How to Stay Private on Pinterest | Be Web Smart
When I first heard about the social sharing site Pinterest back in 2012, I couldn’t figure out the name. I kept reading it as Pine-Rest. But then I took a closer look and split it up this way: “pin”-“interest”. Oh, PINterest. As in a place to “pin” (or share) your terest has grown by leaps and bounds since I first joined – way back then you had to get on a waiting list. These days, just sign up with your e-mail address or connect through Pinterest started, all your pins and boards were public and available to anyone viewing Pinterest. I remember a friend who at first thought Pinterest was pretty cool and saved some ideas for furniture and clothing to a few boards. But once she realized that other people – including her Facebook friends – could see what she had saved, she lost you tweak a few settings, it is possible to maintain some sense of privacy and anonymity while using Pinterest. Here’s, what is Pinterest anyway? Essentially, Pinterest is a social sharing site based on the sharing of images. What sets Pinterest apart from other sites is that it is primarily visual. It’s all about photos, graphics, images (and a few videos here and there). Pinterest members have a profile where they set up “boards”. These could be themed, like Travel, Food, Style, and Inspiration. Members then “pin” (or save) images to their boards. You then follow other people’s boards to see the images they are pinning. If you see a pin you like you can save (“re-pin”) it to your board. You can “like” pins and leave comments. Here’s a sample of images that have been “pinned” on PinterestWhy use Pinterest? Well that is a very good question. I wanted to find an answer which is why I joined. Pinterest can be useful on a few different fronts. A few examples:Recipe sharing – instead of bookmarking a recipe, you can pin it to a board and have a visual display of recipe ideas rather than a list of links in your inspiration – Redecorating a room? Starting a garden? You can peruse the topics for ideas. Or if you are researching an upcoming design project, you can pin your ideas to a board and see them grouped together – For those that are crafty (not yours truly) you can get lots of ideas for craft – Peruse outfits, hairstyles, makeup looks and nail art from friends and terest starts you off with some suggested topics to follow. Your main feed will then show you pins from those topics to get started. You can then follow other pinners and their pins will appear in your feed. Your feed is what you see when you first log into terest Privacy SettingsIn general, your boards and pins are public and available to anyone viewing Pinterest. But there are a few ways to maintain privacy on Pinterest. Create Private (Secret) Boards When you create a new board, the default setting is a public board. I guess they figured it wouldn’t be much of a social sharing site if nobody could see what you were sharing! However you can also decide to create a secret board. When your board is secret, nobody on Pinterest will see the board or any pins you save to the board. Remove your last name from your profile Your profile information such as your name and photo is always public. When you join using your Facebook account, Pinterest will use your Facebook name and profile picture. You can change that if you’d like, for example to leave out your last name for a bit more anonymity. From your profile page, click the Edit profile icon (looks like a pencil) to change your Name, Profile Picture and username. You can also remove the “About You’” text that might have come over from Facebook. Hide your profile from search enginesThe default setting allows search engines such as Google to find your Pinterest content and display it in their search results. You can change this setting from your profile page by clicking on the Settings link (next to the pencil icon). The first part of the page is Account Basics. Change the Search Privacy toggle from No to Yes. You may get a prompt that “It’ll take several weeks for search engines to remove your profile from search results. You can speed up the process with Google using their online tool. ” Disable personalizationThere are two options under Personalization, described thoroughly in the Pinterest help pages. These two options basically cover how Pinterest can use data about you that might be saved when you visit other websites that have Pinterest functionality. You can switch both of these from Yes to No. Disconnect Pinterest from social media accountsIt’s convenient to join Pinterest (or any other service) using a Facebook account rather than having to create a new username and password. However, you then have a connection between accounts, and you might prefer to keep your Pinterest activity separate from your Facebook activity. Pinterest won’t share your pins without your knowledge, but you can put up a bit of a wall between to the two services, so to disconnect Pinterest from your social media accounts, go back to settings and scroll down to Social Networks. You’ll see which