Private Eyes

By The Editors
August 20, 2012 9:00 am
Private Eyes
Picasa

Between Google sharing all the sites you surf, and Facebook revealing that you fanned “I will name my son Batman if this page gets 500,000 likes,” there’s just no privacy these days. You could opt out of technology altogether, or you could use the services below, each guaranteed to keep your personal life off the public web.

Burner

From a former Yahoo biz dev-turned-privacy advocate, Burner provides temporary alias phone numbers for your iPhone, allowing you to operate under multiple aliases and screen out unwanted correspondence. It’s extremely helpful for weekend business trips, awkward dates and, ingeniously, home-grown sting operations. The app is $2 for one number and 20 minutes of talk, with more credits and numbers available for additional $$$.

When you’re done, the company simply “burns” your number, wiping away any trail of your existence — but perhaps not your sense of shame. Use wisely.

Hideman

For online covert ops, the Hideman app disguises your smartphone’s IP address with an IP address from another country, thus allowing you to bypass country-specific restrictions. Perfect for web use in the more oppressive lands, and lets you stream otherwise restricted media (want to stream BBC? Pick an IP address from England).

Hideman’s free for five hours per week ($69 for an unlimited year)…plenty of time to catch up on all those “Mr. Bean” episodes you don’t want anyone to know you’re watching.

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