privacy on the internet
Reclaim your right to remain private on the Internet!


What is Internet Privacy?
Internet privacy, also known as online privacy, is a fundamental human right. Simply put, it refers to the privacy that individuals are entitled to when providing, displaying, or storing information about themselves online.
Companies, governments and hackers have a strong interest in your personal information, which is why it is more important than ever to protect your privacy online. This can include either personally identifiable information or non-personal information about you. Without internet privacy, your online activities, browsing history, searches, communications and transactions, etc. can be collected and used by third parties without your permission. Stop this now and extend your privacy with PureVPN!
When did “privacy” on the Internet become a concern?
Think back a decade or so. Did you care about your personal information, the digital footprint you left behind, or who could see your social media posts? Probably not, although you may have done the same online.
However, privacy has become a major concern in recent years as internet users are increasingly spied on by governments, corporations, law enforcement agencies and cyber creeps for their own hidden interests. You can’t use the internet these days without your online activities being monitored and recorded by snoopers, which is why protecting your privacy is so important. Without internet privacy, your online activities, browsing history, searches, communications and transactions, etc. can be collected and used by third parties without your permission. Stop this now and extend your privacy with PureVPN!Story
Hotmail data breach
Hotmail users have been advised to change their passwords due to a data breach after Microsoft discovered the publication of usernames and passwords for more than 10,000 Windows Live Hotmail accounts on a third-party website. The incident was the result of a likely phishing attack that tricked Hotmail users into revealing their details.
Apple location tracking
Two security researchers found that an unencrypted file stored on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices retained users’ location data for 12 months. Jobs stressed that Apple was not tracking anyone and that this was due to a programming error. However, Microsoft and Google later also admitted to collecting location data.
User data breach by Google
Google has been fined $22.5 million after violating its 2011 privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The regulator has taken the search giant to court for ignoring Apple users’ settings in the Safari browser to allow them to collect information through cookies and target it with ads.
Yahoo! data breach
In 2016, Yahoo announced that it had been the victim of two major data breaches in 2013 and 2014. The first breach affected more than 500 million user accounts, while the second breach affected more than 1 billion user accounts. Yahoo later confirmed in 2017 that all 3 billion user accounts were affected, making it the largest data breach in history.
Anthem – Medical Data Breach
Anthem reported that a cyberattack exposed the personal information of up to 96.8 million current and former customers. A nationwide investigation determined that the data breach was perpetrated by a foreign government and occurred a year before its disclosure when a user of an Anthem subsidiary clicked on a phishing link in an email.
Weeping Angel der CIA
WikiLeaks revealed the Weeping Angel tool, which could spy on Samsung smart TVs and other internet-connected devices and pass the information on to the CIA. The exploit takes its name from the popular science fiction show Doctor Who, where the angels only move or attack when you look away.
Aadhaar (UIDAI)
Over 1 billion people suffered a massive data loss when Aadhaar, the Indian government portal for storing information of its residents and biometric information, experienced a leak. The breach gave anyone access to obtain information from the Aadhaar website. Data such as names, email addresses, phone numbers and photographs were exposed.
Verifications.io
The company’s CEO, Andrew Martin, stated that the four databases exposed compromised data of more than 2 billion people and affected 763 million users. In addition, 3 of the databases contained other user data such as credit scores, interest rates and personal mortgage amounts, as well as emails linked to their social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Common data protection problems on the Internet
Web Tracking
Cookie profiling and other tracking techniques are used by companies to collect information about your browsing habits and interests across multiple websites in order to show you advertisements that are relevant to you.
Spy
Some governments spy on their citizens to keep an eye on their online activities and speech. Thanks to the collaboration of surveillance technology and service providers, they can monitor everything from browsing history to banking transactions.
identity theft
In 2017 alone, 17 million people in the US fell victim to identity theft! By using a combination of malware, phishing and spyware, hackers can easily steal your personal information and engage in illegal activities.
Biggest Internet Data Protection Scandals

Cambridge Analytica
As many as 87 million Facebook users had their data exposed to Cambridge Analytica, the data analytics company that helped elect President Donald Trump. In response, Facebook came under intense scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers in the UK and US. The revelation also spurred the #DeleteFacebook movement, which led to many users deleting their accounts.

AOL Suchdaten Leak
In 2006, AOL released detailed search logs of 650,000 users for research purposes. While their identities remained hidden, the searches revealed private information that could be linked to an individual and used for identification. In fact, The New York Times managed to find an individual by cross-referencing the anonymized search records with phone book entries.
Internet privacy laws around the world
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The Data Retention Act, passed in 2015, requires all public telecommunications companies and internet service providers to retain both call details (including phone numbers, timestamps of phone calls and text messages, and the content of conversations and texts) and metadata such as IP addresses, port numbers, etc. for a period of 10 weeks.
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Currently, there are no laws in Canada requiring ISPs to log and retain customer data. They must obtain your consent before sharing your data with third parties. However, concerns are growing as the Canadian federal government and provincial governments continue their efforts to pass laws that could limit internet privacy.
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Australia’s Data Retention Act 2015 requires Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunications companies to monitor and record their customers’ email, phone and internet metadata for two years, making it easier for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access these records in the interests of national security.
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The Personal Data Protection Act was passed in 2016 and applies to both Turkish nationals (both domestic and abroad) and foreigners residing in the country. It allows the state to collect a wide range of very personal information, including visual data, social security numbers, ID information, voice recordings, and more. Turkey is also known for its notorious censorship laws!
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The Chinese government has used surveillance technology to track its 1.4 billion citizens. From facial recognition to names and good jaywalkers to downloading apps that can access videos and photos, China is becoming a terrible surveillance state. Tech companies are also required to monitor and log conversations over a six-month period.
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Russia’s new “Big Brother” data law, part of a controversial package of laws dubbed the “Yarovaya Law,” forces internet and mobile phone companies to log their customers’ chat activity, text messages and phone calls for at least six months and provide it to Russian intelligence services upon request.
How do you protect your privacy on the Internet?
With a global network of over 6,500 VPN servers in over 78 countries, PureVPN protects your online privacy by replacing your real IP address with one of over 300,000 shared IP addresses from around the world. All of your data is also protected with end-to-end AES 256-bit encryption to ensure no prying eyes are watching your activity online. What’s more, our unbreakable ozone layer is designed to keep you safe from threats at all times!