accounts are connected. Switch them from Yes to No. If you used Facebook to create your account, you’ll set up a new password, as you’ll now log in using your username and new Pinterest password. [This didn’t work for me and I have an e-mail out to Pinterest as to why it doesn’t work] Pinterest first came out, there were also settings in place that sent all your Pinterest activity over to Facebook, and you had to jump through a few hoops to prevent your FB friends from seeing what you pinned. That option is no longer there, so that is at least one less thing to worry about – Pinterest won’t automatically send your pins over to and teens using Pinterest? As addressed in their privacy policy: “This Site and Application are not directed to children under 13”. I don’t think Pinterest is on most young kid’s radar, but it is possible they could search for something and end up at Pinterest. I haven’t come across any racy pictures, but I’ve heard that some have. I’ve encountered nudity, nothing too hardcore but something to keep in mind. There is a link next to each pin you can use to report objectionable content that goes against Pinterest’s acceptable use I first wrote this article Pinterest has gained in popularity among teens. While still not quite up there with Instagram or Snapchat, around 22% of teens are using online pin boards. More teen girls than boys are using the service, and this is similar to the split for adults as you have a teen who uses Pinterest, you may want to ask them what they like about it – what do they use it for, what kinds of things are they pinning. Do they know that all their boards are public by default? You may want to share these privacy tips with what’s the Verdict? Pinterest is fun and a little bit addicting. You can easily click around, see some beautiful imagery and be inspired. If you’re looking for craft ideas, DIY ideas, design and style ideas, recipe ideas, and you like pretty pictures, you might want to check it out. And if you don’t want the whole wide world to know what you’re pinning, use these tips to stay private on ready on Pinterest? Be sure to follow Be Web Smart on Pinterest right here:. I pin all my articles there so you can save them for future reference (privately, if you wish! ) Have a pinteresting day!
How to Browse the Internet Anonymously | Tips to Stay Private
Click here to see a summary of this article Summary: How to Browse the Internet AnonymouslyAnonymous surfing, streaming and downloading can be difficult. Websites, companies and services can closely follow our online behavior. Do you want more online privacy and prevent people from studying your online activities? There are a few ways to protect your online privacy. A VPN can help you access the internet anonymously. When you’re connected to a VPN, your internet traffic runs through a secure connection. The VPN software encrypts all your data using encryption protocols. Your data can no longer be intercepted or read by third parties. ExpressVPN is an example of a reliable and good you like to know in what other ways you can make your browsing more anonymous? Read the full article below for six tips on how to protect your online of your online actions are not as private as you might think. These days, countless parties attempt to follow our online behavior as closely as they can. Our internet service providers, the administrators of our networks, our browser, search engines, the apps we’ve installed, social media platforms, governments, hackers and even the websites we visit all know – to a certain extent – what we’re doing online. If you don’t want your partner to find out the special birthday gift you’ve ordered, using the incognito mode will suffice. However, if you don’t want anyone to know what you do online, a simple incognito mode won’t Ways to Stay Anonymous OnlineDo you want to surf, stream or download anonymously? There are a few ways to protect your online privacy. Here are some efficient methods to stay anonymous online:Use a VPN a privacy-friendly a proxy the web with an anonymous search stall browser extensions for your your privacy ’ll go into more detail below and explain each method 1: Safe and Anonymous Browsing with a VPNUsing a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a suitable way to browse the internet anonymously. When you’re connected to a VPN server, your connection is secure. The software ensures that all your online traffic is encrypted using special protocols, so your data can no longer be read by reover, your IP address stays hidden, because you automatically take on the IP address of the VPN server you’re using. An IP address is the identification number of your internet connection and can reveal your location and ultimately your identity. A VPN hides your real IP address for others; they only see the IP address of the VPN server. This way, the websites you visit won’t be able to see your own IP address and won’t be able to identify you want to surf anonymously at school or at work? A VPN will help here, too. With a VPN you’ll be able to stay anonymous