Changing Your IP Address is NOT Enough
One of our customers was having a problem posting ads. Of course the first question she asked was if the servers were changing her IP address. After verifying that our proxy servers were indeed up and running, we went through the process of figuring out why her ads were not being displayed. Even though she used our proxy, cleared her cookies and changed her ads, every post she did wound up ghosted.
We posted ads on the same site she did, ours were not ghosted. We tried every server we had, and none of the IP addresses were being flagged as a proxy. We even waited while our servers rotated through different IP addresses with the same result. So what was the problem?
In this case, it was her e-mail address. Although, in fairness, we’ve had this same problem reported by other customers. Some times it was their cookies. Other times it was the URL they used for the ad. Changing your IP address doesn’t always work. There are a variety of ways that different websites track users. Below are some of our suggestions on ways to be able to post and stay protected by using a proxy:
User Accounts
If the site you are visiting requires you to log in with a user id, please make sure you create a new account using the anonymous proxy server. And of course, as mentioned below, clear your cookies before you create the new account. Using the same user account with a new IP address from an anonymous proxy just won’t work.
Cookies
Everyone knows cookies. They are tracking mechanisms put in place by websites to help visitors use the website. They contain information about user ids, last page viewed, or any number of items specific to the surfer and their use of the website. Deleting cookies is both a good idea and drastic at the same time. My recommendation is to use Firefox as your browser. Then set it up to automatically clear private data upon exit. You can, and should, put in an exception list for the sites who you do not want to clear cookies for.
E-mail Addresses
If a site requires an e-mail address, or the e-mail address is part of your post, then you might want to have multiple e-mail addresses. They are easy enough to set up and if you do it correctly using an anonymous proxy server, then your e-mail identity is masked. Let’s use Google Gmail as an example. If you use one of our servers, let’s say the one in Ashburn, Virginia, set up an account with Google. Then, when you use Gmail, the header information in the e-mail will show an IP address from Virginia.
Anonymous Identities
With all the above, you can start to create an anonymous identity on the Internet. Let’s continue with the Google example. Use this account for everything from Gmail to blogger. In your profile, describe yourself as being from Virginia. Your profile states Virginia. And you have created the beginnings of an anonymous identity. You can take this identity and use it on other sites such as Wordpress, Yahoo, and so on. The more you use this identity, the more believable it will be for anyone who finds it. Last, but not least, if you create an identity for “John Smith”, use John Smith in the e-mail address. Consistency will help make the identity believable.
With these tips you should be able to surf the web anonymously, post without restrictions and protect your identity.
