Whenever we surf the Internet, the question may arise as to whether or not our personal data is leaking. It is something that can happen at any time. Without realizing it, we may be exposing personal information simply by entering a website or using an application. Now, is the anonymity online? We will talk about it in this article. Let's explain some methods that you can use to improve privacy when browsing.

What trace do we leave when browsing

Every time you connect to the Internet you leave some kind of trace. Your computer, be it mobile, computer or any other, will connect to multiple servers on the network and will exchange information. Those data are going to leave a trail, a fingerprint. Sometimes that can be positive, but other times not so much.

A clear example is the IP address public with which we access the Internet. That information will be seen by the web pages to which we connect. They will know where we are, what is our language, the type of device we use ... That will be exposed when entering a page, but also when using any social network or program with Internet access.

We can also leave a trace of our interests and tastes. Surely on some occasion you have looked for a product, such as buying a new mobile, and from that moment on related advertising begins to come out. This is so due to cookies, which are basically small files with information that will record searches that we do, pages that we visit, etc.

The super cookies they are in charge of storing very varied data on navigation, habits, tastes and other types of data. Sometimes they share it between companies to learn more about their customers, their movements, and how they can make a profit. This, as you can see, can also compromise your privacy and that certain data may pass from owners.

This is not always a bad thing. A clear example of when it is positive is being able to put things like weather on Google or any search engine and show us where we are. In this way, searches will be better adapted to our location. Therefore, the fact that other websites know more about you or record certain data can be beneficial for the browsing experience.

But of course, those personal data, that information that can leak, They could also end up in the wrong hands. Those data could be controlled by hackers, end up on the Dark Web, or used to sell them to third parties and profit from them without us noticing.

Can we be anonymous on the Internet?

We can answer this question with a yes and a no. In other words, it is possible to have more privacy on the Internet and become anonymous, but not 100%. Keep in mind that we can always leave some trace. There may always be some small detail that is recorded. Think, for example, of anonymous hacker groups that are often discovered despite taking all possible measures.

The communications they can always be tracked. Perhaps the website you are visiting does not know who you are or where you are, but the operator you use, the VPN you connect from, etc. can come to know. Even if you try to optimize all of this to hide data, there can always be a link in the chain that breaks.

Therefore, we can say that in the anonymity of the Internet 100% does not exist. There are always methods by which they can track a user, analyze their movements, connections, devices that use… We have even seen computer attacks targeting government presidents and senior security officials. Always, in one way or another, a person can put their privacy on the net at risk.

But this does not mean that we cannot do anything to at least get closer to that 100% anonymity. Of course we will be able to take into account some recommendations to limit that trace that we leave on the Internet

How to maintain privacy

Let's talk about what methods we can take into account to keep privacy on Internet. The goal is to hide information such as IP address or location. This you will be able to achieve with certain programs that you can install both on the computer and on mobile devices.

Use VPN

The first option is to use a VPN. It is the best application to be able to hide the IP address and the actual location. It is also very useful to be able to access content that may be geographically restricted. In addition, it helps improve security when we connect to public networks that can be dangerous.

What this type of program does is encrypt connection. Everything we send will travel in a kind of tunnel, so it will not be exposed in case there is a leak. A potential intermediary will not know where you are or what type of data you are sending when opening a web page or logging in.

You will find both free and paid options. However, the latter are the ones with the most guarantees and with which you will have the least problems. You can use options like ExpressVPN or NordVPN, which work very well. It is important that you look at the security options it has, where the servers are or how many it has to connect to.

Proxy

One option with which you can also gain anonymity on the Internet is to navigate through proxy servers. They partly act like a VPN, as they are going to be a intermediary between our device and the server we are going to reach, which can be, for example, a web page or an application that we use.

Here you will also find a lot of options available, but not all of them will work well or be legit. Therefore, it is advisable to always inform yourself before connecting to any of the options. Of course, you should bear in mind that navigation is usually much slower than if we compare it with a VPN.

Tor browser

A third option to navigate the Internet with greater privacy and anonymity is to use the Tor browser. It is a program based on Mozilla Firefox that works through nodes. This means that when we start a connection it goes through multiple nodes before reaching the destination. In this way our IP address or personal data is hidden and we do not expose anything.

This browser is used to access the Deep Web. It is available for both desktop operating systems and mobile devices. It is free and is one more option to VPNs or proxy servers. You can hide your data without major problems. Of course, once again the speed of the Internet is going to slow down a lot.

In short, as you have been able to see 100% anonymity on the Internet, it is not easy and you can always leave some kind of trace. However, you are going to be able to use some of the options we have shown to hide certain information and make it harder for someone to find out data about you when browsing.