whether you’re at school, at work or just on your home network. It’s also quite effective against doxing. A lot of VPN providers don’t log your activity while you use their services. This is the product they promise you: anonymous browsing. These providers offer their users guaranteed anonymity with their safe and secure VPN mbining a masked IP with a secure connection ensures VPN users that their online behavior can no longer be traced by anyone. However, not all VPN providers are as strict when it comes to making this promise. If you want to anonymize your internet connection, it’s important to look for a trustworthy and good VPN provider with a zero logs policy. A zero logs policy ensures that the VPN provider doesn’t registers any of your online activities. This way, not even the government can get a provider to hand over this information, because there’s simply nothing to give. Below we will discuss two trustworthy VPN VPN: A trustworthy giantOne example of a trustworthy VPN provider is ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN has a large amount of servers all over the world and offers strong security options. If you subscribe to ExpressVPN, you gain access to software that protects all of your devices and works for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. You can simultaneously connect to the internet with up to five devices on just one subscription. ExpressVPN is highly suitable for those who want to be able to surf, stream and download with complete VPN is very user-friendly. After getting a subscription, you can install the application and connect to a secure VPN server in just a few clicks. The app will run on the background of your device while you can browse and stream as usual. You won’t really notice anything in your everyday browsing experience, but you are far more safe and anonymous. If you want to know more about this provider, please read our full review of ExpressVPN. Very easy to use VPN Perfect for anonymous browsing, downloading, and streaming (i. e. Netflix) 3000+ servers in 94 countries Visit ExpressVPN CyberGhost: A user-friendly VPNA second well-performing VPN is CyberGhost. CyberGhost is a user-friendly VPN provider that helps you browse anonymously. They have a large number of servers all over the world, which makes it extremely easy to find a server that suits your needs. Their servers will make sure you can browse the internet without any restraints. You can even use Netflix and freely download torrents with CyberGhost. The CyberGhost app is very easy to use, and if you have trouble figuring it out, CyberGhost also has a great customer support team that can help there is a HTTPS alternative for the HTTP website you’re trying to visit, CyberGhost will make sure you are automatically redirected to the secure version of the site. This way, you can browse anonymously and safely at all times. Read our detailed review of CyberGhost to learn more about this VPN. Very user-friendly High quality for a low price Torrents and Netflix possible Visit CyberGhost Browsing the internet anonymously with a free VPNIn addition to paid VPNs, there are numerous free VPNs. A free VPN may sound attractive, but often these VPNs aren’t secure. It’s often wise to consider a paid VPN provider instead, because your private data might not always be in good hands with a free provider. Some free VPNs register the sites you visit and resell this data to advertisers. As a result, you certainly won’t be anonymous or secure stead of a free VPN, it’s better to opt for a reliable, cheap 2: Use the Right BrowserIt’s wise to go back to basics and make sure to choose a browser that helps you protect your anonymity. But which browser is the best to use in this case? Different popular browsers have very different ways of dealing with user privacy. They also have different levels of safety. In this section, we’ll be discussing several well-known browser options. And for a more thorough analysis, you can always take a look at our in-depth article on privacy-friendly away from Microsoft EdgeWhen considering online safety and privacy, we’d advise you not to use Microsoft Edge. Microsoft Edge is the official successor of Internet Explorer and still gets regular safety updates, as opposed to IE. Still, the privacy levels of this browser aren’t great. It doesn’t have any tracking protection, which other browsers do. This, and other ways in which Microsoft lacks in terms of privacy, lead us to advise you to stay away from Edge if you want to focus on protecting your Chrome: awesome browser, lacks some privacy featuresThe Chrome browser supports several pop-up blockers and other privacy-oriented browser extensions. Still, Chrome is the property of Google, which might have implications for your privacy. Google profits from having as much data on its users as possible. This data is used to show personalized advertisements and to improve Google’s search of people critique Google for the way the company handles users’ privacy. For example, it has been questioned why Chrome users are often automatically