All Internet communications demand Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. It’d have no means to send you pages, pictures, files, and so on, if a web site you visit could not see your IP address.

To see how readily your IP address can be seen by a website, visit What Is My IP Address. Or just Google what is my ip address.

But it is not quite as frightening as it seems. They can not tell who in the house is seeing with them–a little relaxation, I confess, but this also shields you from particular drive by malware attacks.

What can site system administrators find out about you from the IP address of your router? They are able to identify your ISP and find out about where you are found. They’ll probably have the ability to spot your area, but not your house. And they are able to see how frequently you (or someone else sharing your router) visit their web site.

However they will not be able to see that eternally. It is likely that your IP address isn’t a permanent fixture.

And, obviously, should you take your notebook to a coffee house or library, you will have an entirely distinct IP address there (and public network security problems to contemplate).

In the event you are still worried, you need to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Your Internet connections travel encrypted from your personal computer to the VPN server, and from that point to their final destination once you have set one up. The websites you visit see just the IP address of the VPN. The difficulty, obviously, is that everything you do can be seen by the VPN.