Anonymizer

Last Updated: August 18, 2011

Definition - What does Anonymizer mean?

An anonymizer is a proxy server that makes Internet activity untraceable. An anonymizer protects personally identifying information by hiding private information on the user's behalf.

When users anonymize their personal electronic identification information it can enable:

Risk minimization
Taboo electronic communications
Identity theft prevention
Protection of search history
Avoidance of legal and/or social consequences

An anonymizer may also be known as anonymous proxy.

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Techopedia explains Anonymizer

While an electric anonymizer can aid in computer security, it can also serve malicious purposes by protecting the users' identities when they use the Internet to promote slanderous statements or harass others. Such users can avoid legal and/or social repercussions if they anonymize in an effective manner.

Some social advocacy groups use anonymizer technologies so that they can report human or animal abuses as well another civil abuse reporting, including business malpractice or other unethical behavior. In business, when a users enlist electronic identity anonymizing they can avoid the risk of being fired from their jobs if they become whistle blowers and do not trust the confidentiality intentions of their business managers or the policies of the corporation they work for.