacy guy. So please tell me: What works for you? What is convenient, but makes you safer, online? How can you help me, and thousands of other DailyWealth readers? In short... How do I disappear online? You tell me. I promise, in an upcoming DailyWealth, I will publish the best solutions for protecting yourself and your personal information online. (I also promise to publish your name, e-mail address, home address, credit card numbers... ha!) Please send your ideas to [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you... Good (and safe) investing, Steve
Further Reading:
A True Story: It Happened to Us... It Could Happen to You Market NotesTHIS IS THE GOVERNMENT'S WORST NIGHTMARE
Important rumblings in the interest-rate market... The "interest rates are going higher crowd" is winning right now.
The case for higher interest rates goes like this: In order to get elected and stay elected, politicians are desperately trying to "do something" for everyone who doesn't have a job... So the U.S. is spending and borrowing money like crazy. Our creditors recognize this and will eventually demand higher interest rates to compensate them for loaning money to a lunatic. So... what does the market think of the case? Let's consult the mother of all interest-rate markets, the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond. The interest rate on this bond is determined by all kinds of investors from around the world. It influences where banks set interest rates for car, home, and business loans. A big rise in this rate would choke the debt-laden U.S. consumer and government. As you can see, the 10-year bond yield got close to an upside breakout of 4% back in June. It then backed off in the summer and fall. But in the past month, the rate has skyrocketed back to the 4% area. Keep an eye on this number. If it blasts through 4% and heads to 5%, it means borrowing costs are soaring... and Uncle Sam is paying out the nose to compensate for his new "borrow and spend our way to prosperity" program. 
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