Tell me about being anonymous online

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about being anonymous online

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Because of the NSA revelations, as well as due to the many doxxings I've seen recently, for a while I've thought that I'd like to minimize my footprints online.

I know about basic things, like using apps like DoNotTrackMe and VPN as iPredator (not related to sexual predators), but not much more than that. Obviously, I also understand that things like Facebook, Gmail, etc. involve some personal information.
Basically, imagine I'm Edward Snowden. What tools should I use?

Thanks!

False Edit: For whatever it's worth, I'm not planning anything illegal.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2015 16:10

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:52

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Rhymenoserous posted:

The way most people get doxxed is they spread their e-mail address and a common username around like herpes.

Yeah, I don't do that either. Nor do I do anything online I'd be ashamed of having associated with my name, but the question remains.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2015 16:59

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

GreyjoyBastard posted:

Until I looked at the thread I had a brief, fleeting moment of hope that it was started by Brian Boyko.

BrianBoyko:

I would like to be anonymous online. What do you suggest?

Brian Boyko (brianboyko.com, a Brian Boyko publication)

# ¿ Mar 26, 2015 18:13

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

adorai posted:

It's possible, but the amount of effort required for you to obscure your identity from an ordinary web company is immense. Hiding from the NSA is not likely to be possible. Asking this question under the guise of protection against doxxing is about on par with claiming you want to concealed carry so that your daughter doesn't get raped walking down the street.

So nobody here has an answer? Cool

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 01:41

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Mister Kingdom posted:

If you post using somebody's WiFi anonymously, how could they track you down?

My forums account is 100% traceable, by my email.
As I said, I'm just curious as to how to try to leave as little traces as possible while browsing the Web.
What I know is, for example, not to use the same browser where you're logged in on facebook or Google to do your regular browsing.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 02:10

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

PT6A posted:

If someone is interested in what you're doing, there's almost nothing you can do to evade them completely. If you're worried about someone in the future being interested in what you've already done, you have a lot less to worry about. Even people doing things that are outright illegal don't get caught because their Internet history is being combed over by some NSA supercomputer, they get caught because it's essentially impossible to hide from someone who has a reasonable idea you're doing something illegal and wants to catch you doing it.

I'm not hiding anything illegal, it's more of a general question.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 02:16

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Mister Kingdom posted:

I used to post on a now defunct local message board and got into numerous heated discussions with another poster. He claimed to be a "military-trained" criminologist who "made generals tremble in fear". He would repeatedly violate the site's TOS and I would report him resulting in his posts being removed.

He swore I was hacking the site and personally deleting his posts (despite his getting numerous emails from the moderators). He told me was going to "track my rear end down" and "bring my rear end to justice" for violating state and Federal computer commerce laws. He got banned for that one.

That was in 2011.

I'm still waiting.

Precisely. He wants to Surprise you.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 02:36

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Mister Kingdom posted:

The funny thing is that I posted to the site anonymously (they never verified personal info), but he would always put his website in his signature. I knew more about him than he did of me. He's in his mid-to-late 60s, so he better get to it.

I think hacking and Internet police are pretty common threats in forums.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 02:46

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

PT6A posted:

This is what I was talking about earlier. If someone was actually looking for your activity, and had at least some basic information about you, you're going to have a very, very difficult time hiding your activity completely. However, it would be nearly impossible for someone who's pissed off at you right now, let's say (or investigating you for a crime) to take that information and re-build your past browsing history to learn about your [b] transsexual adult baby fetish [\b] to doxx you with.

That's a relief.

So what good practices do you recommend?

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 08:47

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Rhymenoserous posted:

And people have answered, if you want the 100% way to do it just unplug your computer and kill anyone you see with a smartphone out.

Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?

ashgromnies posted:

you're all stupid as poo poo

Did you two assholes wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 17:23

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Alder posted:

In the past I had a lot of free time and thought about this for fun. Basically, it's useless as NSA and Google already own our souls. However, this hasn't stopped me from being careful anyways.

