From VPNs to tracker blockers, here’s how to stay secure while viewing adult content online.
When it comes to online porn, we just kind of accept that, as the de facto red light district of the web, it’s going to be riddled with problems. We don’t have to. AI, deepfakes, and lax site moderation have made it a target, with some looking to improve the situation and others to ban it outright. 23 US states have passed age-verification laws that have effectively banned adult websites from operating in those areas. While porn is still popular, consuming it can also put your privacy (and dignity) at risk.
Beyond any personal objections to pornography readers may have, there is also the issue of exploitation. Adult content is frequently reused and reposted online, making it difficult to tell if those appearing in pornography have consented to the release of the content or were fairly compensated (our sibling site, Mashable, has an excellent deep dive on how to find ethical porn). That’s not to mention trafficking in stolen images, the abuse of minors, revenge porn, deepfakes, and the use of AI on non-consenting individuals. We encourage readers to report abuse and exploitation wherever they see it.1. Go Incognito to Hide Your Browsing History While Watching Porn
A surefire way to embarrass yourself is to have your auto-complete reveal your browsing habits during a presentation or work meeting. You don’t need us to tell you how bad the social consequences of this can be. Search engines try to be helpful by guessing what you’re typing based on what you’ve done in the past. This can save time, but it can also be embarrassing. If you frequent pornsite.xxx, your browser might « helpfully » fill in that URL when you go to show someone a site that starts with the same letter.
This is bad enough if someone is looking over your shoulder, but in a Zoom meeting, you’re likely to multiply your embarrassment by the number of people in attendance. And, please, don’t add porn to your bookmarks. Doing that will make it appear as a suggestion everywhere.
Incognito Mode will save you that auto-fill embarrassment, but it isn’t an air-tight privacy tool. In April 2024, Google was found to be storing heaps of data from Incognito mode sessions that it shouldn’t have had. Other private browsers might be better, but most are going to be, at best, a flimsy shield against any serious inquiry into your browsing habits.
Private browsing modes will stop someone like your nosy roommate from finding your degeneracy on the shared network, but it won’t stop the likes of advertisers or other malicious entities from tracking your habits. 2. Defend Yourself Against Data Theft While Watching Porn
A less common but much more dangerous threat is data theft. If you’ve made an account on a porn site in the heat of the moment, then your data is out there. Hopefully, you at least used a burner email. Otherwise, your spam box will be gnarly. Though a hacker could get more than just your email in the event of a serious data breach.
Most adult sites don’t take privacy or security all that seriously. Just look at what happened to 4chan earlier in 2025. A leak could contain all sorts of private information, such as your content preferences, contact details, chat logs, purchase history, and even your full legal name. Remember when that cheating-centered dating app Ashley Madison got hacked way back in 2015? That resulted in thousands of users’ personal data being released. Such an attack could happen to your favorite porn site, though I hope it’s at least a slightly more ethical one than Ashley Madison.
A savvy attacker may not even need to steal your data to profit from it.
