A buddy of mine called, needing a way to hide his IP address while Web surfing. I couldn't resist asking why. (You know I've always been a yenta.) It turns out he was doing business with a company overseas, needed to check up on them, and had to make sure they didn't know it was him.

Browse the Web Anonymously

The best bet is to use an anonymous proxy server, a server that acts as a buffer between you and the sites you visit. The proxy server hides your IP address; it also gives you some protection from the malicious vagaries of the Net. You can read through a fairly decent FAQ at Answers.com.

My buddy said he'd tried a handful of free proxy servers; there's a long list at the Russian Free Proxy site. He complained that each one slowed down his browsing to such an extent, he felt as if he was back on dial-up--that's the showstopper for most freebie proxy servers.

I suggested he try Anonymizer's Anonymous Surfing, which costs $30 for a one-year subscription. I use it occasionally and the surfing delay is barely noticeable. The other critical issue is that I'm comfortable knowing that, unlike with some of the freebies, I really am surfing anonymously.

Read more about anonymous Web surfing in "Outsmarting the Online Privacy Snoops." And read Andy Brandt's April Privacy Watch for more about why you might want to surf anonymously.

Dig This: This video has been floating around the Net for a week or so. Here's the text that accompanied it: "This tunnel in Russia is supposedly the longest in-city tunnel. A river runs over it and water leaks at some points. When the temperature reaches -38 degrees, like it did this winter, the road freezes and the result is the attached video taken during a single day with the tunnel camera."

Risky Business: Stealth Surfing at Work

Not long after I told my buddy about Anonymizer, I heard from another friend, an IT director for a fairly large company. It may not be such a good idea to surf anonymously at the office:

<blockquote>I recently had an employee, an MIS employee at that, fired. He was using Anonymizer at work. We have a tracking system (Web Inspector) and I kept noticing that he was leaving no tracks.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I consulted with my supervisor and he decided that I should analyze the employee's system. I found footprints, hacking, and a batch file he used to delete all Internet traces. So I sent the system off to forensics and they found all the bits, each and every one. We're now in legal limbo. The employee is being fired, not for the hacking or the batch file, but for using the Anonymizer.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Thought maybe you'd be interested in hearing about the dangers of using the Anonymizer in the workplace. They claim the Anonymizer hides your tracks at work--but I guess not all of them.<br/> <signature>--Name Withheld, Network and Computer Systems</signature> Administrator</blockquote>

I asked George Siegel, my network guru, what he thought. Here's what he said: "It's interesting to note how the user was initially discovered--by the absence of anything incriminating. Network professionals have logs showing just about everything that goes on and they look for any deviation from the norm. I can always tell who is up to no good... their computers are scrupulously clean."

Dig This: One of the comments on YouTube said, "This is Loic Jean-Albert and the clip is from Warren Miller's 'Journey' ski movie. I saw it on the big screen and it's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen."

Amazing? I think it's crazy.

CompactFlash on the Big Side

Kingston recently announced a honkin' 8GB CompactFlash Card. The company claims the Elite Pro memory card's read speeds are up to 8MB per second and write speeds up to 6.75 MB/sec.

On my last trip I set my digital camera to record at RAW+JPEG. I thought I was hot stuff with a 1GB CompactFlash card, but I was wrong--and quickly ran out of storage. So Kingston's recent announcement is appealing. The card's expensive, though. The best online deals I could find start at about $300.

But a reader had some good advice about file formats and memory cards (which I edited for space):

<blockquote>As a professional photographer I can tell you that you really don't need RAW files for most of what you are probably doing. Most people can't tell the difference between JPEG and TIFF, let alone RAW. For all but my most critical work, I use high-resolution JPEG and when I begin to retouch in Photoshop, I save as a TIFF (non-lossy) file. When I am happy with it, I'll convert back to JPEG. You can make prints from either TIFF or JPEG. Shoot RAW only if you are doing critical work and need to do extensive Photoshop adjustment.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I prefer to stick with several 1 or 2 gig cards. This way if one takes a dump on you not all is lost.<br/> <signature>--Joe, via e-mail</signature></blockquote>

Our Digital Focus writer, Dave Johnson, has lots to say about file formats:

• "File Format Refresher"
• "Shooting in RAW, Part 1"
• "Shooting in RAW, Part 2"

Dig This: Last year I was on vacation, sitting next to a lake, sipping a gin and tonic, and enjoying a good book. Then a jerk fired up his obnoxious jet ski and zipped around, wrecking the peace and ruining the day. What this idiot needed was a human-powered AquaSkipper.