{"id":13296,"date":"2020-11-28T17:58:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-28T12:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stechguide.com\/?p=13296"},"modified":"2020-11-28T17:58:38","modified_gmt":"2020-11-28T12:28:38","slug":"why-you-need-to-protect-your-ip-address-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stechguide.com\/why-you-need-to-protect-your-ip-address-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Need to Protect Your IP Address Online"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether you\u2019re at work or you\u2019re an individual using a home computer, you may want to consider hiding your IP address. IP address vulnerabilities are a potential problem for several reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this article, we\u2019ll explain what an IP address is and why it\u2019s so critical that you protect it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Exactly is an IP Address?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we get into\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.efficientip.com\/solutions\/ip-address-management-solutions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IP security solutions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you should first understand precisely what this term means. An IP address:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is a numerical label<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is an identifying tag for a computer network-connected device<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your device, like a laptop, desktop, or tablet, communicates uses Internet Protocol, it needs an IP address. This address shows your physical location, and it also works for host or network interface identification purposes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Internet Protocol is a common rule or behavior set. When a device like a computer uses it, other systems can recognize it. Once that happens, they can communicate with each other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When your computer or other device has an IP address, it can achieve full functionality. It can use your router, connect using your Wi-Fi, and then you can log onto different websites.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why Would You Keep Your IP Address Private?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are several specific reasons why you\u2019d want to keep your IP address private, but the most general one is that if you have a visible IP address, entities can track what you do online. In other words:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ad networks can see your search history<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Websites can cut you off from content viewing because of geographical restrictions<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your IP address is your device\u2019s identification number. It shows websites your internet traffic history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You probably use search engines like Google every day, but you might not stop to think that these engines can then keep your search records. Many people feel it\u2019s a privacy invasion that companies track your interests this way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, let\u2019s go over some more specific reasons you might want to mask your IP address.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You Can Get Around Geographical Barriers<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s say you&#8217;ve got a Netflix subscription<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and you\u2019re trying to access it on your laptop when you\u2019re out of the country. You find that you can\u2019t do that because the service is country-specific.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can avoid that by masking your laptop\u2019s IP address. That way, you can use the service even if you\u2019re visiting Spain, Ireland, etc. You can get yourself a VPN (virtual private network) that can hide your IP address.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a VPN in place, another country\u2019s server routes your device\u2019s data. Websites you visit and services you access can no longer track your location.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Government Cannot Surveil You<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you protect your IP address, the government cannot surveil you. Doubtless, you\u2019re not a terrorist or doing anything shady online, but that doesn\u2019t mean you want the government spying on you. It\u2019s a freedom violation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some countries, like China,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/international\/archive\/2018\/02\/china-surveillance\/552203\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">spy on their citizens this way<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Most people don\u2019t like the idea that the government is looking over their shoulder while they do their online browsing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By getting a VPN, you can prevent this from taking place. If you want some privacy, you need IP address protection.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep Your Research Private<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe you\u2019re using your laptop at home, or perhaps you\u2019re using a work computer. In either case, let\u2019s say you have a vital work project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe there are spies in your profession. You\u2019re working on a sensitive or valuable project, and you don\u2019t want anyone to steal your proprietary secrets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a VPN, you can keep anyone from seeing your work. Also, if you\u2019re a journalist, you\u2019re in law enforcement, or you\u2019re a political candidate, you might need to do sensitive research. You probably don\u2019t want anyone to be able to track that, either.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hide from ISP Service Providers<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you\u2019re online, you\u2019re also using an ISP,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/360-reviews\/internet-providers\/what-is-isp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or internet service provider<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. No law explicitly states that an ISP cannot sell your data without your explicit consent. They can take your browsing history and give it to marketing analysts or advertisers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If they do this, they\u2019re profiting off you without your consent. That\u2019s another privacy violation you probably want to avoid. Hiding your IP address keeps them from executing this questionable data tracking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a rule, you don\u2019t want people seeing what you do online, even if everything you do is aboveboard.\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/133680\/htg-explains-what-is-a-vpn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Purchasing a VPN and using it<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0is a simple matter. It\u2019s how you keep your online activities to yourself rather than broadcasting them so many different entities can see them.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you\u2019re at work or you\u2019re an individual using a home computer, you may want to consider hiding your IP address. IP address vulnerabilities are a potential problem for several reasons. In this article, we\u2019ll explain what an IP address is and why it\u2019s so critical that you protect it. What Exactly is an IP <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12892],"tags":[14344,14343],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why You Need to Protect Your IP Address Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stechguide.com\/why-you-need-to-protect-your-ip-address-online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why You Need to Protect Your IP Address Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether you\u2019re at work or you\u2019re an individual using a home computer, you may want to consider hiding your IP address. 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