What is an IP address?
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is an integral feature of all web traffic. It is a unique numerical identifier associated with your geolocated device whenever you make a connection online. Any connecting party will also have their own unique IP address, as well as access to your own.
There are different types of IPs: some are based on numerical lengths (IPv4 and IPv6), and others are public or private, or static and dynamic. The most common is the static & public IP given to your device by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the first service provider that gives you access to the web wherever you are.
Your IP address is basically a digital pseudonym (in either 32- or 128-bit formats). Everything on the web has one: your phone or desktop, the websites and people with whom you connect, or the proxy servers or VPNs you can use in between them. We’ll come back to these proxies soon.
What does an IP address do?
IP addresses facilitate connections between all parties on the web. Imagine trying to send a letter to a friend without including the address! IPs are the addresses which, according to Internet Protocols (IPs), make sure connections are possible and successful.
However, the impact of IP addresses does not end there: they are also the primary piece of metadata by which we are all being tracked online.
Who can see my IP address?
Your real IP address is given by your ISP and associated with your device. It is public. If it is not otherwise hidden behind a proxy, it will be visible to anyone with whom, and through whom, you make a connection.
There are 4 important parties who can view your IP when you’re online:
- ISPs. Internet Service Providers are how we all gain access to the public web. So when we connect, the ISP will have access not only to our IP address, but also to what or with whom we are connecting. ISPs also know a lot more about you than your IP.
- Web services. When you go to a website or app, your IP is visible to that service. It will also probably be recorded to track what you look at while you’re there. This metadata can even be accumulated to be sold to third parties looking to profit from mass data analysis.
- Contacts & apps. Sending a message or email to a friend will also reveal your IP to them. But it will also reveal it to any intermediary parties or apps facilitating the communication (like Meta or Google). These Big Tech companies are the largest data harvesters and surveillance agents in the digital world.
- Network surveillance. Whatever we’re doing online, there are always entities listening in. Any equipped surveillance looking at networks we are on will be able to see the corresponding IPs.
What does my IP address reveal about me?
Your IP address reveals 3 important things about you:
1. Your IP itself
Obvious! But don’t forget, your IP address is the most important piece of metadata when it comes to tracking what you do online. It’s your digital signature. Assuming your IP doesn’t change over time (it can), the same signature will be attached to everything you do.
2. Your geolocation
Your IP also reveals your proximate location when you connect: the city, state, province, and country where you are. This could be as close as a kilometer (showing your neighborhood) or a bit further (minimally showing the city).
3. Your ISP
Your ISP is what links you to the public web. But it’s also a business that can link you via your IP to the IP of what you connect with online. Unless you’re protecting your traffic, your ISP can know, share, and even censor all of your web connections. ISPs also likely have access to your payment records, name, and address.
Note: On its own, your IP address does not reveal your real name or address. But your ISP can directly link you directly to what you do online, and more sophisticated surveillance through your ISP could easily reveal this information to third parties. Let’s see how.
Can your IP address be used to track you?
100%. Your IP is the primary piece of metadata used in tracking what you do online.
If unchanged, it can reveal all of your online connection histories online. Your IP is what will be used as a reference for compiling, for instance, your browsing histories or communications over time. Should anyone other than you and your trusted contacts have access to that information? Nym doesn’t think so.
It can reveal your real identity via your ISP. Your ISP is the first entity that can see your IP address, and they can importantly link what you do online to even more personal information, like your internet subscriptions, payment info, name, exact address, etc. Should anyone be able to censor, control, or report what you do online to third parties? Nym doesn’t think so.
Can you hide your IP address?
Absolutely. This is the primary function of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) like NymVPN and proxy servers. Confused about the difference between VPNs and proxies? Learn all about it! Whatever you’re using, they both function as intermediaries between you and the public web to replace your true IP address with one unassociated with you.
Say you want to connect with wikipedia.com but not have people spying on what you’re searching for. With a VPN or a proxy, your traffic will first be routed through a server of either service before it is forwarded to Wikipedia. But in the process, the IP address of your request will have changed to that of the VPN or proxy server. So to Wikipedia itself, or to anyone else listening in (like your ISP or surveillance), it will appear that it is the VPN or proxy connecting and not you. You’re ostensibly hidden, but are you really?
Are VPNs and proxies enough to protect you from tracking and surveillance?
Unfortunately, no. When it comes to online surveillance, especially in the age of AI, it’s not so easy to be secure and private against the many surveillance threats out there. What is wrong with VPNs and proxies then? Unfortunately, a lot, but let’s focus on your IP address.
VPNs and proxies are by far and large centralized entities. This means that all of your traffic will pass through a single server owned, operated, or rented by a single company. There are a lot of risks in this model:
- Content exposure. A good VPN should also encrypt your traffic before it ever leaves your device. If it does not, then the VPN company might be able to fully see what you are doing or communicating online. Fortunately, default web encryption safeguards against this possibility.
- IP linkability. Even if the content of what you proxy through the VPN is encrypted, the IPs of your device and that of what you connect with online will potentially be linkable on the VPN server. Remember: metadata like IPs will always be visible data despite encryption.
- VPN spyware. It’s estimated that roughly 50% of VPN users are using free VPN services. Not only are these services scams, but they can function as spyware. Obviously, this is the opposite or privacy-preserving: selling your metadata to third party data brokers, installing third party cookies to track your behavior, etc.
- Cooperation with authorities. If a centralized [VPN logs]9https://nym.com/blog/vpns-no-logs-policy) your traffic records, this means they can hand over your internet activity to authorities seeking access to individual or mass records, regardless of legality. This can be done by authoritarian regimes, who often control national ISPs, to stifle political dissent or impinge on people’s rights to free expression and association.
VPN technology, at least 2 decades old at this point, doesn’t have to succumb to these risks for users.
Are decentralized VPNs better?
Decentralized VPNs (dVPNs) are built on a different model. Instead of routing user traffic through a single server, traffic is sent through multiple independent servers. In principle, this means that no single point on the network can link your IP address directly to the IP of what or who you connect with online.
Unfortunately, many apps marketing themselves as dVPNs are not actually decentralized. Decentralization requires more than simply having 2 servers (or hops): if one company routes user traffic through 2 servers that they control, then that centralized company can itself link a user to their traffic.
What makes NymVPN better and more than a VPN?
NymVPN is much more than a VPN, and more than a decentralized network: it’s a solution to the growing problem of AI surveillance. In addition to obscuring your IP address through a decentralized, multi-hop network made up of independent service providers, NymVPN also adds noise to the network to block AI pattern recognition of people’s traffic. Learn all about Nym’s noise techniques.
NymVPN offers two in-app modes to choose from in how you want your traffic routed:
- Fast Mode routes your traffic through a decentralized 2-server network. This means your IP address is replaced 2x by independent proxies, each of which cannot log the full route of your traffic.
- Anonymous Mode routes your traffic through an unparalleled 5-server Noise Generating Mixnet. This means your IP address is replaced 5x, thus offering some of the best privacy protections currently on the market. By contrast, the Tor network, famous for its anonymity, provides 3 hops or IP address obfuscations for people.
Keep in mind that NymVPN is genuinely decentralized, which means that Nym does not run, control, or have access to the data passing through the network. Nym will never see or have access to your IP address (only the entry gateway on the server will, but never to the IP address of your web connection).
