How to hide your visit to our website

Looking for help or information about gender-based violence can be dangerous if someone abusing you finds out. It can also lead to feelings of shame or vulnerability if someone comes across your searches. While nothing on the internet is 100% safe from the eyes of others, you can take steps to protect yourself and your privacy. This guide will help you hide your digital traces from other people.

What are digital traces?

Digital traces are information about what you’ve been doing while using your computer, phone or other digital device. This can include things like:

  • Websites you visited.
  • Words you searched.
  • Your answers to online forms.
  • Videos you watched online.
  • Files and images you downloaded.

It’s easy to create digital traces without even knowing it. And it’s possible for other people to see your digital traces, especially if they have access to your devices or know your passwords.

Can I hide my digital traces?

It’s difficult to stop creating digital traces completely. But there are a few simple things you can do to protect yourself and your privacy.

You probably use an internet browser such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Edge or Internet Explorer.

Browsers save information as you use them – this is called ‘browsing data’. If someone looks at your browsing data they’ll be able to see what you’ve been doing online.

There’s a simple way around this. Open a ‘private’ or ‘incognito’ window. Anything you do in this window won’t show up in your browsing data.

Remember to close the window when you’re done.

You may also want to delete any files you downloaded to your device.

You can delete your browsing data if it’s already been saved. Depending on your browser you’ll normally find this option under History, Preferences or Settings.

You can choose what types of information to delete, such as browsing history and cached images. It’s often best to select all types, just to be sure.

You can also choose when you want to delete data from, such as the past 24 hours, the whole month, or all time.

Is your browser connected to your Google account? If so, your data can be saved on both your device and the cloud. Go to Data and Privacy in Google’s account settings to make sure your data is cleared on the cloud too.

You may also want to delete any files you downloaded to your device.

Hiding or deleting your browsing data won’t hide your downloaded files. You’ll need to delete the files if you don’t want anyone to find them.

When you delete a file, it often goes to the ‘trash’ or ‘recycle bin’ where it can still be found by someone. You’ll need to empty your trash to completely remove the file from your device.

Technology can be used to facilitate violence in other ways. For example, it can include sexual assault and stalking, among other harms. If you are concerned that your partner is monitoring your phone with spyware, or other harms have occurred, please reach out for support.

You can learn more about digital safety from the Safety Net Project’s toolkit for survivors.

Hiding or deleting your browsing data won’t hide your downloaded files. You’ll need to delete the files if you don’t want anyone to find them.

When you delete a file, it often goes to the ‘trash’ or ‘recycle bin’ where it can still be found by someone. You’ll need to empty your trash to completely remove the file from your device.

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