For the most part, the information gathered by web sites is not going to be
used for any malign purpose. Many web sites do not even track information on
who is accessing their servers, and those that do generally mean no ill will
towards you. However, there are troublemakers out there, and there are ways to
protect your information and give you a little bit of security when surfing the
net.
Anonymous surfing allows you to surf the internet while not allowing any
computer to access the information on your computer. They are not aware of your
IP address or any other information about you whenever your computer connects
with their server.
The way this is done is through a proxy server. Essentially what you are
doing is informing the proxy server of what sites that you want to go to. The
proxy server then connects to the web site for you, and loads it up onto its
own server. You never leave the proxy server, but are able to view web sites
from any server in the world through a proxy. That means that the only computer
which could possibly get your information is the actual proxy server that you
are using, because you are in no direct contact with any other server.
Proxy servers generally work in one of two ways. The first way involves you
actually logging onto a special proxy server web site, where you will then be
allowed to open up other web sites through the proxy.
The second method of using a proxy server is to program it into your
internet browser. For example, if you go to the preferences folder in Netscape
Navigator, then look under connections, you will see an option for using a
proxy server. You type in the address of the proxy server and the port, and
then every time you use that browser you will automatically be sent through the
proxy.
There are many free proxy servers out there, as well as paid programs to
allow you to surf anonymously. Any proxy server is going to function in
essentially the same way, the major difference between servers will be speed
when deciding which proxy server that you prefer.