I  suppose this subject has come up before but haven't seen it.
I have always used the Firefox browser with settings to not remember any history. This still allows me to accept cookies and remember some passwords but protects privacy if anyone else uses my computer. I have also used Chrome incognito. But I don't like the way Chrome "suggests" things I might not want suggested.

On mobile devices I have used some versions of Opera which allow you to view and clear history after each session, and that seems to work OK.

But I recently downloaded Opera 15 for my PC and got an unpleasant surprise. While you can delete your history and close the browser, when you reopen it it pops back to your last page viewed. And if you go back to the start page your previously viewed pages are still visible on the Back button. Tried a lot of ways to erase this but could not. The only thing I could do was uninstall Opera and reinstall it.

Any other tips or ideas welcome. Of course private browsing is an option on most browsers.

I just bought a Sierra Wireless device for like 80 bucks, and use prepaid cards for it. From what I gather, it keeps changing my IP all the time because yesterday I was in "Texas" and no clue where I am today lol. It's just a device that allows you to travel and hook up to any 3g or 4g network, and you never have to hook up to say a hotel server when you hobby and want to email providers. Set up was a pain in the ass, but it's fine now.

Every networked device has a unique manufacturer assigned MAC address. Ultimately that is traceable no matter the IP

Yes, but that is only on the sites you go to, not the hotel you're staying at. The Omni can't trace my internet if I am not hooked up to their server, and that's my point. The OP is probably trying to avoid being traced at all, which like you said, is impossible. I don't much care if TER knows where I am at, but I do care if the hotel I am using for an illegal act does lol.  

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The concern about privacy--due in no small part to the recent NSA revelations and some high profile busts-- is the latest wave in a recurring theme about LE concerns. In that sense while the technology has certainly changed I'm not sure how much the risk has changed because LE still has rapists,  murderers and home invasion robbers to focus on and the Feds are still mostly looking for trafficking,  financial crimes and of course terrorism.   But on the other hand we are also victims of our own success.  All those new and old but growing sites advertising pay for play (yes I'm looking at you BP), all the big agencies advertising porn stars and elite models, and yes all the chatter here and elsewhere have begun to make Fight Club very visible indeed. Is Fight Club still FC if we're doing it under klieg lights?  We--and of course I include myself in terms of responsibility--have reaped the benefit of the electronic marketplace lo these many years;  but it's hard to avoid the conclusion that this measure of success may have made some of us careless, greedy and complacent.  As London points out what we do here is still illegal in 49 states.  HOW we do it will be the determining factor in whether we get to keep enjoying it at this level or whether this market is headed for a correction.

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but about hiding history from others using his computer or smart phone.

The replies are actually about privacy, replying to his subject line. The answer, as I have said many times (pre-Snowden) is that if you want privacy, you should not be on the Internet. Also tear up your credit cards, throw away your cell phone, and put on a foil hat (just kidding about the last, sort of). There are all sorts of good reasons why we have given up any pretense of privacy over the last decade, the main being convenience and improved service. Google is mostly to blame, but only because life is so much easier if all the search results we are provided are useful. Anyone remember the bad, old days when you actually had to try different search terms, and possibly read through a few pages of results to find what you wanted? Or, to go back even further, go to the library, pull a bunch of books or periodicals, take notes long hand, and...

Clearly it is an improvement. There are lots of tools for increasing your security and privacy on line, so long as you are willing to go to the trouble to use them properly, and to sacrifice the convenience. There are a couple of major issues with the tools - one is that with enough effort and intelligence, they can be broken to find out who you are, and the other is that by the act of using some of them you are putting your hand up and saying you have something to hide. In effect, by trying to hide, you are bringing attention to yourself.

Better to hide in plain sight and try to avoid making oneself a rich target, worth pursuing. I have some theories on how one does that, but those are definitely not things to be shared here. In general, they depend on being a solo act whenever possible, as opposed to part of anything larger.

Anyway, OP, if you want to turn off the option to save browsing history and cookies, you can do a reasonable job of hiding your hobby from your SO or anyone else casually using your computer or smart phone, but privacy and safety from spying eyes is mostly a fantasy, IMO, if those eyes are truly interested and smart enough to know how to pierce your veil.

zig

concealing your activities from someone who may use your computer after you. Not necessarily anyone else.

Are you using windows? If so, you can set different users. I have two set up on my computer: myself and "guest". Mine is password protected. The "guest" one is not, so anyone can log onto that one. When my computer is idle for some time, it sorta sleeps, and when you wake it up, you have to choose a user. To see my stuff, you have to know my password.

If it is a family computer where others are expected to use it, have everyone set up a user acct with a password. If passwords would be suspicious to a SO, you may have to invest in a secret NetBook to do your hobby browsing.

Exactly right lol. I just wanted to tell about my Sierra, but that's more for providers who want to keep safe. What is someone puts spy ware on his computer? Any way for him to find out if it's on there? I think it's risky to use a damn shared computer to contact hookers, especially if it's shared with family. There are other ways.  

TOR browsers can shield your actions even from the target server and everything in between, but they are slow and not everything works. It makes sense to be more concerned about your wireless host than Sprint or Verizon, however, as the latter would probably go bankrupt if they leaked the salacious activity of their customers.

