Is 100% Anonymity Possible?

2 min
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No, 100% anonymity online is not achievable as you’ll always end up leaving a track behind. Both your devices and the apps you use to connect to the internet retain information about you, making 100% anonymity impossible.

As we have said before, the moment you connect to the internet, you stop being anonymous. Using a reputable VPN (like tuxlerVPN that offers truly residential IPs) can cover your track to an extent but you’ll still be vulnerable. In other words, entities that may be particularly targeting you can and will track you. But that doesn’t justify making it easier for them, right?

Here’s a quick look at why 100% anonymity is not possible and what you can do about it.

What Happens When You Connect to the Internet?

When you connect to the internet through any means – say a computer or a smartphone – the websites you visit, the apps you use, and even the devices that facilitate it continuously collect and store data such as your location and online behavior. This instantly puts you in a situation that is the opposite of being anonymous.

Of course, much of this rampant tracking may not be tied to your personal details such as name or social security number. However, that is a matter of when rather than how, as trackers and entities that deal in this type of data collection have the means to put two and two together. A social media site tracking your activity outside of its website has all the information to tie, say, your shopping habits with your legal name. 

Some of this tracking can also be direct. For instance, we’ve discussed how ISPs can throttle their users’ connections or collude with government law agencies to snitch their users’ online activities. Such type of tracking is not anonymous and can land you in trouble if you’re caught doing anything illegal.

That brings us back to the question.

Can 100% Anonymity Be Achieved?

No, 100% anonymity is not achievable, online or offline. Even if you don’t connect to the internet, you’ll still be passively tracked by your devices, which can leave behind traces and cause them to be shared with random entities if you ever go back online. However, going off the internet is your best bet against being tracked. Since the biggest threat to your privacy is through online entities, being continuously offline may just do the job.

Can you be nearly fully anonymous while being online, though?

Well, there are several things you can do to improve your cover online. Let’s take a quick look.

How to Maximize Online Anonymity?

Here are a few actionable tips that will improve your overall anonymity when browsing the web:

  • Always use a reliable, independent VPN. (Consider tuxlerVPN)
  • Do not connect or sync two or more online services
  • Flush your social networking accounts (and/or permanently deactivate them)
  • Use dummy social media accounts
  • Do not share photographs, texts, videos, and other media about your life or whereabouts
  • Create and use a dummy email account for all web-related services when possible
  • Avoid connecting to public Wi-Fi if possible
  • Request search engines to remove mentions about you from their indices

These are a few great tips to start making your online life more private. If you’re already doing a majority of these, take a look at the 8 privacy tools we recommend that’ll aid in your privacy efforts. If you’re new to all of this, start with installing tuxlerVPN.

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