Do want to surf the internet as you? Or do you want to surf the internet as someone else? This is what anonymous surfing is for, and this is what an anonymous VPN for Mac can help you do. I know, it sounds a bit shady, but we're not talking about stealing someone's ID, we're talking about using an anonymous identity on the internet. Before you continue reading I'd like to emphasize that this is used for PRIVACY, not CRIME.

What is anonymity online?

I write these types of articles quite a bit, so I'll try not to go on a rant, but there are quite a few people and organizations that would love to know more about you. Not because you're interesting, sorry. They want to know more about you for two reasons.

• 1. To sell you more stuff
• 2. To control you

Basically I'm talking about the government and advertisers. The details of why, you can probably figure out yourself. How they do this is partly through your IP address. Sure, when you sign into accounts like Gmail and Facebook there has been some recent controversy as to how much of your online activity is public. But the idea is that these places will protect your privacy. But even if you're not signed into an account, what you search for, what you browse, stream, download, and even say online can be recorded through your IP. Your IP is tied to your ISP, and your ISP has of course your home address, your credit card details. It's almost impossible to escape. It's not IF they know, it's HOW MUCH they know.

• Anonymity online erases your identity on the internet.
• It makes you just another face in the crowd.
• It removes the connection between your online activity and other details about you.

How do you become anonymous?

There are two types of online tools that are associated with anonymity and privacy on the internet: Anonymous proxies and anonymous VPNs. Proxies are often associated with spam and crime, and they're also limited to web based activity, so I'll jut talk about VPNs. Actually, for a high quality proxy you'll end up paying about the same, so VPNs are recommended, regardless of your operating system.

There's no hardware needed to install and use a VPN. You sign up for a VPN service, which will usually have anywhere from one to 12 month subscriptions available. Install the software, connect to a server, and you're now anonymous online. It's that fast.

There are a few things to consider before you decide on a VPN service for your Mac. Aside from normal considerations like price, quality of customer service, and subscription length, you need to choose a VPN protocol and what server you want to sign up for. OpenVPN is the recommended VPN protocol for Mac because it's the most secure and uses SSL encryption. For privacy and security online, L2TP/IPSec can also be considered, but if you truly want higher levels of encryption for your VPN connection ,you can use a service that offers free upgrades to 256-bit SSL encryption for OpenVPN. Many do that.

Server location is another thing to look out for. The location of the sever will effect your IP. If you sign into a server in The USA, you'll get a US IP address. If you sign into a server in Nigeria, you'll get a Nigerian. It doesn't matter where you actually are when you use the VPN, your IP will be the same as the VPN server. That is actually one of the advantages of using a VPN. You can have an identity from anywhere in the world. This is an easy way to unblock websites.