Being anonymous on the Internet is something everyone is curious about. So is this possible? We told you the details you need to know.
You may have witnessed that the desire to be anonymous on the Internet is associated with illegal activities. Those with superficial knowledge of the subject, for example, may treat you as if you are doing something criminal when they see you are using a VPN.
It is debatable how legal it is if you want anonymity, that is, privacy, to hang out in environments such as the Dark Web. However, it would be highly illogical to simplify the concept of being anonymous. You may want to be confident about most imaginable issues, from the search engines collecting information about you to the programs you have installed on your computer.
At this point, we have listed a few tips that will be useful to you.
Which of our information is open on the internet?
Every machine that can connect to the Internet has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address. These IP addresses are divided into Dynamic and Static. While the dynamic IP varies, that is, it is renewed periodically; Static IP, on the other hand, remains constant. It is your ISP (Internet Service Provider) that gives you the Internet Protocol address.
IP addresses can be country, region, city, etc. Since it is assigned based on location containing information, it is possible for someone who knows your IP to see at least the city you live in. However, not everyone can find the exact address from your IP address to the street number of your house. This is only possible by legally applying to your ISP and getting results in favor of the applicant.
There is no personal information about you directly in your IP address. However, your Internet Service Provider does not include your home address, phone number, name, etc. may link your IP address with your information. This means that, theoretically, your personal data can be accessed through your IP address.
Cookies aren’t that innocent
You must have heard of the concept of Cookies. Thanks to cookies, which we can define as small byte-sized text files saved on your browser by a website, third-party persons/institutions can track you. Most details about you, from your login information to your online shopping preferences, to the names of your files, are stored in cookies.
being anonymous on the internet
Cookies and IP addresses alone do not reveal you. However, a hacker who collects information about you will learn about your daily habits thanks to the cookie data. For example, when he learns that you are constantly ordering food from a pastry shop in Sarıyer, it will not be difficult for him to guess that you live in or around Sarıyer, although he cannot find your exact address.
So, is it possible to be anonymous on the internet?
No, it is not possible to be anonymous on the Internet with 100 percent privacy. You hide yourself very well, you can prevent your activities from being hijacked by hackers. However, if the state forces are obsessed with you, they can detect all kinds of your identity and location. There are of course a few ways to hide it, even if it doesn’t make it fully anonymous.
Regularly clean your browser and the files it leaves
Information such as history, password, cookies stored in your browser is dangerous for a person who wants to be anonymous on the internet. Regularly go to the history section of your browser and clear all information such as cache files, site data, autofill. Apart from that, it is useful to delete the program folder where the scanner is installed, just in case.
If you don’t want to deal with cleaning it every time, you can use an incognito tab. The incognito tab does not record the activities you do in the browser. Of course, it is useful to remember that it does not provide 100 percent anonymity. Note that your Internet Service Provider can track you even if the incognito tab is open.
Do not register on every site with your personal e-mail
Almost all of the sites we visit to download a program or watch a video require a subscription. It doesn’t make much sense to enter the same e-mail address and password on every platform that comes in front of you. If you are going to open a membership on the relevant site for a short time, you can benefit from disposable temporary mail services.
Of course, do not share the password you use in your personal social media accounts such as Instagram and Facebook with temporary mail services. Otherwise, your social media profiles will be endangered when the memberships you create with temporary e-mails fall into the hands of hackers. For security purposes, do not give out any information about yourself.
Change your IP address
Since your IP address is a unique identifier for you, you can maintain some anonymity when you change it. Thanks to Virtual Private Network (VPN) systems, when you connect yourself to a server in a different country, your IP address will change. F
but here is a very important detail you need to know;
- VPN software also ultimately connects you to an IP number. In one way or another, you leave traces while surfing the Internet. Also, most VPN apps claim to keep no logs, but most (especially free ones) aren’t right about it. Do not entrust your internet traffic to other hands for the sake of being anonymous.
- Do not install every VPN application that comes your way. Because the IP address assigned to you by the application may be technically followed by the police of a state. In this case, you may unwittingly give your head a headache. If you are going to use a VPN, at least it makes more sense to choose paid and well-known services.
Changing the proxy server of the device you are connecting to the internet also gives you some anonymity.
Since the proxy assigned by the ISP will not matter, you will not leave a trace. However, there is still a question mark in the head: What if I am followed through the proxy server I have specified? This danger will come after you no matter what you do. Even if you provide anonymity at some point, you will definitely give a small deficit. Therefore, it is not possible to be completely anonymous on the Internet.
