Some places where you might sign up for a credit card or cell phone actually sell your data (home address, age, gender, etc.) and sites publish this information. It's out there and it's all information that you provided.

Any username you've used to post to a forum or other site. I look up the IP address from where the email came, I go to Google, I type in the sender's name or email address, and almost 100% of the time, I find who this person is and what they look like within the first 10 results.ĭon't believe me? Go to Google and search for your name, your email address, or your username. Why hide your IP address when you post everything about your life on social media sites? I get questions all the time about ways to remain anonymous, etc. Here's where you should be the most concerned in my opinion. However, if you're just the average, everyday surfer, they don't care what your IP address is, nor do most other sites. However, if you're successful with nefarious activity on their site, they very well could spend the resources to find you depending on the level of severity or threat you may pose to their business. Even if you attempted to hack their servers, they'll simply block your IP and move on. There are over a billion users on Facebook there would be no need to single you out. Does this mean they're going to track you down and spy on you? No don't worry about that. If you visit Facebook, whether you're logged in or not, they'll see the IP address from which you are connecting. Theoretically, only the servers owners have access to those log files.Īn example would be Facebook. People are often concerned with others getting their IP address from those log files. Almost every server or computer you connect to via the web will have a log file. To remain completely anonymous, it takes extreme diligence when using your computer and the means in which you connect to the Internet. With enough resources, almost anyone can be found, no matter how they hide their IP or their tracks. The short explanation is that you're not completely anonymous when you're surfing the inter-webs. Unfortunately, that couldn't be further from the truth. A vast majority of people want to hide their IP address because they think it will give them anonymity on the internet and keep hackers from hacking their computer. Subsequently, they ask questions about their IP addresses. I often browse sites like Quora and Yahoo Answers to see if I can contribute and help folks.

Add my ip hide to exclusions