1) Never use public services like Gmail. Host your own email servers.
2) Never join social networks. Delete all your old inactive accounts.
3) Secure all forms of communications between you and the other person. Yes, that means you need to "educate" all your friends/family. Good luck.
4) Build your own PC. It's fun and you can prevent companies from spying on you or installing backdoors. Never buy pre-made tech/laptops too.
5. VPN your internet. Don't visit shady sites as Google will track you based on your unique cookie ID. Yeah, Incognito is a lie
6. Don't use a smartphone. Cell phone companies can track you via call records/towers. Keep a pre-paid Nokia instead.
7. Religiously Google your IRL name, handles, and ID to see if anyone posted relevant info. I suggest 3-5x a month to be sure there's no public record of you out there. Never upload photos and ask everyone to never do that same if it contains your face somewhere.
8. Leave America and move to idek. However, keep in mind if you renounce your American citizenship you lose access to the Bill of Rights. There's nothing stopping the CIA/FBI from kidnaping you on your vacation too. Oh well.

It's a huge waste of time but a interesting what-if game. Also, you will have to break all the cameras in the store(s) as they probably have your likeness recorded.

OK, I see what the problem is.
I didn't mean to be absolutely anonymous, just to minimize the Internet footprint. I didn't mean something to the level of "I'm a fugitive" :p
Do you have any more suggestions?

# ¿ Mar 28, 2015 00:16

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:52

Redrum and Coke: Feb 25, 2006; wAstIng 10 bUcks ON an aVaTar iS StUpid

Pyroxene Stigma posted:

You're ignoring people giving you good advice and answering earnestly, and they're justifiably losing their patience.

You need to answer this before anyone can actually advise you.

I missed the post you quoted. My apologies.

Zogo posted:

Who are you trying to hide from? If you want full privacy from everyone just trash all your electronic devices. The Obama administration has been spying on heads of state from powerful countries with impunity. Elements in the US government have the means to spy on each other as well. Random civilians using tinkertoy programs have no privacy online.

I completely missed your post, sorry.

I'm not trying to hide from anyone in particular. It mostly deals, as I mentioned before, in being as secure as possible in a situation where nobody is actively trying to find me, and without actually having to eliminate all my electronics.
Thanks

ashgromnies posted:

the specific term you're loking for is "opsec"

since you were asking about government, here are army guidelines for opsec on social networks: http://www.lewis-mcchord.army.mil/des/OPSEC%20Training/SocialmediaandOPSECbrief1.pdf

ultimately it's pretty difficult to be 100% anonymous, but here are a couple tips:

1) disable java and flash in your browser
2) use ghostery or a similar ad blocker
3) use a vpn or tor. either will encrypt your traffic, however it will be obvious you're accessing either vpn or tor (well, Tor has "pluggable transports" now that make the traffic look like non-Tor traffic but it's theoretically detectable still -- especially since antone can view the list of active Tor relays. Your isp could tell you were connecting to Tor very easily, for example (but probably not what you were accessing on it)). also, there have been Tor deanonymization attacks already, so it is likely to not be flawless. vpn providers have also been coerced into giving up subscriber information. also note that with Tor you are at the whim of relay operators. while any intermediary relay operator can't do much, if the same person owns both the beginning and ending hops it is theoretically possible for them to de-anonymize you. also, if the service you're accessing does not use https, the traffic will be completely visible to the person who owns the last relay.
4) don't use the same names or passwords on different services

you also need to perform an exercise called "threat modeling" to be able to answer this question effectively. what exactly are you trying to avoid when you say you want to be anonymous online? from whom are you trying to remain anonymous, and how are they observing you? are you using networks (office, coffee shop, airport, whatever) that your adversary might be monitoring? are you trying to remain anonymous from service providers? are you trying to remain anonymous from other web users? and which services are you trying to access?

the EFF has a lot of good resources on this as well, for example here is their guide on private email: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/11/tutorial-how-create-anonymous-email-accounts

Thanks for the link.
To answer your question, nobody is actively observing me (to the best of my knowledge), so it mostly deals with regular traces left in routine browsing etc.

What I see is that there's obviously not a simple answer like "use this, this and this program, avoid these practices, etc. "

# ¿ Mar 28, 2015 14:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell me about being anonymous online