You don't know and can't know if you're being watched. The point is that you could be.
Since long before the Wikileaks and Edward Snowden events, credible information had trickled into the public eye about governments' electronic surveillance of citizens. Do some reading on ECHELON. Look up Carnivore and its less threateningly named successor, DCS1000. The technology to monitor your online communications is real; only the knowledge of whether those communications are being collected and examined remains in dispute. Of course, that's just the government. The question of whether and how much companies, from your ISP to discount retailers, examine your activities is a whole different can of worms.
Your privacy is under threat. That may not be an immediate reason for alarm, but if the thought makes you uneasy, you may want to turn to a virtual private network (VPN) service for help. Like most things, there are good and evil ways to use a VPN, and even the good ways may not always be legal. We're not here to judge or advocate, only inform. In the following article, we'll examine the technology of VPN services, assess their role in today’s world, and examine a few of the market’s top subscription-based contenders.
