Surfing Anonymously: More Than Using a Proxy

A customer was experiencing difficulties posting advertisements on the internet. Every ad he posted was being ghosted. He went through the proper procedures required for using the anonymous proxy service, changed his ads and cleared his cookies, but he still had the problem.  He inquired if the servers were non-static and changing his IP address.  We checked to make sure the Private Proxy was working properly, then set about solving the mystery concerning his ghosted ads.

We recreated the conditions under which he posted, placing our own ads, which were not ghosted.  We examined each server for IP flagging, but all the addresses came back clean.

We discovered that the email address our customer used was the culprit. Other customers have reported similar problems, and their difficulties were the result of entirely different issues, such as their cookies.  There are many ways to track internet users.  We’ve compiled a list of suggestion on ways to protect your anonymous status online below.

User Accounts
You should always create a new account using your anonymous proxy server when a site you’re visiting requires a user id or log in. Make sure to clear your cookies before you make the new account.  This is necessary because using the same user account with just a new IP address isn’t effective and your information could still be compromised.

Email Addresses
Multiple email addresses are the way to go when dealing with websites that require them.  If properly set up using an anonymous proxy, then your identity will be hidden.  For example, you can use Hotmail in tangent with one of our servers.  If you sign up while using our Tempe Arizona proxy, your header in the email will show an Arizona IP address each time you send one, effectively masking your true location.

Keeping an Anonymous Identity
After you use hotmail to set up your email address, you can use the account for creating an entire anonymous profile for blogs, Gmail and other interactive internet sites.  Just be sure to identify yourself as being from Arizona in your profile and use the same name consistently.  Use the identity for other sites as well.  The more you use it, the more believable it will be to others.  Consistency is everything.

Cookies
Cookies are a very common method websites use to make use easier for repeat visitors.  Cookies contain info about the last page visited, user ids, or anything else specific to the visitor and how they used the website.  It’s a good idea to delete cookies after visiting a site.  Mozilla Firefox’s browser can be set to automatically clear your private data when you leave a site and allows you to set permissions for the sites on which you don’t want the cookies cleared.

These suggestions should be a great help in your anonymous web surfing and posting.  You’ll be able to interact online while protecting both your privacy and your identity.

Tweet This Post