logged in to their Google or Gmail accounts. This way, Google can trace all of your browsing activity and connect it to you as a person. This information is then synchronized across all your devices. Do you use an Android smartphone with apps like Google Maps? Then Google instantly knows even more about you. If you value your privacy, there are some alternative browsers that might suit you better than ’s Safari does its job wellLately, Apple’s browser Safari has been doing really well in terms of privacy. The browser has seen the introduction of new features that stop digital fingerprinting, making it a lot harder for other parties to follow you online. It also has Intelligent Tracking Prevention. This automatically deletes first-party tracking cookies that websites place in the Safari browser after seven days. Because of this system, websites are able to track visitors for a much shorter length of time. Aside from that, Safari offers some useful extensions that improve your online privacy. We’ll get back to this zilla Firefox: the best and most well-known browser for privacyIf you ask us, Mozilla Firefox is the best ‘normal’ browser for users that value their privacy. To kick things off, Firefox has several security features, such as protection against phishing and malware. Aside from that, Firefox users automatically receive a warning whenever a website tries to install add-ons. When it comes to privacy, Firefox is a very secure choice, also because it offers useful extensions that protect users against all sorts of tracking and privacy breaches. These add-ons are, more often than not, specifically for ntrary to most other browsers, Firefox is open source. This means that everyone can check out the code that makes up Firefox’s software. Because of this transparent way of working, Mozilla couldn’t just build in tracking features even if it wanted to. Someone would notice and make a show of it, which would be awful for Mozilla’s level anonymous browsing: the Tor browserIf you really want to browse anonymously, the Tor browser could be an interesting option. Tor (The Onion Router) is an online network for encrypted and anonymous communication. Tor works pretty much the same as other browsers like Firefox, Safari and Chrome. However, unlike other browsers, Tor allows you to browse completely anonymously. The Tor network consists of thousands of servers worldwide. All data traffic that passes through it is cut up in little pieces that are subsequently encrypted and sent through several servers before ending up at its destination. This process costs time, and therefore the Tor browser can be relatively slow. But no matter how slow it is, it does make sure nobody can see what you do important side note to the use of Tor is that it only encrypts part of what you do online. Only the internet traffic that goes through the browser is protected. Services like Skype and WhatsApp access the internet without the use of a browser. Tor can’t offer you protection there. Another thing worth mentioning is that Tor provides users with access to the dark web. So be wary: surfing the dark web should be done with great care. This ‘dark part’ of the internet isn’t regulated, which means it comes with a lot of risks for your safety. For example, it’s very easy to run into malware there. Therefore, for most of us, using a VPN along with the Firefox browser is an easier, better, and more secure alternative to 3: Anonymous Browsing with a ProxyThe use of a proxy server also provides some anonymity online. When using a proxy, you send a request for information to that proxy server, which then sends it on to the right website. The website will only be able to see the IP address of the proxy server and not your own. A proxy doesn’t have the same level of encryption as a VPN does. Even though the websites you visit won’t be able to see directly who you are, your IP address and online traffic are still much easier to unravel than would be the case when using a VPN. Other parties will still be able to see what you do. The only thing keeping them from knowing your identity is the proxy’s IP. This is because proxies don’t protect or encrypt your servers are mostly seen as lighter, free alternatives to a VPN. They might suit your needs, but do keep in mind that they don’t have the same security standards as a VPN. Even so, a proxy server might suffice if your only goal is to circumvent certain geographical online 4: Use an Anonymous Search EngineThere’s also the option of using an anonymous search engine. DuckDuckGo is probably the best known anonymous search engine. Anonymous search engines such as DuckDuckGo are alternatives for Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines that like to collect and use your data. When you use DuckDuckGo, your search terms and the links you clicked aren’t traced. Moreover, the websites you visit won’t be able to see which search terms you used. However, they’ll still know that you’ve visited their page. This registration happens through your IP address. Through DuckDuckGo you can search