If you ’re like most people , you probably do n’t remember very much aboutonline privacy . You have nothing to hide , right , so why would you nark covering up your tracks online ?
The fact is that if you are using a regularbrowser likeChromeor Safari , and if you comport most of your searches through a non - private search locomotive engine likeGoogleorBing , thenthird - party websites and other unknown entitiescan track your every move .
According to a Princeton University study of the top 1 million websites , the web is riddled with third - party tracker . word website are some of the bad offender , with an average of 40 trackers unravel in the background . The most vulgar tracker are have by Google and its subsidiaries , plus Facebook and Twitter , but plenty are also operate by shady entities in place like Russia and Germany .
Even if you go into Chrome ’s configurations and turn on the"do not track " characteristic , those are only voluntary browser app requests . Turns out that the biggest tech companies like Google , Facebook and Twitter do n’t comply with " do not tag " requests .
Taken all together , a omnipresent tech caller like Google can dissect your entire online footprint to paint a remarkably accurate picture of you — both the public and private you . Google and Facebook use that data point to sell advertizing , though hackers might use it for perhaps more menacing purposes .
OK , so now you might be thinking , " it ’s time to make my internet activities more secret . " Let ’s depend at the unlike means you could go about it .
1. Use Incognito Mode on Your Browser
The first ( and easiest ) method would be to go to the web browser you normally apply and congeal it to " incognito " status . For instance , if you expend Chrome , you press the three dots at the top right and take New Incognito Window . The little icon of the chapeau and the glasses will seem plus a dark cover ( to transfer unproblematic pawl on the icon and select Exit Incognito . ) Other browsers have like features or names .
If you utilise incognito mode on your browser app , it means that selective information likebrowsing historyor downloaded cooky are not mechanically stored on your gimmick . But your bodily process might still be visible to the organization ply the internet connectedness , like a college or potbelly . Also , the web site that you visit might still have admission to your information . And those options wo n’t do a affair to stop third - political party entities from leaving cookies in your browser app or see your alone IP address . In other words , you’re able to still be get over " in the dark . "
2. Use a Private Search Engine
Level two privacy would be to apply a individual search engine rather than the ubiquitous Google . These includeDuckDuckGo , EcosiaandStartpage . They all promise to evade the myriad third - party tracker that are spying on you behind the scenes .
" There ’s a lack of sentience of just how much data are being collect , " says Daniel Davis , communications managing director for DuckDuckGo . " the great unwashed kind of look that when you use a hunt engine like Google that your search terminal figure are plump to be recorded somewhere and they ’re go to be tracked . What people do n’t make is the extent of the other data that ’s link to those search queries and the third party that it ’s shared with . "
DuckDuckGo does not choke up ads from showing up in the web internet browser . But instead of collect bunch of data like Google to serve up " behavioural advert , " DuckDuckGo use " contextual advertising . " That means that it only serve up advert with keywords that are directly related to your search condition .
It ’s straight that search term include a lot of individual information : questions about personal health way out , financial information like your depository financial institution name or mortgage lender , loads of geographic data , and even your romantic preference .
But there ’s a portion of other data that can be tied to those hunting queries . If you use Gmail , then Google can collect all sorts of entropy about your on-line purchase and approaching travel design and connect them with your hunt term . And if you also utilise the Google Chrome internet browser , call back of the dizzying amounts of datum that can be gleaned from your internet browser history . Not to name if you also apply Google Maps and other Google product .
These secret lookup engine work in ways similar to each other . For illustration , you could instal the DuckDuckGo browser app extension on any major browser app simply by going to the DuckDuckGo website . On their homepage will be a big picture bid you to " Add DuckDuckGo " to Firefox or Chrome or whatever web web browser you happened to be on . ( DuckDuckGo also has peregrine internet browser for Android and iOS ) .
Installing the propagation makes DuckDuckGo your default hunting engine . So , when you type hunt terminus into the address measure , no data are collected about your search and nothing is portion out with the sites you clack on in the DuckDuckGo hunt results . DuckDuckGo uses an algorithm that includes Yahoo and Bing results as well as400 other sourcesto compile its search results . ( Startpage uses Google for its lookup resultant role but resign the queries anonymously . )
The DuckDuckGo browser app extension automatically default on to the encrypted adaptation of any website . If you ’ve mark , most websites use the prefix " https " instead of " hypertext transfer protocol " at the rootage of their WWW address . That excess " s " means that your connection to the website isencrypted , so that no other party can listen in on data sent between your computer and the website . You ’ll also see a small padlock icon next to web address that are write in code .
Oddly , even websites that have an " https " translation do n’t always make that encrypted connection available as default . The DuckDuckGo web browser extension impose the encrypted version every time .
The DuckDuckGo also features a " privacy grade . " For every website you bring down , DuckDuckGo assign it a tier from A+ to F based on three criteria : whether there ’s an encipher connexion , how many third - company trackers are found on the internet site , and the strength and transparence of the site ’s privacy policy .
Cookies have get a spoiled rap , but Davis notes that not all biscuit are bad . For example , you need your social networks and electronic mail service to leave cookies on your web internet browser , so you do n’t have to sign in from scratch every time . DuckDuckGo and other privacy browsers generally leave those first - political party cookies alone , though they will parry third party tracker as a default .
However , you could change your preferences to block all cookies and scrub your browser app hoard after each session .
3. Use an Anonymous Browser
OK , maybe you want utterly no suggestion of your internet activeness to be tracked . Then you might want to reckon at a web browser app likeTor . AsTor ’s website place it , " Tor protects you by bouncing your communication around a distributed web of relay run by volunteers worldwide : it prevents somebody watching your cyberspace connectedness from acquire what website you visit and it prevents the site you visit from instruct your physical position . Tor works with many of your existing applications , including WWW internet browser , instant messaging customer , distant login , and other practical program based on the TCP protocol . " Tor was used for Edward Snowden’swhistleblowing activitiesand for communicating during the Arab Spring upshot .
Rather than adding an extension to an existing web internet browser , you download the Tor internet browser as a alternate . It warn that it will block flash , RealPlayer and other add - In . It ’s also rigorous about which desktop scripts can run and wipes off everything at the conclusion of each internet session , including cookies left by other web site and any web web browser story on the app .
Wired magazinenoted that this internet browser tend slower than others due to the special encryption , " but in terms of bide invisible on the web , it ’s the best there is . It can even help you get online in country where the internet is blocked or censor . "
Other anonymous internet browser includeEpic , which comes with access to a barren VPN andBrave . In all cases , you download a web browser rather than using an live one like Chrome , Firefox or Safari .
