Privacy and VPNs: a free hands-on course for beginners
Seven short lessons on what websites, your internet provider and a VPN can each see about you, and what every privacy tool really protects. No scare stories and no sales pitch: in every lesson you test it on your own device and see the result for yourself.
0 of 7 lessons done
By the end you’ll be able to
- See exactly what a website learns about you in one visit
- Find out what your internet provider sees, and encrypt your DNS lookups
- Count the trackers on a page and cut them down
- Use private browsing for what it’s actually good at
- Measure what a VPN changes, and test it for leaks
- Get your details off people-search sites
What you need: a computer with Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari; most lessons also work on a phone. A VPN for Lessons 5 and 6 helps but isn’t required. It’s easier if you’ve done Course 1: How the Internet Works, especially the DNS lesson.
- 1
What a Website Sees in One Visit
Look at what your IP address and your browser hand over before you click anything, and how it adds up to a fingerprint.
Open15 minutes · hands-on - 2
What Your Internet Provider Sees
Find out who answers your DNS lookups, what the padlock hides and what it doesn’t, then switch on encrypted DNS and prove it works.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 3
Find the Trackers on a Page
Use your browser’s developer tools to count the companies one page contacts, find their cookies and block them.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 4
Put Private Browsing to the Test
Compare a normal and a private window side by side and see what incognito hides, what it forgets and what it never touches.
Open15 minutes · hands-on - 5
What a VPN Changes, and What It Doesn’t
Record what sites and your provider see, switch a VPN on, and measure what changes and who sees your traffic now.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 6
Check Your VPN for Leaks
Test for IP, WebRTC and IPv6 leaks, check your DNS by hand, test the kill switch, and fix whatever leaks.
Open20 minutes · hands-on - 7
Get Your Details Off People-Search Sites
Search for yourself like a stranger would, remove results from Google, and opt out of a people-search site start to finish.
Open25 minutes · hands-on
What do you know already?
Try these three now, then again when you finish the course. Pick one answer each and you’ll see why.
1. What does incognito or private mode actually do?
2. You visit a site over HTTPS. What can your internet provider normally still see?
3. Your VPN app says “Connected”. Can your real IP address still reach a website?
This course is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: teachers and learners may share and adapt the lessons for non-commercial use, with credit to ExamineIP and a link to the original. The tools, books and other pages it links to aren’t covered by this licence.