the internet with more anonymity than a regular search engine, but it can’t offer you full anonymity or DuckGo doesn’t have the same budget and manpower as big businesses like Google. This means that the presented search result won’t be as optimized. However, some say that this is actually a good thing for those who focus on privacy. After all, DuckDuckGo shows everyone who enters the same keywords the same search results. Google, on the contrary, adjusts your results to your user profile. The inaccuracy of DuckDuckGo, hence, shows that they’re actually sticking to their promise of anonymity. Our advice is to try out DuckDuckGo to see whether you like it. A second anonymous search engine is Startpage. This is a privacy-friendly search system that draws its search results from Google, but doesn’t use tracking. We also recommend you try out this 5: Minimize Tracking with the Right Browser ExtensionsThere are many browser extensions out there that help increase your online privacy and safety. These extensions are often easy to install and use. Aside from an adblocker, a password manager and a VPN browser extension, you could also try specific add-ons and extensions that minimize ivacy Badger and GhosteryPrivacy Badger and Ghostery are browser extensions that detect and block third-party tracking cookies that are placed on your computer while you browse. Blocking these cookies keeps third parties from following you online. Did you install Privacy Badger or Ghostery and did you visit a webpage that tries to install third-party tracking cookies? Then these extensions will come into action. Good for you, bad for online marketeers, and very good for your 6: Be Wary of Big Tech Companies and Big DataFacebook is known to share its users’ personal information with advertisers. This is why women tend to get menstrual care ads on their Facebook feed while men don’t. However, Facebook takes this practice a lot further: they also track what you do when you aren’t on their site. If you’ve been looking for car insurance online, it’s very likely you’ll see a relevant ad on your Facebook feed. Facebook allows you to change this slightly in the privacy settings of your account. After you have changed these settings, they might not show selected ads anymore, but you will still see ads. Moreover, they will keep gathering information on you. Through their own services, it isn’t possible to turn off their tracking. You can only slightly tweak what comes up in your also allows you to turn off add personalization. Again, this does not mean all ads will disappear, nor will Google stop tracking your data traffic. As a rule, you can say that these big companies built on advertisement revenues won’t stop tracking us, unless we make it impossible with, for instance, a ThoughtsThere are several steps you can take in order to better protect your online safety and privacy. Do you want to browse the internet anonymously? Then these are the tips we’d like to give you:Install a VPN, such as Mozilla Firefox or the Tor a proxy server as an alternative to a an anonymous search engine, like mize tracking with the right browser extensions, such as adblockers and anti-tracking your privacy settings on social media you combine these tips, your online privacy is much better guarded already. You’ll be able to browse the internet much more anonymously. How to Browse the Internet Anonymously: Frequently Asked QuestionsDo you have a question on how to browse the internet anonymously? Check the overview below with frequently asked questions to see whether your question is listed. Click on a question to see the can I surf the internet anonymously? Combine the tips below to stay anonymous online:Use a VPN a privacy-friendly a proxy the web with an anonymous search stall browser extensions for your your privacy settings. How can I surf the internet anonymously with a vpn? Using a VPN is a good way to browse the internet anonymously. The VPN software ensures that all your online traffic is encrypted using special protocols, so your data can no longer be read by others. In addition, your IP address remains hidden, because you automatically take on the IP address of the VPN server you’re using. What is the best VPN to browse the internet anonymously? It’s important to choose a reliable VPN provider with a zero logs policy, so you can be sure that it doesn’t register any of your online VPN is an example of a reliable and solid VPN that will definitely help you surf the internet more securely and anonymously.
Opinion: Private browsing online isn’t as anonymous as you think it is
Many people look for more privacy when they browse the web by using their browsers in privacy-protecting modes, called “Private Browsing” in Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Apple Safari; “Incognito” in Google Chrome; and “InPrivate” in Microsoft Edge. These private browsing tools sound reassuring, and they’re popular. According to a 2017 survey, nearly half of American internet users have tried a private browsing mode, and most who have tried it use it regularly.
