Anonymous Surfing Page

Details About Anonymous Surfing

anonymous surfing imageIn 1993, Paul Steiner penned a memorable cartoon in the New Yorker Magazine titled "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." Even today, many people take for granted that anonymous surfing is provided by default, be it via a cable modem, AOL or on the office network. No real names, no real information is disclosed - everything is anonymous web surfing, right?

Unfortunately, nothing can be farther from the truth - the days of anonymous surfing on unmodified computers is gone. There is money to be made in tracking and uncovering your online actions - whether illegal or not. Anonymous email accounts still can be tracked back to a single computer if you do not have an anonymous IP address, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can be issued a subpoena to release logs disclosing your not so anonymous browsing activities.

A common misconception is that anonymous surfing is only for those with "bad online intentions" (yes, I heard it described this way). Keeping your activities private from commercial and / or malicious exploitation is hardly subversive behavior, and protecting yourself against such online activities is nothing more than practicing common sense.

So, how do you practice anonymous surfing and protect yourself online? Depends on your situation. If you only use one computer, installing a anonymous proxy solution to support your anonymous web surfing needs is fairly straightforward. A home computer on a home connection is the easiest to address: solutions from companies like Anonymizer and Tenebrils GhostSurf will most likely meet your needs. I'd suggest you take a look at the anonymous surfing tip page for more details behind these solutions.

If you plan on accessing personal information on different computers (your office computer, perhaps?) you need to understand that by default all online activities are logged and that anonymous surfing many not be possible. Using free anonymous surfing services may be your best bet to keep your web browsing private, but whatever anonymous web surfing solution your select make sure you fully understand what protection is offered - a false sense of security is worse than no security at all.

Portable computers add additional complexity to the mix, especially ones equipped with wireless lans (pretty much every new one today). Coffee shop, hotspot, airport and office park access points can provide connectivity, but also provide another path to compromise your privacy. To truly have anonymous surfing, you need to make sure that your online activities - be it instant messaging, anonymous email, or web browsing - are not logged without your consent. Using tools like anonymous proxy services that support an anonymous IP address and encrypted connections, you'll be ahead of the game in protecting your privacy online.

Browse the links to the left to get additional information on each topic. Below are a few anonymous surfing articles I've found on the web. Happy anonymous surfing!

Anonymous Surfing News

PC Magazine: Anonymous Browsing
Full text of the article; 'Anonymous Browsing' from PC Magazine; a publication in the field of Computers & Technology; is provided free of charge by LookSmart's FindArticles service. ... traffic to watch where you go. Anonymous browsing tools and services pass your requests through ... intrusive than Anonymizer's; and switching anonymous browsing on and off isn't as ...

Under the radar: anonymous surfing: are you really invisible?
Would you be embarrassed (or worse) if Websites could personally identify you as a visitor? Well; they can if they have the muscle to subpoena your Internet service provider (ISP). Most people assume...

Anonymous Surfing from Anonymizer Now Available Through Protocall Technologies' On-Demand Retail System
COMMACK; N.Y. -- Protocall Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: PCLI) announced today that Anonymous Surfing; an online identity protection program from Anonymizer(R); ...