Privacy pointers, 12/27/99

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

If the server does not wish to make this information available to the client, the status code 403 (Forbidden) can be used instead. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address.

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

Privacy pointers

Employees may not have any privacy rights when it comes to online communications at work, but they can do a few things to draw the blinds a little against prying eyes.

"Protections for employees are pretty limited," says Ari Schwartz, policy analyst for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit group that focuses on online civil liberties issues, privacy and free speech. "We are fighting for employees to gain rights in the workplace. . . . We recommend that people think about what they're doing."

Industry analysts agree the only way to ensure that the boss' prying eyes aren't snooping over your personal e-mails, résumé file or favorite Web site is to keep all of that on your own computer, with your own service at home. If you're doing it at work, more likely than not they'll be able to find it if they're looking hard enough. Schwartz offers a few tips to ward off the less vigilant trackers:

Get your own Web mail account for personal e-mails. They can still be read in transit but encrypt them for an added layer of safety.
Empty your cache frequently.
Clean out your history log. Your Web surfing can still be tracked from the system end, but you don't have to offer up a road map.
Tell friends and family - and especially prospective employers - not to leave personal messages on your voicemail. The boss can listen to them just as easily as you can.
Send out résumés from a friend's computer - outside your own company - or from a completely separate home account.
If you're concerned about remaining unknown, send your e-mail through one of the anonymous services, such as the Global Internet Liberty Campaign's W3 Anonymous Remailer, Ghost Mail or Hushmail, which offers encryption-based privacy features. Don't think the FBI couldn't still track you down, though, but it should be enough to keep most other prying eyes at bay.
Still, the safest advice is if you're concerned about what's in your e-mails, what Web sites you're calling up or that your boss might not approve, don't even test the waters.

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