However, our research has found that many people who use private browsing have misconceptions about what protection they’re gaining. A common misconception is that these browser modes allow you to browse the web anonymously, surfing the web without websites identifying you and without your internet service provider or your employer knowing what websites you visit. The tools actually provide much more limited protections. Other studies conducted by the Pew Research Center and the privacy-protective search engine company DuckDuckGo have similar findings. In fact, a recent lawsuit against Google
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alleges that internet users are not getting the privacy protection they expect when using Chrome’s Incognito it works While the exact implementation varies from browser to browser, what private browsing modes have in common is that once you close your private browsing window, your browser no longer stores the websites you visited, cookies, user names, passwords and information from forms you filled out during that private browsing session. Essentially, each time you open a new private browsing window you are given a “clean slate” in the form of a brand new browser window that has not stored any browsing history or cookies. When you close your private browsing window, the slate is wiped clean again and the browsing history and cookies from that private browsing session are deleted. However, if you bookmark a site or download a file while using private browsing mode, the bookmarks and file will remain on your system. Although some browsers, including Safari (from Apple
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+0. 15%) and Firefox, offer some additional protection against web trackers, private browsing mode does not guarantee that your web activities cannot be linked back to you or your device. Notably, private browsing mode does not prevent websites from learning your internet address, and it does not prevent your employer, school or internet service provider from seeing your web activities by tracking your IP asons to use it We conducted a research study in which we identified reasons people use private browsing mode. Most study participants wanted to protect their browsing activities or personal data from other users of their devices. Private browsing is actually pretty effective for this purpose. We found that people often used private browsing to visit websites or conduct searches that they did not want other users of their device to see, such as those that might be embarrassing or related to a surprise gift. In addition, private browsing is an easy way to log out of websites when borrowing someone else’s device — so long as you remember to close the window when you are done. Private browsing provides some protection against cookie-based tracking. Since cookies from your private browsing session are not stored after you close your private browsing window, it’s less likely that you will see online advertising in the future related to the websites you visit while using private browsing. Additionally, as long as you have not logged into your Google account, any searches you make will not appear in your Google account history and will not affect future Google search results. Similarly, if you watch a video on YouTube or other service in private browsing, as long as you are not logged into that service, your activity does not affect the recommendations you get in normal browsing it doesn’t do Private browsing does not make you anonymous online. Anyone who can see your internet traffic — your school or employer, your internet service provider, government agencies, people snooping on your public wireless connection — can see your browsing activity. Shielding that activity requires more sophisticated tools that use encryption, like virtual private networks. Private browsing also offers few security protections. In particular, it does not prevent you from downloading a virus or malware to your device. Additionally, private browsing does not offer any additional protection for the transmission of your credit card or other personal information to a website when you fill out an online form. It is also important to note that the longer you leave your private browsing window open, the more browsing data and cookies it accumulates, reducing your privacy protection. Therefore, you should get in the habit of closing your private browsing window frequently to wipe your slate ’s in a name It is not all that surprising that people have misconceptions about how private browsing mode works; the word “private” suggests a lot more protection than these modes actually provide. Furthermore, a 2018 research study found that the disclosures shown on the landing pages of private browsing windows do little to dispel misconceptions that people have about these modes. Chrome provides more information about what is and is not protected than most of the other browsers, and Mozilla now links to an informational page on the common myths related to private browsing. However, it may be difficult to dispel all of these myths without changing the name of the browsing mode and making it clear that private browsing stops your browser from keeping a record of your browsing activity, but it isn’t a comprehensive privacy shield. Lorrie Cranor is a professor of computer science and of engineering & public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Hana Habib is a graduate research assistant at Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Software Research. This was first published by The Conversation — “Private browsing: What it does – and doesn’t do – to shield you from prying eyes on the web”
Frequently Asked Questions about pinterest anonymous browsing
How do I browse anonymously on Pinterest?
But there are a few ways to maintain privacy on Pinterest.Create Private (Secret) Boards.Remove your last name from your profile.Hide your profile from search engines.Disable personalization.Disconnect Pinterest from social media accounts.Sep 1, 2016
How can I browse the Internet really anonymously?
Here are some efficient methods to stay anonymous online:Use a VPN connection.Choose a privacy-friendly browser.Use a proxy server.Search the web with an anonymous search engine.Install browser extensions for your privacy.Manage your privacy settings.
Is Anonymous Browsing really anonymous?
Private browsing does not make you anonymous online. Anyone who can see your internet traffic — your school or employer, your internet service provider, government agencies, people snooping on your public wireless connection — can see your browsing activity.Jul 31, 2020