Beat Big Brother: Dodge CCTV, phone taps and spies

By Rory Reid on 19 March 2008, 2:55pm

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Up to 12 million people in the UK have their Web surfing and email monitored by their employers, according to the Policy Studies Institute. That means they know when you're doing 'Web-based research' on YouTube. They know when you're 'forming important business relationships' on Facebook. Hell, your IT manager is probably checking his logs right now, reading your IM conversations, looking at your browser history, and recommending your dismissal to HR. Stop him in his tracks!

Virtual keyboard
Some companies use keyloggers to record every button you press, so don't press any buttons! Fire up the On-Screen Keyboard application in Windows by going to Start, All Programs, Accessibility. From there you can use your mouse to click on letters as a means of inputting data -- and best of all, nobody can read your keystrokes. We discovered this technique back in 2004 when we began writing this article and we haven't looked back since.
Free with Windows XP/Vista
Paranoia scale: 4 tinfoil hats out of 5

Anonymous Web surfing
Web sites such as the Cloak or beHidden can help you browse anonymously -- and those cheque-signing morons upstairs won't suspecting a thing. They work by acting as a proxy, or middle man. You tell them what sites you want to visit, they download the info, process it, encrypt it, then send it back to your PC anonymously. Titles of pages are hidden, as is all the traffic, so you're well-protected from monitoring tools. Just remember to use the virtual keyboard to input the Web address -- so as to avoid those pesky keyloggers -- and you're in business.
Free at beHidden.com
Paranoia scale: 3 tinfoil hats out of 5

Hide and monitor your emails
Some emails should never be sent from your work address. That's why webmail was invented. Unfortunately your employers can gain access to this too, if they try hard enough. So it's always a good idea to secure your private mail by using something such as Readnotify. This clever online app lets you view when, by whom and where your email was opened -- thus enabling you to see if it was intercepted by 'The Man'. It'll also tell you how long the message was read for, how many times it has been opened, and whether it's been forwarded to another address or opened on a different computer. It'll even have your messages self-destruct after a certain amount of time -- just like in Mission: Impossible.
Free at Readnotify.com
Paranoia scale: 2 tinfoil hats out of 5