Anonymous web browsing

Anonymous web browsing

Anonymous web browsing is browsing the World Wide Web while hiding the user's IP address and any other personally identifiable information from the websites that one is visiting.

Contents

Achieving Anonymity

When browsing the web, the computer connects to the target server by contacting the web page with the user's IP address and sharing other computer information, including the browser and operating system version. This information can be used to track the user. However, a certain degree of anonymity can be achieved by using a proxy server or a VPN server. The proxy server works by redirecting the communication through itself. The browser's IP address is then only shared with the proxy server while the target website only sees the proxy server's information.[1]

Anonymous Web Servers work by placing a wall between the user and the website that he/she is visiting. These servers can be used to bypass restrictions and visit sites that might be blocked in a specific country, office or school. Some people only use these servers to protect their online identity.

Anonymous web browsing is generally useful to internet users who want to ensure that their sessions cannot be monitored. For instance, it is used to circumvent traffic monitoring by organizations which want to find out or control which web sites employees visit.

Limitations to Proxy Servers

Proxy servers have a number of limitations. Since proxy servers have to reroute information, web pages can sometimes load slowly. Also, since the server is attempting to bypass suspicious software, some elements of a page may not load. Proxy servers can even become more of a security hazard than browsing the web, since personal information such as credit card numbers and passwords are passed through an external server that could be accessed by someone else.[2]

Browser addons like the Java VM plugin and the Flash player can be used to reveal the web surfer's IP address even if she/he is surfing through an anonymous proxy web server.

Cookies

Cookies are strings of text that are saved on a computer by browsing different web pages. They allow small bits of information to be stored. Cookies are used to save passwords and shopping lists among other things. They are also used to track demographics and browsing habits. This information is sent to the user's computer and then uploaded to web databases without the user's approval.[3]

See also

Sources

  1. ^ Confinet Ltd. "Anonymous Surfing, AnonIC.org, 2004
  2. ^ Roos, D. "How to Surf the Web Anonymously, HowStuffWorks.com, 11 June 2009
  3. ^ Whalen, D. "The Unofficial Cookie FAQ", CookieCentral.com, June 2002

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Anonymous web proxy — An anonymous web proxy (CGI proxy, HTTP proxy) is designed to bypass proxy restrictions through a web interface. Web proxies hide users identity from the sites they visit, keep cookies at their site, and delete them after each session and… …   Wikipedia

  • List of web browsers — The following is a list of web browsers. HistoricalNotable Browsers In order of release : *WorldWideWeb, February 26, 1991 *Mosaic, April 22, 1993 *Netscape Navigator and Netscape Communicator, October 13, 1994 *Internet Explorer (August 1995)… …   Wikipedia

  • Internet privacy — involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, repurposing, providing to third parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Privacy can entail both Personally Identifying Information… …   Wikipedia

  • Pseudonymity — is a word derived from pseudonym, meaning false name , and describes a state of disguised identity resulting from the use of a pseudonym (also called nym). The pseudonym identifies a holder , that is, one or more human beings who possess but do… …   Wikipedia

  • Anonymity — This article is about identification. For anonymity in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Anonymity. For other uses, see Anonymous (disambiguation) and Anonymus (disambiguation). Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning without… …   Wikipedia

  • Crowds — For other uses, see Crowd. Crowds is a proposed anonymity network that gives probable innocence in the face of a large number of attackers. Crowds was designed by Michael K. Reiter and Aviel D. Rubin and defends against internal attackers and a… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Live Distros — This is a list of Live Distros, which is a generic term for an operating system distribution that is executed upon boot, without installation on a hard drive. Typically, it is stored on a bootable medium, such as a CD ROM (Live CD), DVD (Live… …   Wikipedia

  • Firewall (disambiguation) — Firewall may refer to:* Firewall (construction), a physical barrier inside a building or vehicle, designed to limit the spread of fire, heat and structural collapse * Firewall, a logical barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted… …   Wikipedia

  • Anonym.OS — Infobox OS name = Anonym.OS caption = A screenshot of Anonym.OS Beta 4 developer = [http://kaos.to/cms/ kaos.theory] family = OpenBSD source model = Open source latest release version = Beta 4 latest release date = January 14, 2006 kernel type =… …   Wikipedia

  • Computers and Information Systems — ▪ 2009 Introduction Smartphone: The New Computer.       The market for the smartphone in reality a handheld computer for Web browsing, e mail, music, and video that was integrated with a cellular telephone continued to grow in 2008. According to… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”