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Cyber Privacy and Security Goals of My Computer Cop©

We seek to keep your computer, your kids and your online privacy safe from unwanted prying and from invaders who force undesirable content into your computer. My Computer Cop© employs Fair Information Practices and genuine Privacy Enhancing Techniques that minimize or eliminate the collection of personally identifiable information by blocking sites we know misbehave.

Consumers face a wide range of online privacy problems. The Internet Protocol (IP) used to transmit web pages creates a cyber privacy risk that is not imposed by your web browser but in the transmission of web pages through the protocol. It's an open flow of data that can be exploited by unfair information collection practices or even very malicious practices. When a browser requests a page from a server, the browser's IP address is transmitted as the return address to which the requested information is to be sent. There are even some servers that then do a 'NetBios' query to match the physical "MAC" address of the network interface card plugged into your computer. That's a whole other nasty topic.

Something called the "referrer" header identifies the URL (Universal Resource Locator) of the page that caused the current page to be requested. This can happen when you click on a link. It can also happen when a banner graphic is included in a page. You don't have to click anything or do anything. Zap! It's on your computer because it is drilled into the page you navigated to. (An intriguing case of breach of privacy is where a banner ad is served on a page returned by a search engine.) This so called advertisement might be acceptable as providing transient information only, were it not for another device that allows long and potentially revealing records to be assembled. That device has the sweet sounding name of "cookies." Sure. Cookies that spy on you. (Not all cookies are bad. Some legitimate site navigation cookies are OK -- they do actualy facilitate better site navigation, particularly where more than one server, or server cluster, is handling your requests -- while most third-party cookies are not OK.)

Some browser producers give users a measure of control over cookies, assuming the user is aware of them and knowledgeable enough to exercise the choices provided. Still, these measures are confusing and impractical and fall short of what cyber privacy advocates have asked for.

My Computer Cop© software provides your computer with a list of internet places we know of that use unfair practices or worse; places you don't want to go based on current 'Fair Information Practices' and other strict privacy and content standards. You won't be too surprised to learn our research has revealed that the more extreme pornographic sites horridly violate privacy; and extensively abuse the utility of "cookies".

That is addressed by a key feature of My Computer Cop©. Because our software blocks the nastiest of surreptitious tracking sites, it also blocks the worst smut sites. The two often go hand in hand. Not always, but often.

We are forever re-compiling our database of 'undesirables' and welcome your input. Our privacy enforcement software tells your computer that no matter what web site or code snippet is controlling your browser and directing it to go to a bad place, the computer will override the browser and not let it fetch the unwanted privacy violating content. As new web site addresses are created by prowlers and invaders who care nothing about your rights to privacy, we will be adding them to our MyComputerCop privacy enforcement database.