This article is part of a series:
- Anonymous Surfing 101: What is Anonymous Web Surfing?
- How Does Anonymous Surfing Work: Anonymous Servers
- More Ways to Surf Anonymously: Free Anonymous Proxy Sites and Services
Are you concerned about privacy on the Web? Then anonymous surfing, the ability to surf the Web without being tracked, is for you. Here are some frequently asked questions about anonymous Web surfing:
Anonymous surfing: why?
People have many reason for wanting to surf the Web anonymously, but they all boil down to the need to protect something or someone.For instance, if you are in a country that has restrictive Web policies, you probably want to hide your browsing habits from the government if you are looking at sites that are contrary to their policies. If you are at work, you might not want your employer to see that you've been looking for another job. If you are at home searching for prescription drug information, you probably don't want spam emails sent to you offering the latest in drug advancements. It's all about privacy.
Anonymous Surfing: Who do you want to hide from?
Anonymous Web surfing can take two basic forms.Privacy from other people: You'd be surprised at how much information is available from your Web surfing habits.
For instance, by using simple "sniffers" (hacker tools), somebody who really wanted to could find out your IP address, cookies, what's in your browser cache, what kind of computer you're using...they could even connect to your hard drive and access your private files, including passwords and banking information. Check out Leader to see just how much information is easily gathered about your computer; you might be shocked.
Privacy from the Web: Say you're searching the Web for information on a drug to help with your arthritis. Your search keywords, IP address, time, etc. will probably be logged and tracked by the Web site that you land on.
Best case scenario is that you just start getting a lot of spammy emails in your inbox trying to sell you the new arthritis wonder drug.
Worst case scenario looks like this: your browsing information is sold to other drug Web site companies, you start getting telemarketing phone calls at dinner time (your phone number is easily accessible unless it is unlisted), you start getting junk mail at home, and lots more. Suffice it to say that there are a LOT of ways that unscrupulous companies can manipulate the information that you give them on the Web.
Anonymous Surfing and Your Information
I've mentioned the fact that Web sites and other people can sniff out information about you including your IP address; well, what exactly does that mean? What is an IP address and why would you want to hide it?Basically, your IP address is the signature address of your computer as it is connected to the Internet. The reasons you might want to hide your IP address are many, but here are the basics:
- Tracking: you can be found and tracked using your IP address very easily.
- Attacking: your IP address gives hackers an entryway into your computer.
