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Your abuser may be watching your internet use.

Internet & Computer Safety *

  • Computers create records in hundreds of ways of everything you do on the computer and on the Internet. They can provide a lot of private information about what you look at on the Internet, the emails you send, and other activities. It is not possible to delete or clear all computer "footprints" or history.
  • If you are in danger, please try to use a safer computer where someone abusive does not have direct access, or even remote (hacking) access. Safer computer access may be at the Putnam County Library, a community technology center (CTC) www.ctcnet.org (national directory), at a friend's house, or at an Internet CafĂ©.
  • There are many ways to monitor computer usage. If you think your activities are being monitored, you are probably right. Abusive people are often controlling and want to know your every move. You don't need to be a computer expert or have special skills to monitor someone's computer activities - anyone can do it.
  • If you think you may be monitored on your home computer, you might consider no home Internet use or "safer" Internet surfing.

Example: If you are planning to flee to another city, don't look at classified ads for jobs and apartments, or bus tickets for that area on a home computer or any computer an abuser has physical or remote access to. Use a safer computer to research an escape plan.

There are steps you can take to limit the risk of exposing your internet activity.  Web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and most others, have privacy settings that you can change which will cause all of your interent activity to be deleted when you close your browser.These are typically under the preferences or options tab located on the browser tool bar. You want to go to privacy and look for setting related to browser "cache" or internet history. Make sure to set your browser to delete all of the following every time you close the browser.
  • Cache
  • Cookies
  • Browsing History
  • Saved Form Data
  • Passwords

Be aware that this will not actually "wipe clean" all traces of your activity. If you are not confident in your computer abilities, it is still best to use a compter that your abuser does not have access to.  If you have some confidence you can download a free program that will wipe your empty disk space or delete individual files so completely that the NSA would have a problem recovering the. One good program for this is called Eraser and it can be downloaded free.

* Important Note:  We provide the above information as a pubic service but security is up to you and we cannot assume liabiality for your use of our advice or for the use of any software tools we may suggest. The best advice is always to use a computer other than one at your home. Only you can make that decision.