In this case, the server - such as - communicates with the VPN system it only knows the IP address of that VPN system. Then, through that VPN, another connection is made with the intended server. With VPN, the client (e.g., the browser) does not connect directly to the intended server (e.g., rather, it establishes an end-to-end tunnel with a VPN system which may exist anywhere in the world. When clients want to hide themselves, that is, when they want to remain anonymous while browsing the Internet, a popular technique is to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service. Its use is to share a public IP address with multiple private systems. Nonetheless, NAT does not mean anonymity. The gateway can be under the administration of an organization, such as a business company or even a local ISP. However, the IP address of the gateway is public and traceable. However, the connection will undergo a NAT (Network Address Translation) process at the gateway. We know that most of the times clients have private IP addresses (e.g., 192.168.0.5) which are not routable on the Internet.

Both of them can exactly locate the geographical location - city and country - of the other, in addition to the ISP under which the IP address is assigned. Thus, the server always knows the IP address of the client, and the client always knows the IP address of the server. Given the nature of TCP/IP, when a client connects to a server over TCP or UDP protocol, communication takes place between the IP address of the client and that of the server. Similarly, Google would know the IP address of the client that is connecting to it. We can also know that it belongs to Google LLC ISP. By performing a geo-location and WHOIS lookups, we can directly know that this IP address is located in Mountain View, California, USA. Let’s take the example of When I type this address in my browser, the browser through the OS will resolve this hostname into its corresponding IP address, which is now 172.217.21.68. Similarly, those websites know your IP address and can trace it back as well. This is the Internet as most people know it whenever you access a website, like etc., your browser knows the exact address (IP) of each of those websites. In Clearnet, sources and destinations know about each other in every communication, the source knows the destination address and the destination knows the source address. The main difference between the two nets is traceability. The Internet is divided - in terms of anonymity - into two nets: Clearnet and Darknet.

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