Are you certain your online activities are private? Think again.

Not only are your surfing sessions tracked by websites, search engines and social networks, but often your Internet provider, Web browser, government and potentially hundreds of online tracking companies.

Whether it's to collect valuable marketing data or prevent criminal activity, everything you think you're doing privately in the comfort of your home is anything but private.

That said, there are a few ways to spend time online anonymously. The following are a few suggestions.

SMART SOFTWARE

How does Facebook know to show you ads for your local gym or supermarket? In part it's because your computer's unique Internet Protocol (IP) address, assigned by your Internet provider, reveals your geographical whereabouts. Even if your computer generates a different IP address every time you boot up or log online, this number (e.g. 220.165.119.12) can still tell your general location.

There are a variety of solutions that can hide your Internet connection, allowing you to remain anonymous while online.

Some are websites, such as free "online proxy servers" that conceal your identity. Simply point the Web address (URL) to the proxy server and surf right from its website (check out proxy.org for a list of great options).

Others prefer to download Virtual Private Network (VPN) software that encrypts your online sessions.

The browser-independent Hotspot Shield from AnchorFree (anchorfree.com), for example — available for Windows, Macs, iPhone and Android — channels all Web activities through a personal VPN and secures Internet communications by turning all HTTP traffic into the safer HTTPS (which is what your bank uses for a safe connection). There's an ad-supported free version and a beefier "elite" option ($29.95/year) with more bells and whistles.

Similarly, Tor is free software that defends you against Internet surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy. Short for "The Onion Router" — which gets its name for its "layered" approach to the encryption process — Tor (torproject.org) provides online anonymity as the software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers to conceal your location or online usage patterns.

USB STICKS

In some cases, software to encrypt your connection is kept on a USB drive — so you can remain safe and secure even when using a public PC.

SurfEasy Private Browser ($69.99 one-time fee; surfeasy.com) is a tiny USB key that fits into a credit card-shaped case to be kept in your wallet. When you plug it into a PC or Mac — be it your own computer or a public one — it instantly launches its own password-protected browser and you're good to go (no proxy or network settings to configure).

Your browsing session is handled through SurfEasy's fast and secure private proxy network. Your IP address will be masked throughout the session.

The company also has a new downloadable product called SurfEasy VPN that can protect computers, smartphones and tablets.

Also consider Tails (tails.boum.org), which can be downloaded and installed onto a USB stick to run independently of the computer's original operating system. Like SurfEasy, it lets you browse the Web anonymously — on virtually any computer — as all connections are channeled through the aforementioned Tor network.

BROWSER TWEAKS

Anonymous proxy software is a great way to mask your IP address online, but there is still plenty of information about your Web-surfing habits stored on your computer — which could also be viewed over a network, say, at the office, by your IT department.

At least it's somewhat easy to control your privacy settings directly in your Web browser, unless your company forbids non-administrators from making changes to your browser settings.

You can disable cookies — tiny text files stored on your computer with information about where you've been online, passwords and other info — and you should also delete your browser history to cover your tracks. All major Web browsers — such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari — allow you to delete your surfing history: Simply go to the Options or Settings in your favorite browser and you'll see how to do this.

You might want to turn off auto-complete or someone on your computer could type in a few letters in a search engine or Web address (URL) bar and any recent places you visited could fill in automatically. And don't click to allow sites to "remember my password" or someone could gain access to your private or financial information.

The easiest thing to do, however, is to see if your Web browser has settings for surfing incognito — most of the major browsers do today. By enabling these privacy settings, your browser won't save any history (and download history), search queries, cookies or passwords.

When it comes to your search engine, you could choose not to save your history. Google, for example, was recently ordered to make this easier for users, to avoid European privacy rules. You could also choose not to log into your Google account when using these services (or not use them at all) or you might want to install one of the free browser plug-ins that tell Google and other advertisers to back off.

