Online Anonymity is Important. Here's How to Protect it

What is anonymity?

Being anonymous can mean being faceless, nameless, and altogether unknown. No one knows who you are, where you're from, your gender, your age, or what you do, think, or feel.

Anonymity is about keeping one's identity hidden but not necessarily hiding one's actions. For example, take the notorious hacking group “Anonymous”. Their identities are unknown, but their actions are very well publicized.

Of course, it's not just hackers who need anonymity.

Anonymity is a part of our everyday lives. We are able to walk down the street, stand in a queue of strangers, be a part of a crowd, and generally be in public anonymously. No one knows who we are.

And with more of our daily activities now taking place online, the right to anonymity extends to the digital sphere. Online anonymity, in particular, is about keeping your online identity, actions, and activities completely separate from your real-world, offline identity. Anonymous internet browsing lets you do this.

Difference between anonymity and privacy

While privacy and anonymity are often used interchangeably they are two different things. Privacy is about keeping personal details hidden from others. They may know who you are, but they won't know everything about you. Anonymity refers to keeping your identity hidden. People may know what you do, but not who you are. With an anonymous person, you may interact with them online or read their comments, but they can hide who they really are.

Why is anonymity important?

There is a common misconception that the only ones who need anonymous internet browsing are those who have something to hide. But anonymity, as a concept, is necessary to be able to exercise our fundamental human rights, namely the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy.

It allows individuals to express themselves freely, without fear of retribution or rebuttal. It is not only vital for political discourse but in providing a space in which to form ideas outside of the mainstream and the watchful eye of others, be it family, friends, neighbors, or the government.

As we become more dependent on the digital world, we are subject to ever-increasing levels of surveillance.

Back in 2016, privacy expert Daniel J. Solove said in the NYTimes,

“A world where everything people said and did was monitored, recorded, and scrutinized would be an oppressive place to live.”

Little did he know.

Surveillance was already a growing issue in many countries, but the enhanced monitoring during the pandemic has taken it to unprecedented levels worldwide.

Measures such as mobile data tracking, apps recording personal contact with others, CCTV with facial recognition, permission schemes to go outside, and drones enforcing social isolation regimes have been adopted in at least 25 countries.

Many of these surveillance methods don't have any “sunset” clauses, meaning government surveillance could continue indefinitely and become the “new norm”.

Censorship too is on the rise. A recent study by the University of Michigan found that censorship increased in 103 of 221 countries studied. Many of those are democratic countries considered to have a “free” press.

The pros and cons of online anonymous internet browsing

There are always two sides to every coin and anonymous internet browsing is no exception. The main advantages of online anonymity are that it allows free speech and creates a safe space for whistleblowers. The flip side of those is that anonymous internet browsing also gives room for hate speech and creates a level of mistrust.

Let's dig a little deeper.

Free speech vs free hate-speech

Anonymous internet browsing allows people to speak their minds and share personal beliefs and views on politics or religion, openly discuss health issues or explore their sexuality without fear of retaliation, judgment, or fear of real-life harm.

The other side of this, however, is that online anonymity enables people to abuse this right.

Hiding behind the cloak of anonymity, people are also free to cyberbully or “troll” other online users. They spew hate speech, racist abuse, and threats of death, rape, or violence with little risk of being caught or receiving punishment.

In fact, trolling has become such a huge problem that the UK has added new measures to its Online Safety Bill as a means to fight against anonymous abusers.

Whistleblower protection vs. trust

Anonymity lets whistleblowers expose the illegal or unethical actions, or lack thereof, of large corporations, institutions, organizations, and even governments.

Without anonymity, whistleblowers risk losing their jobs, being blacklisted in their sector, receiving death threats, jail time, or worse.

In the case of the Lux Leaks, three former PWC employees leaked data revealing a huge tax evasion scandal that reached all the way to Jean-Claude Juncker, the former Luxembourg Prime Minister. Whistleblowing without anonymity earned them charges of violating business secrecy and confidentiality, theft, computer fraud, and money laundering.

On the other hand, the whistleblower of the 2016 Panama Papers, known only as “John Doe” was described by Edward Snowden as being the best-case scenario for a whistleblower. They managed to have a huge impact and walk away with their freedom intact and their identity still unknown.

