Should your ISP be monitoring your connection? According to this story, that’s what’s starting to happen in Australia, where the government has mandated that computers spewing spam or malware must be shut off from the Internet. And the only way to do that is for your ISP to invest in some pretty heavy-duty gear to peer into every packet their customers send and receive, in order to ensure that there’s nothing nasty lurking inside.
The pluses are that it helps make for a safer Internet. The downside is that your ISP is spending more money that it’ll have to recoup somehow — guess how — and that it’s looking at your data. Right now, it’s only interested in malware – but what happens if government policy changes?
You can hear the conversation now: “Well Mr ISP, you already have the mechanism to look at everyone’s data, how much harder can it be to check for dissidents, or those with a criminal record?” The answer will be: not very. And that’s the top of a very slippery slope.
So it’s a choice: be secure or be private – you can’t have both. The best protection we can all have is the protection we ourselves provide, so that the government does not feel the need to step in with legislation. It’s illegal for them to look into your mail or listen into your phone calls, so why should your email not be subject to the same privacy?
Keep AV free!
Free anti-virus is here to stay – and it works. As someone who’s been using free AV tools for over 10 years and never had a problem, I can testify to that. And about one in four UK PC users uses Avast to protect themselves, with about 42 percent using free AV software worldwide, according to security experts at OPSWAT.
So how does it work? Companies such as Avast give away free AV software in the hope that you and I will find it so compelling that we need to upgrade to a paid-for version. Many do. Those who don’t get exactly the same level of protection but don’t get added features, such as a firewall, anti-spyware and other security measures. If you’re covered already, that’s fine.
And long may it continue.