Finally, you might have heard Facebook is going to start sharing Web-browsing history it collects with advertisers to display more targeted ads — yes, even on non-Facebook sites you visit. But you can opt out of this within Facebook's Privacy settings.

你確定你的上網(wǎng)活動是隱私嗎?再想一想。

據(jù)《今日美國報(bào)》網(wǎng)站報(bào)道，不僅是你的瀏覽過程被網(wǎng)站、搜索引擎和社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)跟蹤，還會被你的網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)提供者，網(wǎng)頁瀏覽器，政府以及上百家網(wǎng)絡(luò)追蹤公司所追蹤。

不論是收集可貴的市場營銷數(shù)據(jù)，或者是防范犯罪活動，所有你認(rèn)為你在家里私下做的事情絕不是保密的。

即便如此，我們?nèi)杂幸恍┓椒涿貢秤尉W(wǎng)絡(luò)。以下便是一些建議。

智能軟件

臉書是如何向你呈現(xiàn)你當(dāng)?shù)氐慕∩矸炕蛘叱械膹V告的?一部分是由于你電腦唯一的IP地址。這個(gè)地址注冊在你的網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)提供商之下，揭示了你的地理位置。即使你的電腦每次連接登陸網(wǎng)絡(luò)時(shí)，都產(chǎn)生一個(gè)不同的IP地址，這個(gè)數(shù)字(例如：220.165.119.12)仍然會暴露你的大體位置。

你有許多的方法可以隱藏你的網(wǎng)絡(luò)連接，使得你上網(wǎng)時(shí)保持匿名。

一些是網(wǎng)站，例如免費(fèi)的“網(wǎng)絡(luò)代理服務(wù)器”——可以隱藏你的身份。簡單地將網(wǎng)絡(luò)地址(URL)改成代理服務(wù)器，并直接從網(wǎng)頁瀏覽網(wǎng)站(請查看proxy.com的一張列出許多選項(xiàng)的清單)。

其他的就傾向于下載虛擬專用網(wǎng)(VPN)軟件——可以將你的網(wǎng)絡(luò)部分加密。

來自于AnchorFree(anchorfree.com)的獨(dú)立瀏覽器熱點(diǎn)屏蔽軟件，舉個(gè)例子——對于Windows，Mac，Iphone和Android操作系統(tǒng)均有效。它通過一個(gè)個(gè)人的VPN疏導(dǎo)所的網(wǎng)頁活動，并轉(zhuǎn)變所有HTTP通訊成為一個(gè)更安全的HTTPS來使網(wǎng)絡(luò)交流更為安全(這就是你的銀行運(yùn)用的更為安全的連接)。一個(gè)無廣告支持的免費(fèi)版本和一個(gè)更結(jié)實(shí)擁有更多修飾的“精銳”可供選擇($29.95/年)。

相同地，Tor是一個(gè)免費(fèi)的軟件——保護(hù)你不被威脅個(gè)人自由和隱私，免于網(wǎng)絡(luò)監(jiān)視。Tor是“The Onion Router" (洋蔥路由器)的縮寫。這名字的由來是由于它保密途徑的”分層的”方式。該軟件通過一個(gè)世界范圍的志愿服務(wù)器網(wǎng)絡(luò)——可以藏匿你的位置或者上網(wǎng)習(xí)慣，將網(wǎng)絡(luò)交流分路，Tor(torproject.org)提供網(wǎng)絡(luò)的匿名性。

U盤

在一些情況下，軟件對于你的連接保密是存儲于一個(gè)USB儲存盤上的——因而當(dāng)你用一個(gè)公共的電腦時(shí)，你可確保安全和保密。

SurfEasy Private Browser (方便瀏覽的保密瀏覽器，$69.99 一次性繳費(fèi);surfeasy.com)是一個(gè)小小的USB鑰匙——可以放入一個(gè)信用卡形狀的盒子，并且放進(jìn)你的錢包。當(dāng)你將它插入一個(gè)電腦或者蘋果電腦——隨便是你自己的電腦或者一個(gè)公共電腦——這鑰匙會立刻安裝它自己的有密碼保護(hù)的瀏覽器，如此一勞永逸(無需設(shè)定代理或者網(wǎng)絡(luò)設(shè)置)。

