Suggestions, problems and queries.

[DaveR]

I like to keep what I've been up to private

[brumbob]

I like to keep what I've been up to private

I'm a fat, grey haired dirty old man, no need to ponder Dave 

[Ian]

I like to keep what I've been up to private

Then you need Tor

If you get it, you should only use it with Firefox.

[brumbob]

I use http://www.hidemyass.com/ 

[Ian]

VPN systems are good, but not always robust. This from Wiki:

"Nonetheless, Tor and the alternative network system JonDonym (JAP) are considered more resilient than alternatives such as VPNs. Were a local observer on an ISP or WLAN to attempt to analyze the size and timing of the encrypted data stream going through the VPN, TOR or JonDo system, the latter two would be harder to analyze as demonstrated by a 2009 study.["

But in fact, to  hide yourself totally you need to use Tor or a VPN plus a discrete top level domain server.  And even that's not totally foolproof.

[brumbob]

hey, what I look at isn't that bad 

[Ian]

 :twoface: :twoface: :twoface:

[DaveR]

I use http://www.hidemyass.com/ 

Doesn't work, mate. Some proxies do, but that one certainly doesn't.  Someone used to come and read my blog using it but all the usual information showed up in the Stats

[brumbob]

doesn't it 

It certainly changes my ip address according to IP Chicken

[DaveR]

On my Stats, it showed the Hidemyass IP address AND the real one as well.  L0L

[Fester]

What the BLOODY HELL are you three on about?

[Trojan]

On my Stats, it showed the Hidemyass IP address AND the real one as well.  L0L

I remember you advising me about that one Dave, how it doesn't work.....and one that did.

Councillor Blog springs to mind.  :twoface:

[brumbob]

On my Stats, it showed the Hidemyass IP address AND the real one as well.  L0L

Seems there's a lot of people on different forums saying the same Dave
Hidemyass can't fool statcounter 
but you can access forums/blogs when your ip address has been blocked using hidemyass

[Ian]

Fester:

Anonymity on the internet is tricky to achieve.  You leave a trail whenever you visit any sites and through that trail it's possible (although difficult) for the unscrupulous to track down your own computer IP and from that - your real name and address.  All the systems which try to achieve anonymity slow down your browsing, too, so there's a compromise in terms of speed and safety - just like driving, in a sense.

The most effective  free solution is Tor.  Once you download it, it patches into Firefox directly and then you simply run the program. There's no techie messing about.  Your browsing is then routed through about 100+ servers around the world to the one you're actually looking for, so if anyone intercepts your browsing they'll only see the servers through which the information is being bounced.

It's not 100% anonymous: no system is, but it's as near as you're going to get for free.

[Fester]

Thank you Ian...
I kind of got the jist from the earlier postings,  but it got ridiulously techy.
Thats a great and clear explanation.

I have decided that its too much hassle, and I will have to remain un-anonymous!