Ultimately it comes down to how much someone wants to dig. There is always a signature.

On Windows or Mac (or Linux) with multiple computers in a family situation, here's my suggestion: have two accounts.  One is your for-public-consumption "Real Name" account.  This is the account you use when your wife is in the room, to make dinner reservations, buy airline tickets, stuff on amazon, watch Netflix, whatever.  It doesn't matter if she knows (or could guess) the password.  And if she does get nosy and check your browsing history, it's all innocent.

Have a second account that you only use for personal browsing, and make the password something your family members could never guess.  Call it "system account" or something like that.  If your computer has ever been in the shop for upgrade or repair, that's perfect -- call it "Best Buy Geek Squad" or "Apple Genius Bar account," etc.  "I don't even know the password to that account, honey.  I'm just keeping it on there in case we need it again in the future."

Now.  If your wife or child(ren) are computer-savvy, and if they have administrator privileges on your computer, they can of course change the "system account"'s password and get in and take a look.  So it's not a perfect system, and still a good idea to use private/incognito browsing, don't save passwords, delete history/cache frequently, etc.  But it's another layer of protection.

try Startpage.com   It claims it is the only third-party certified search engine in the world that does not record your IP address or track your searches.  Would be interested in others experience with this search engine.

It is supposedly enhanced by Google, but woefully inadequate. If you have a particular website to visit it seems fine, just not for searches.

If I need absolute anonymity, I'll go to a public library or to a Kinko's (pay w/cash).

I also needed to have a bit lower level of anonymity, and so bought into a service that changes IP's constantly using proxies. I paid them using a Yahoo email address and a PayPal account that was funded with a cash card and registered to a real person in Mesa, AZ.

There once was a provider who I scheduled an appointment with who was smart and in my opinion quite the joy to view and also quite fun in the sack... she made a movie (porno style)  but shortly after I met her, she evidently decided to quit the biz, as well as porno.... For whatever reason, she disappeared TOTALLY - but there are a couple of tricks she used - everything about her beautiful self, she copyrighted - everything, pictures, photos, film, writings you name it, she copyrighted if.

My review of her was erased due to other reasons, but you can still see a few reviews of her, because as we all know, TER copyrights all "fictional encounters" described on its electronic pages....

alas, I still miss her.... magical - and just like that - it was as if she never existed... one odd thing more, I still have photos of her, as she let me take a couple of her!  Sigh

there were the rags which contained "personals" and one had to be a mind reader to decode what was on offer!!  (DATY, K-9, mish, CIM etc are totally transparent compared to some of the code used then)

You also had many more "pavement princesses" and "loby ladies" (go into the hotel bar, and voila, they approacheth!).  In some instances this was very dangerous, but for the most part, it was good harmless fun.

Then there were the massage parlors, hot tub palaces.  These places had gaudy neon signs, parking that was inside a wooden can't see through fence.  you went in, and you were greated with a Nevada style line-up.  You got a massage for 10 min or so, then you signed a statement which provided "evidence' that that was what you were there for, and NOTHING else... The girl then left the room, for 2 min or so, then came back - all smiles saying she was "off work' and you did unspeakable things... this is where I came in...

now?  all on the net- the bottle neck through which we all move.... maybe this is the Matrix - or so it feels.

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illegeal acts?  I am shocked.  I thought I paid for witty conversation only

Keep it in your work bag and don't take it out or use it when the SO is around. Password protect it and if asked say that it's a work demo that is on loan to you to test it for your department. Even put a label on it that has your company logo and a fake company inventory number (my company actually has loaner iPads for company use to test programs and other stuff).  

Needless to say you should also have a hobby phone.

able to live so in the open and will need to go back to the old days of true discretion OFFline.

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I agree... but it is slow, don't you think.  Onion routing as society's only hope -- who would have guessed that 5 years ago.

Do me a favor , there's some lonely guy on NY board who wants to read twitter or something I know he wants to follow you ! Go post 4 him xoxoxo thanks . Loved the pm .

It gets wiped out after the record retention requirements. Record retention laws are different for different types of documents. There are 43 state laws and 7 or so federal laws by different agencies such as the SEC, Health and Human Services, Medicare.

For example, if there are financial information included in an email, the must be kept according to financial document retention law of both state and federal. On the other hand, if send an email to London asking how she is doing, it only needs to be retained according to email retention law.

email is 5 years, medical record is forever, financial record is 7 years. In most cases companies use the most restrictive law which makes them comply with every state and federal law.  

Keeping records forever costs a lot of money so companies destroy records that can be destroyed on an yearly basis.  

It is complicated, one will only know this if you are involved in Information Security and Audit.

It changes as information goes through many different devices.

since she complained about my old slow desk...  later upgraded "my" desktop but she has hers for her stuff & a new devise she bought.  
She only looks at mine when I choose to show her something...  but it's not impossible that she could turn it on when I'm not here...  but she doesn't like the way mine is set up.  I have mine set to delete browsing history on close & I would accidentally close before I turned it over to another.  I run anti virus, anti spyware, & ccleaner regularly.  Not that I could not be snooped in between but limits the amount of data.
I use a hobby phone, no names in address book...  I use a hobby email.

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Not entirely true. You can spoof the MAC address quite easily