However, there is that little thing called “trust”.

If a whistleblower reveals data to a journalist, that journalist has a much harder task in verifying the credibility of the source and their information. Many will be reluctant to run with a story that has the potential to upset powerful people if they are unsure whether the source is reliable or the information accurate.

How to protect anonymity online

Your first thought might be to switch to a private browser to go “incognito” but that won't make you anonymous. Incognito is a privacy tool. Remember the difference? Private browsers can only protect your browsing history from people who use the same device. It will not hide your online activity from your Internet Service Provider or any trackers on apps or websites you use.

Below are some tips that will help protect anonymity online.

Use Tor browser

The Tor browser works via an independently run network to anonymize web traffic. It hides your IP address and browsing activity and blocks tracking. It has been a powerful tool for whistleblowers and journalists (and criminals) who want to protect their identities online.

Logless VPN

Most VPNs log some sort of data, even when they claim to be “logless” or have “strict no-log policies”. But if you want to go down the VPN route, do your research and read the fine print.

Avoid any VPN that keeps traffic or usage logs. This means they record all your internet traffic– the websites you visit, emails, search queries, etc.

Metadata logs also known as session, connection, or diagnostic logs don't contain the contents of your internet traffic but do record details about how you use the VPN.

This can be non-personally identifiable information like how much bandwidth you're using, timestamps, and the servers you connect to, but it can also contain your IP address. Check the VPN's privacy policy and just hope that it's honest.

Use secure emails and chat apps

End-to-end encryption is often touted as a tool to protect anonymity but again, it's a privacy tool and not an anonymity tool. What you need to look for are communication services that provide end-to-end encryption but don't ask for any personal details on registration, don't track you, and don't keep any logs. ProtonMail is a good shout for securing your identity when using email. If you prefer to use an encrypted messaging app, then Signal will do the trick.

Privacy-focused search engines

Google may be the most popular search engine but it's also the most data-hungry. The data it tracks can lead directly back to you, revealing your identity.

The most popular Google search alternative is probably DuckDuckGo. It's a fully independent browser, so its results might not be as comprehensive as Google, but it also doesn't track or profile users.

However, you can get Google results without using Google. StartPage removes all your identifying information before submitting your search query to Google for you which can be a great help in anonymous internet browsing.

File transfers

Say you're a whistleblower wanting to send huge files of incriminating evidence and you want to do it anonymously, FileDropper will let you upload up to 5GB with no registration required, or WeTransfer, which allows up to 2GB without signing up. You can then share the file download links using the secure email or chat app.

But remember, just because you don't have to register doesn't mean the website isn't tracking you. This is where Tor comes in handy.

Use the Hoody app

If you want to protect anonymity but without any of the hassle, you can use the Hoody app to connect to the internet. With just one app, you can avoid every single tracking cookie, digital fingerprinting, or any other tracking technique on any browser.

Hoody doesn't require any personal details to download the app. We don't want to know your name, address, phone number, or anything else. You can keep your identity completely hidden from us.

We also have a strict no-logs policy, but unlike VPNs, we don't retain any customer data and neither do we track anything...no traffic, no metadata. Nothing.

How can you be sure?

Well, we've designed it this way. Hoody's functionality doesn't require any of your data, so we created a structure with diskless servers so that we can't collect any of your data.

Hoody is privacy by design and gives anonymity by default.

When you connect to the internet via Hoody, our Phantom Browsing™ and Bulletproof Privacy Network (BPN) work together to give you the most private and anonymous browsing experience.

Your local traffic, IP address, and digital fingerprints are anonymized on every browser. Hoody doesn't stop website trackers, instead, it feeds them completely random and made-up data. Your own data never gets touched.

This little piece of digital trickery means you don't have to compromise internet speed (as you would with a VPN or Tor) or disable Javascript when using Tor in the safest mode.

While using a VPN and Tor means there is always a risk of your browsing activity and digital fingerprints being traced back to you, Hoody closes the gaps.

So is anonymous internet browsing possible? Yes, but only with Hoody.

Hoody App is here! Sign up for a Hoody FREE TRIAL and start enjoying absolute privacy and anonymity online today.