你的瀏覽部分通過SurfEasy快速和安全的隱私代理網(wǎng)絡(luò)處理。你的IP地址在整個(gè)過程中都會被掩藏。

這家公司同時(shí)也有個(gè)新的可供下載的產(chǎn)品叫做SurfEasy VPN (輕松瀏覽虛擬專用網(wǎng))——可以保護(hù)電腦，智能手機(jī)以及平板電腦。

另外，考慮一下Tails (tails.boum.org)——可以單獨(dú)下載并且安裝于U盤上，并且可獨(dú)立于電腦原本的操作系統(tǒng)單獨(dú)運(yùn)行。例如 SurfEasy，讓你匿名地瀏覽網(wǎng)頁——實(shí)際上在任何電腦上——因?yàn)樗械倪B接都由上述提及的Tor網(wǎng)絡(luò)引導(dǎo)。

特殊瀏覽器

匿名代理軟件是一個(gè)隱藏你IP地址的絕妙方法，但是卻仍有許多關(guān)于你的網(wǎng)頁瀏覽習(xí)慣的信息存儲于你的電腦，這些也可以被網(wǎng)絡(luò)查看，比如說，在辦公室，被你的IT部門(網(wǎng)路技術(shù)部門)。

至少這樣直接在你的網(wǎng)絡(luò)瀏覽器里，控制你的隱私設(shè)置比較容易，除非你的電腦禁止非管理員對你的瀏覽設(shè)置做出改變。

你可以使得信息記錄程序(cookies)——儲存于你的電腦的一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的關(guān)于你上網(wǎng)瀏覽過什么，密碼以及其他信息的文字文檔，不工作。你也應(yīng)當(dāng)刪除你的瀏覽記錄來掩藏你的軌跡。所有主要的網(wǎng)絡(luò)瀏覽器——例如Internet Explorer(網(wǎng)絡(luò)探索者)，F(xiàn)irefox(火狐)，Chrome(谷歌瀏覽器)或者Safari(蘋果瀏覽器)——都允許你刪除你的瀏覽歷史：簡單地找到選項(xiàng)或者設(shè)置菜單，你會明白如何刪除瀏覽歷史。

你或許想要關(guān)閉自動完成功能，否則某人在你的電腦上僅僅在搜索引擎或者地址欄中輸入一些字母，任何你的近期瀏覽過的地址會自動地填寫。還有，不要選擇允許網(wǎng)站“記住我的密碼”否則某人可以獲得你的隱私或者賬戶的信息。

不過最簡單的方法是，看你的網(wǎng)絡(luò)瀏覽器時(shí)候有無痕瀏覽的選項(xiàng)——大多數(shù)主要的瀏覽器確有此項(xiàng)功能。通過啟動這些隱私設(shè)置，你的瀏覽器不會保存任何歷史(以及下載歷史)，搜索詞條，信息記錄(cookies)或者密碼。

說到你的搜索引擎，你可以選擇不保存你的歷史，舉個(gè)例子，比如谷歌，最近接到命令為客戶把此項(xiàng)功能簡易化，來防止歐洲的隱私條例。當(dāng)你運(yùn)用這些服務(wù)的時(shí)候(或者根本不用)，你也可以選擇不登陸你的谷歌賬戶，否則你或許會想要安裝某個(gè)免費(fèi)的瀏覽器插件，讓谷歌以及其他的廣告商遠(yuǎn)離你。

最后，你或許已經(jīng)聽說過臉書將會和廣告商分享它收集的網(wǎng)頁瀏覽歷史，來呈現(xiàn)更有針對性的廣告——是的，甚至你瀏覽的非臉書的網(wǎng)站上。但你可以在臉書的隱私設(shè)置中選擇逃離這些。