With the threat of civil actions against pirates, scare tactics from content rights holders, and new regimes of data retention and anti-piracy incoming, more and more Australians are taking steps to fade into the virtual shadows online.

A poll of more than 1000 people by Essential Research shows that 16 per cent had used a virtual private network (VPN) or the anonymising Tor network to protect their privacy online, meaning hundreds of thousands of Australians are already making using of these services.

Australians are taking steps to fade into the virtual shadows online. Credit:Reuters

In most cases Australians are more likely to be taking measures to protect their privacy the younger they are, according to the results. Only five per cent of those aged 55 and up have used a VPN, compared to 17 per cent of those aged 35–54 and 22 per cent of those aged 18–34.