How (and why) to surf the web in secret

[nsane.forums]

They say no one can hear you scream in space, but if you so much as whisper on the Web, you can be tracked by a dozen different organizations and recorded for posterity. Simply visiting a website can allow its operators to figure out your general physical location, identify details about your device information, and install advertising cookies that can track your movements around the web. (Don't believe me? Check this out.)

Not everyone likes the idea of having his or her entire digital lives scraped, analyzed and (in countries with restrictive regimes) controlled outright by third parties. So please consider the following tools and tips, which will hide your IP address and have you surfing the web in blissful anonymity in no time.

Knowing is half the battle

There are a few crucial tidbits you should know before you start down the path to online anonymity. First, it's important to know how anonymizing proxies work so you can understand their inherent flaws. Anonymizers act as a man in the middle while you're browsing the web, handling communications between your PC and the website you want to access anonymously. If you do everything correctly, the target website only sees information from the anonymizing service, so it can't identify your home IP address or other personal information.

While the websites that you're browsing won't have any idea who you are, the man-in-the-middle anonymizing services certainly will (and some proxy services keep server logs of user activity that can be subpoenaed). For these reasons, it's important to do your research before you pick a proxy service.

Furthermore, websites can access data stored by browser plugins to try and track down your actual IP address. Media-playing plugins such as Flash are notorious for passing along more user data than is necessary, so stick to a plugin-free browsing experience if you're concerned about third-party programs sharing information about you or your PC.

Speaking of browsers, you might want to set aside a second browser on your PC that you use solely for your anonymous activities. Most anonymizer services still allow websites to place cookies on your computer by default, and if you use the same browser for both everyday activities and the browsing you want to keep anonymous, websites could theoretically use those cookies to identify you.

To avoid this, download a second web browser (Chrome and Firefox are great choices) and change your anonymous browser's settings to wipe cookies every time you close the browser. If you're worried about local users snooping on your Internet exploits, be sure to use your browser's Private or Incognito mode so anyone who opens your browser won't be able to check the history and see where you've been.

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[Pedrito]

I have nothing to hide! :hypocrite:

[Shadowx]

I have nothing to hide! :hypocrite:

Why , and why not cause you could be anyone

[Ambrocious]

I don't really have much to hide...but if given the choice between allowing some creepy guy to stand in my room and watch everything I do and NOT having that same guy in the room at all nor ever, I would have to say privacy is great. I realize that the spying on us overall not a good thing and what I said above was a metaphor of course.

For people who do not fear anything at all because they have nothing to hide, it is less about having nothing to hide and more about allowing people to exploit what you do online. It is like letting your neighbors watch you threw binoculars or as I said at first, letting some weird and creepy guy stand in the corner of your room with a note pad, writing down everything you do.

Privacy is comfort.

[Pedrito]

I honestly don't mind if a site keeps a log of my visits there, or if Google keeps track of what I search.

I do like privacy just like anyone else, but it's not like someone is spying me on my own house.

As for what I download it's a different story! :P

But only because some things I download might be piracy related... I don't share it with anyone, so according to my country's laws I'm not being a pirate!

Bottom line; People that worries so much about privacy are the ones who have more to hide.

And as long as they don't put cameras in my house or follow me on the streets I'm fine with that.

But this is me, of course we are all different in every way.

This is my opinion only, I do not mean to offend anyone. Especially my nsane mates! ^_^

[stylemessiah]

apart from using Better Privacy addon etc for Waterfox which wipes cookies on browser close, i run squidnt and modify headers at the proxy to give better anonymity and tracking protection, but thats just me :)

i also block ads via squidguard and also a regex list at the proxy, also via adblock plus in the browser for the few that the proxy measures dont get, so i also rarely see ads. It means advertising companies arent stealing my bandwidth especially as i live in a rural area (on the side of a mountain) with less than stellar mobile broadband reception.

[David]

I honestly don't mind if a site keeps a log of my visits there, or if Google keeps track of what I search.

I do like privacy just like anyone else, but it's not like someone is spying me on my own house.

As for what I download it's a different story! :P

But only because some things I download might be piracy related... I don't share it with anyone, so according to my country's laws I'm not being a pirate!

Bottom line; People that worries so much about privacy are the ones who have more to hide.

And as long as they don't put cameras in my house or follow me on the streets I'm fine with that.

But this is me, of course we are all different in every way.

This is my opinion only, I do not mean to offend anyone. Especially my nsane mates! ^_^

yaaarrr please dont still boats xD

[a2ms]

You think you have nothing to hide, but your personal data is more important that what you can imagine.

This article reminds me of this video

[Pedrito]

When I say I have nothing to hide I mean I don't anything I browse or download from the Internet!

Of course I like my privacy like anyone else, and I keep all my private data on a safe place.

I don't really mind if a site keeps tracks of me being there or saves cookies on my computer.

As long as my personal and private data is not compromised I really don't have anything to hide from anyone.

Like my real name, country, address etc... :P

Obviously if I know a site is spying on me without my knowledge or consent that's a different matter! :pos:

[David]

When I say I have nothing to hide I mean I don't anything I browse or download from the Internet!

Of course I like my privacy like anyone else, and I keep all my private data on a safe place.

I don't really mind if a site keeps tracks of me being there or saves cookies on my computer.

As long as my personal and private data is not compromised I really don't have anything to hide from anyone.

Like my real name, country, address etc... :P

Obviously if I know a site is spying on me without my knowledge or consent that's a different matter! :pos:

ganda pedro assim é que é... afinfa-lhes xD

Good one Pedro