How can you be 'snoop-proof' online?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Every button you push, every call you make is likely somehow being monitored by someone you don't know.

Your privacy in the cyber world has been hot talk since it was discovered the National Security Administration was secretly monitoring phone calls and text messages. It has many on high alert.

"The Internet really never forgets," computer expert Christopher Hamer said.

Hamer says be careful because anything you say or do may come back to haunt you. He says even if you delete a text message or online post, it can be stored in a database somewhere and never really goes away.

"So you kind of have to watch what you say, even though you think you're amongst friends," Hamer said. "The Internet is not your friend."

Before Hamer interviewed with Channel 4's Vic Micolucci for this story, he ran Vic's background on the Internet, finding out the names of his family members, pictures of them, their addresses and social life.

"You've got a couple of blogs, one of which you abandoned several years ago," Hamer said. "You like the new indie music scene with a little touch of jazz. I even found the photo bomb when you were doing the Florida-Georgia game. Somebody came up behind you while you were on air and made googly eyes. That's permanently on the Internet."

Some say it's frightening that so much information is so easy to get. As Americans grow more wary, there are some solutions.

Companies are developing programs that they say keep out snoopers -- even the government. For $120 a year, Silent Circle claims to keep your communications secret.

Hamer says that is an option, but you can also be old fashioned and limit what you say and what you post. It's an idea these two friends take to heart:

"I definitely don't go on the computer for private information," Danielle Cull said.

"Yeah, pen and paper or talk to me in my face," Nandi Waters said.