Although you take steps to improve your privacy and security while browsing the web, it’s not possible to be totally anonymous on the Internet. Majority of the Internet users feel that using Incognito Mode or Private Browsing mode on their browser makes them anonymous. This is so not true. Even using Tor or a VPN doesn’t grant you full anonymity, because each service uses some kind of identifier to distinguish you from other users. (Even VPN providers that advertise anonymous services can log your name, your IP address, and other pieces of information about your activity.)

Anonymity isn’t a realistic goal when you’re talking about browsing the Internet. But protecting your privacy is. Taking basic steps to protect yourself will greatly improve your privacy. But it’s important to remember that it won’t make your activities anonymous.

As I mentioned, it is a common myth that using Incognito Mode or Private Browsing on browser will make you anonymous in cyber space. So here are a few things to take care of while talking about Incognito Browsing:

• Although things like cookies and history are deleted when you close your browser, but there are a lot of ways you are being tracked even when you are using Incognito Mode. Some of them are IP Address and Logins.
• Your browsing history is not recorded by your browser but your internet service provider can still see what are you surfing.
• Even though you can’t see your past activity, the rest of internet can.
• You could still be profiled and be shown targeted ads on the basis of what you searched.
• And above all of these, this information can be requested by Law Enforcement Agencies.

So, contrary to its name, Private Browsing or Incognito Mode, your activity is still monitored unless you use services that don’t track you by default like DuckDuckGo. Since complete anonymity can not be achieved but our digital footprints can still be minimized. So do take care of what you browse on Internet!

This is the fifth post in Digital India Myths Series. Check out our previous posts in this series on Virus, Facebook, Identity Theft and Long Passwords=Secure Account.

To read this article in Hindi, click here. इस आर्टिकल को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिए यहाँ क्लिक करें।