In the last post, I demonstrated how anyone who knows your IP address can track your torrent downloads without your permission. If you are concerned about your privacy on the internet, the first and most important step to take is to mask your IP address. (Or stop whatever you are doing on the internet that makes you feel insecure -most things shouldn't. But then again, if you wanted to do that instead, you wouldn't be reading this.) Accessing blocked content is another bonus of masking your IP address.
If you don't know what an IP is, it is an address used to identify your device in a network, and is required for normal communication on the internet. It will be a set of numbers, like "127.0.0.1". IP addresses are not unique to a device, but rather unique to a router. This means that all devices connected to your home WiFi will have the same IP address, but if you connect your laptop to your neighbor's WiFi, it will have a different IP address.
If you are a user of wireless mobile data, you should be assigned a random IP address by your carrier each time you connect to the internet, most of the time, effectively eliminating the chances of someone tracking your activities via IP. If you don't use mobile data, or want your IP address to make it seem like you are in another region or another continent altogether, read on.
This is perhaps the quickest and easiest method to mask your IP. A proxy is an intermediate server, and when you use a proxy service, all your internet usage is redirected through a proxy server. So all the sites you visit can only see the IP address of the proxy server assigned to you, while your real IP remains anonymous. There are hundreds of free proxy sites on the internet -although several of these can contain malicious content. Hence, as with all things on the internet, use these at your own risk.
www.dreamytricks.net/free-proxy-sites-server-list/ is a very useful and up-to-date list of some of the top online proxy services available today, the majority of them being completely free to use.
Here I am using www.4everproxy.com , although all sites in that list should work in a similar way.
All you have to do is enter the website you wish to access anonymously in the box on the bottom, and hit "Go to site".
Here I have opened YouTube via 4everproxy. The bar at the top can be used to navigate to more websites as well. I find that my usual "trending in India" (Since I'm from India) section has been replaced with videos trending in the U.S instead, since the proxy server is located in the US. And just like that, I am able to become anonymous on the internet.
If the above section did not satisfy the Edward Snowden-inspired "Big brother is watching" enthusiast in you, then look no further than Virtual Private Networks, a.k.a VPNs. Fundamentally these are 'advanced' proxy systems, that offer antivirus filtering and high level encryption to every action you make on the internet while not keeping any logs of your usage anywhere. And when I say all actions on the internet, I do mean all actions, unlike proxies which only work within your browser.
This super-secure layer on anonymity comes at a price however, as most reputed VPN services on the internet require a paid subscription to use. PCmag has a very good list here. But it's not all dark for those hoping for free VPNs, as a few of these does exist, albeit lacking many of the features of paid VPNs.
A popular example of a free VPN is CyberGhost, which gives you several options (Some of them require purchasing the premium version, however.) and allows you to choose the country through which your traffic will be redirected. It doesn't have fancy features like ad-blocking and firewalls, but it does offer a high level of encryption, enough to make anyone feel secure.
It is worth noting that using either proxies or VPNs will make your internet connection a bit slower, as all of your traffic has to be redirected through a server on a completely different part of the world.
So, there you have it folks. The only guide you need to stay in shadows when browsing the internet. Remember there is no such thing has complete anonymity online, but unless you did something to incur the wrath of the FBI or deadly hacking organisations, these should serve your purpose just fine.
If you don't know what an IP is, it is an address used to identify your device in a network, and is required for normal communication on the internet. It will be a set of numbers, like "127.0.0.1". IP addresses are not unique to a device, but rather unique to a router. This means that all devices connected to your home WiFi will have the same IP address, but if you connect your laptop to your neighbor's WiFi, it will have a different IP address.
If you are a user of wireless mobile data, you should be assigned a random IP address by your carrier each time you connect to the internet, most of the time, effectively eliminating the chances of someone tracking your activities via IP. If you don't use mobile data, or want your IP address to make it seem like you are in another region or another continent altogether, read on.
1.Use a proxy
This is perhaps the quickest and easiest method to mask your IP. A proxy is an intermediate server, and when you use a proxy service, all your internet usage is redirected through a proxy server. So all the sites you visit can only see the IP address of the proxy server assigned to you, while your real IP remains anonymous. There are hundreds of free proxy sites on the internet -although several of these can contain malicious content. Hence, as with all things on the internet, use these at your own risk.
www.dreamytricks.net/free-proxy-sites-server-list/ is a very useful and up-to-date list of some of the top online proxy services available today, the majority of them being completely free to use.
Here I am using www.4everproxy.com , although all sites in that list should work in a similar way.
All you have to do is enter the website you wish to access anonymously in the box on the bottom, and hit "Go to site".
Here I have opened YouTube via 4everproxy. The bar at the top can be used to navigate to more websites as well. I find that my usual "trending in India" (Since I'm from India) section has been replaced with videos trending in the U.S instead, since the proxy server is located in the US. And just like that, I am able to become anonymous on the internet.
2.Use a VPN
If the above section did not satisfy the Edward Snowden-inspired "Big brother is watching" enthusiast in you, then look no further than Virtual Private Networks, a.k.a VPNs. Fundamentally these are 'advanced' proxy systems, that offer antivirus filtering and high level encryption to every action you make on the internet while not keeping any logs of your usage anywhere. And when I say all actions on the internet, I do mean all actions, unlike proxies which only work within your browser.
This super-secure layer on anonymity comes at a price however, as most reputed VPN services on the internet require a paid subscription to use. PCmag has a very good list here. But it's not all dark for those hoping for free VPNs, as a few of these does exist, albeit lacking many of the features of paid VPNs.
A popular example of a free VPN is CyberGhost, which gives you several options (Some of them require purchasing the premium version, however.) and allows you to choose the country through which your traffic will be redirected. It doesn't have fancy features like ad-blocking and firewalls, but it does offer a high level of encryption, enough to make anyone feel secure.
It is worth noting that using either proxies or VPNs will make your internet connection a bit slower, as all of your traffic has to be redirected through a server on a completely different part of the world.
So, there you have it folks. The only guide you need to stay in shadows when browsing the internet. Remember there is no such thing has complete anonymity online, but unless you did something to incur the wrath of the FBI or deadly hacking organisations, these should serve your purpose just fine.
