How to remain anonymous on the Internet: 5 ways

About anonymity on the web and ways to hide all data about yourself
When the Internet appeared, there were no questions about anonymity. Then everyone who was online turned into a virtual character, who had almost nothing to do with the real person sitting at the computer. To ensure complete anonymity on the web, it was enough just to use aliases instead of real data. That's what everyone did.

The only way to identify the user then was the IP address of the node from which he was accessing the network. But this information is often simply not enough to connect an Internet personality with a real one. Over time, services appeared that required real addresses – remember the same online stores. Gradually, people began to specify payment card numbers, so it became quite easy to identify an individual user – he gave all the information about himself.
How to ensure anonymity on the web: 5 ways that really work
But many people want to achieve anonymity on the Internet. This is absolutely normal: there is a secret of personal life and a secret of correspondence – you want to protect them. The bad news is that providers and Internet services are often willing to disregard the rights of their users in search of commercial profit. In addition, information can fall into the hands of intruders.

A logical question arises: how to maintain complete anonymity on the Internet? To begin with, let's figure out what is meant by this concept. Anonymity can be called a state when it is impossible to compare an action on the network and the individual who performed this action. In the opposite direction, this is also true: it is impossible to make a list of his actions on the network for a certain person.
No. 1. Encrypt traffic
All data that we send or receive from the Internet is transmitted in plain text by default. That is, an attacker, having received your network traffic, will be able to see all the data transmitted in it.

To avoid such a threat, many sites use cryptographic protocols to transfer data. The main protocol on the Internet is HTTP. Its encryption-enabled version is called HTTPS. Now HTTPS is the standard that allows you to protect the data transferred between the site and the user. It is used by almost all significant services and websites.

No. 2. Hide the IP address
The IP address is still the primary user ID on the network. Currently, access is provided only after identifying a person using a passport, so the provider will always be able to tell who exactly was working at the specified IP address at a certain point in time.

To hide the IP address, they mainly use a VPN tunnel, which, among other things, allows you to encrypt traffic and hide it from the Internet provider. However, you need to understand that if you use a VPN service, all your traffic will be available to its owners. It is worth choosing services with a proven reputation. You also need to be prepared for the fact that the VPN service is likely to be paid.

In addition to hiding the real IP address, some VPN services allow you to "release" your traffic from their servers in the country of the user's choice. Sometimes this can be useful: you can access portals blocked in your region.
No. 3. Delete cookies
When working with any sites, files are created on your computer in which the site stores information during and between sessions of working with them - cookies. They save user settings to simplify the work with the resource and improve many services. For example, in order not to enter a password every time, the site establishes an authorized session and stores its identifier in a cookie file. The lifetime of a cookie can be limited.

If you do not want the site to "recognize" you, you need to either delete its cookies through special browser plugins, or use the "Incognito" mode to log in.

No. 4. Be aware of third-party cookies
Unlike regular cookies, third-party cookies are created by sites that you are not currently on. These cookies are often set by "Like" buttons on Facebook (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in the territory of the Russian Federation) and similar services from Internet giants. These cookies can later be read by Facebook itself. The algorithm uses this information to show you targeted ads in the news feed.

To remain anonymous in terms of third-party cookies, you can use the "Incognito" mode in the browser or special plug-ins that block "Like" buttons and similar "bugs" on websites. But in the case of blocking, there are often problems with displaying content, since some of the useful functionality is blocked along with the tracking block.

No. 5. Protect yourself from the impression of the browser and the system
By default, sites have a very limited amount of information available about the user's end system, his computer. For example, the MAC address is unavailable - the unique (really unique) number of the user's network card. The serial number of the processor and much more are also unavailable.

However, some things are still available: the browser version and operating system, screen resolution, time zone, installed language and browser extensions, and similar little things. Do not underestimate this set of information – the vector made up of these parameters will be unique. This way, the site can remember your impression, and then compare it every time you log on to the site.

To protect yourself from this and ensure complete anonymity on the web, install special browser plug-ins that will give a randomly generated impression when requesting sites.

There is another method of deanonymization – behavioral analysis. It is rarely used, and the essence of the method is reduced to the analysis of mouse movements and the user's keyboard handwriting. Keyboard handwriting is how a person types text. Micropauses between different symbols are a unique value. The complexity of the method lies in the fact that each time you need to wait for typing or a sufficient amount of mouse movements to perform the analysis.

Conclusion
The problem of maintaining anonymity on the Internet is quite painful for society. The techniques used by Internet giants seem to be an invasion of privacy. I think the pressure on Internet companies in this area will only increase. However, they have something to lose: the advertising market is one of the main sources of income. As ordinary users, nothing prevents us from following simple rules in cases where we want to keep our actions secret from others.