How to Stay Perfectly Anonymous Online?

The Internet, social media, and smart digital devices created an all-new ‘online’ world. Everybody is using these facilities to talk to friends, send payments, read books, and more. 

However, all the platforms we use collect user data, such as user names, contacts, emails, banking details, preferences, and more. Later, this data can be sold to various organizations and individuals for marketing and some hidden purposes. 

The only solution is to become anonymous online so no organization or platform can identify you and store your data.  Read on and follow the strategies in this article to maintain your anonymity online.

Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It creates a secure tunnel between your device and the internet and encrypts all the traffic from the web browser and web pages.

While a VPN doesn’t guarantee anonymity, it prevents your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing what you’re browsing on your devices. Furthermore, it hides your IP address, browser history, and YouTube history.

Benefits of using a VPN:

• Protects your privacy by hiding your IP address.
• Encrypts your internet traffic, making it difficult for hackers to intercept your data.
• Bypass geo-restrictions to access content from different regions.

However, ensure you choose a reputable VPN provider. It is even better if it offers the feature to automatically change the location after a particular time for further security.

Use Tor

Stop using Chrome or a similar browser! Yes, you heard right. 

Google collects a lot of user data, and the same goes for other big tech companies like Microsoft. Instead of using their browsers, such as Chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc., you must use an encrypted browser to encrypt the IP address and web activities. 

One perfect example of an encrypted browser is The Onion Router (Tor). 

The Onion Router (Tor) is free software that uses a network of volunteer-operator servers to encrypt your IP address and web activity three times. This makes it difficult to trace your online activities, so you can browse the internet anonymously—but not fully. 

To use Tor, all you need to do is to download and install it. When you open it, your internet traffic will automatically be routed through the Tor network to keep you anonymous.

Only Post Fake PPI Details Online

While it is fun to put your life online, DO NOT use/share your private personal information (PPI), as it can be stolen or shared. 

Private Personal information (PPI) includes: 

Direct identifiers—Name, Social Security number, passport number, driver’s license number, taxpayer identification number, patient identification number, and financial account or credit card number 

Indirect identifiers—Gender, race, birth date, geographic indicator, uncommon ethnicity, extreme age, unusual occupation, and other details 

Biometric records—Photographic image, x-rays, fingerprints, retina scan, voice signature, and facial geometry

If it is required to share information about yourself while signing up or something like that, use fake details. This prevents websites from collecting and storing your real information.

For this, use the Fake Address Generator by Prepostseo and create fake details about a person (see the image attached below) who doesn’t exist in reality. Use these details wherever you need online to protect yourself in case of identity theft.

DO NOT share your real image, too. If you have to share your face image, use any random Face generator, and AI will create a random face picture or a random person who doesn’t exist.

Use Signal

Heard of this? Use Signal, Use Tor. If so, why don’t you do that?

While it seems easy to chat with your friends on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or other such apps, all these are notorious for saving and leaking data. 

To save yourself, always use an encrypted messaging app, such as Signal.

Why use Signal for communication? With this platform, all communication is end-to-end encrypted, with the best technology so far. Neither the company nor any other organization sees your messages, calls, and voices.

Say NO to Home Assistants

Voice Assistants are software applications that interact with users and perform certain tasks with the help of voice technology. 

However, if you’re concerned about privacy and want to remain anonymous, you should not use voice assistants. These do automate your home but are notorious for privacy. 

Smart home devices like Google Home and Amazon Alexa are designed to collect every bit of the user’s personal information for targeted advertising. So, if you have installed any of these in your home, keep in mind that these know all your habits and routines.

Not only does Alexa record user voices, but the Nest Secure security system (compatible with Google Assistant) also comes with a hidden microphone. Ask yourself, why? 

So, instead of using voice assistants, you should go for a little old technology, such as smart locks, smart garage, smart lights, etc., and control them manually.

Conclusion

Want to protect your personal information and privacy? Go anonymous online. 

First, use VPNs, Tor, and Signal to hide your identity and keep your data safe. Do not share real details or personal photos; choose fake information where necessary. 

Also, stay away from voice assistants like Alexa, as they collect your data. 

While complete anonymity is quite hard to achieve as internet users will always leave some footprints, these strategies help reduce the risks and keep you more secure.