EVERY other 'nice' person you meet on the Internet may be a looney. Okay, I exaggerate.

But the truth is that there are many surfers out there who might be your closest confidante in a chatroom one day, and rat on you the next.

In fact, your instant messaging records can be stored locally and read by Mum and Dad, or accessed and disclosed by the service provider when it deems fit.

In the United States, the government has subpoenaed major search engines, including Google, Yahoo and MSN, for lists of search queries.

Here's how to keep private information locked away.

Surfing the Web

WHENEVER you visit a website, it logs the unique IP address of your computer, which can be used to trace you. Using a proxy server allows you to connect indirectly and hides your IP address. Unfortunately, a Web-based proxy service, such as proxify.com, is convenient but slow.

Alternatively, you can configure Internet Explorer to use a proxy server automatically. Go to the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the LAN Settings button under the Connections tab.

Under Proxy server, click the 'Use a proxy server for your LAN' check box, and enter the address and port of the proxy server you wish to use. A list of anonymous proxy servers can be found on publicproxyservers.com.

Also configure the privacy settings of your browser under the Privacy tab in the Internet Options window. For maximum protection, set it at the maximum level - 'Block all cookies'.

Cookies store information from your visit to a website, including what you did on the site and any personal information you gave.

Lastly, be careful of what you search for: When AOL published 650,000 users' search histories on its website in 2006, the New York Times was able to connect the logs of user No. 4417749 to 62-year-old Thelma Arnold. To prevent this, refrain from entering information in your search terms that can be used to identify you.

For example, vainpots should restrain from Googling their own names. In the case of Ms Arnold, searches ranging from 'numb fingers' to '60 single men' to 'dog that urinates on everything', led the New York Times to her.

Sending e-mail

SKIP the mainstream e-mail providers such as Google Mail and Hotmail if you want to store confidential e-mail messages: Look at specialised service providers such as Hushmail (hushmail.com) and Safe-mail (safe-mail.net) instead, which boast encrypted mail systems. This means that your messages will appear as gibberish if they are intercepted.

However, you should take their claims of perfect privacy with a pinch of salt: Hushmail turned over its e-mail archives to US authorities looking for illegal steroid distributors last year. My advice is to leave the really sensitive information to in-person meetings.

Talking on instant messengers

AGAIN, this is by no means the most secure means of communication. Your messages are not encrypted and must pass through another server before they reach the other party, making them an easy target for someone to monitor.

Privacy policies differ among providers. AOL's indicates that the 'contents of your online communications, as well as other information about you as an AOL Network user, may be accessed and disclosed' at its discretion.

To combat this, you might encrypt your messages in AOL Instant Messenger so that only your chat buddy can decipher and read what you write. Or, download and use IM clients such as Trillian (ceruleanstudios.com), which support encrypted messages.

What may be worse than having a service provider sift through your messages is having your parents read them.

Make sure that your message logs are not stored locally: In MSN Messenger, go to the Tools menu, and click Options. Under the Messages tab, uncheck the box that says 'Automatically keep a history of my conversations'.

While you're there, you can also configure your privacy and security settings under their respective tabs.

To stop Yahoo Messenger from storing your chat histories in your computer, go to the Messenger menu, then Preferences, and Archive. Change your archiving preferences. Also click the 'Clear Archive Now' button to purge any previously stored conversations.

Yee Hung is a student studying in England. This article was first published by The Straits Times on Mar 25, 2008.

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