Thought Experiment: A Completely Anonymous Web Site

[drmike]

Good thread.  Keep it going.

Big catch points here as I see it:

1. Free services like free shells and VPS are bound to evaporate at any time.

2. Retail VISA and Mastercard prepaids - don't they ID folks for those? Someone know?

3. Internet access --- must be a clean terminal/machine only for this purpose and never should connect to anything else and especially not a network connected to you.  And, access should be out of your proximity physically and you unknown by owner/operator.

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

2. Retail VISA and Mastercard prepaids - don't they ID folks for those? Someone know?

Not as long as you pay cash for them.  When I did HUMINT we'd use multiple prepaids to keep from being tracked based on purchase habits/etc.  It's actually more difficult to track prepaid users than people using cash due to the bill/coinage patterns involved.

 

[nunim]

See the issue with that though nunim is that I feel that's borderline fraud.  Assuming the address you're using isn't yours, I feel like that's 100% fraud.  

 

Well, you can use the address of a public facility, such as homeless shelter, library, government facility, etc.. or you can just use an entirely fictional address so that no one can be blamed for your actions.  I don't think it's fraud as you're not personally gaining anything, would probably be more of a hoax but I'm not a lawyer.

 

 Either way, I wouldn't feel bad about using a fictional address or the address of a government institution, one of my .EU domains is using the address of parliament.

 

Bottom line if you want to be completely anonymous on the Internet you're going to have to lie about who you are at some point otherwise why bother being anonymous?  Do you think it's wrong to put a fake name on the signup form for an email provider?

3. Internet access --- must be a clean terminal/machine only for this purpose and never should connect to anything else and especially not a network connected to you.  And, access should be out of your proximity physically and you unknown by owner/operator.

That's why I would suggest booting off a live cd/usb and changing the MAC address.  Simpler then having a dedicated machine and leaves no trace behind in case the machine is later compromised. You could also use a public terminal such as at a library or internet cafe just ensure there are no cameras covering that terminal.

The hardest part in my opinion would be to keep your writing sufficiently different from your normal writing style to avoid identification.  I would suggest using a group of authors to combat this but it would be hard to maintain complete anonymity from each other, even then with enough sample data it is likely that someone would be able to identify who wrote which article.  See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_linguistics#Author_identification

A lot of this stuff depends on who you're trying to keep your identity hidden from, if it's just internet users and the like (lulzsec etc..) then it's not very difficult but national intelligence agencies are likely going to be able to find you eventually no matter what precautions are taken.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Bottom line if you want to be completely anonymous on the Internet you're going to have to lie about who you are at some point otherwise why bother being anonymous?  Do you think it's wrong to put a fake name on the signup form for an email provider?

That's the thing though. We're trying to find ways to be anonymous and not lie. You're assuming that being anonymous == having to lie but I think we can probably find a way around it (or hopefully). I personally see this as an issue.

 

[drmike]

The age old question you run into as a moral person is that lying is nearly inevitable in life, unless you want to voluntarily be dragged off and hung on a cross.

Self preservation is a right and expectation like all others.  Who loses if you lie about who a domain is registered to or who is spending cash to buy a legal good?  No one.   You are feeding them bad data and nothing more.  It should be a common exercise in civil disobedience.   Make the data collection pool so utterly useless that they stop collecting the data.

 

[nunim]

That's the thing though. We're trying to find ways to be anonymous and not lie. You're assuming that being anonymous == having to lie but I think we can probably find a way around it (or hopefully). I personally see this as an issue.

I don't see how you can be anonymous and not lie about who you are, I mean, if you do get a website together using free resources are you going to post in your real name?  No?  Then aren't you lying about who you are?

If you want to use your real name your only options are to use an open mailbox, i.e. Mailinator to register for a free hosting service and use the same mail to get a free domain (dot.tk).  Although most free hosting services are going to want at least a name from you.

 

[rm_]

if you do get a website together using free resources are you going to post in your real name?  No?  Then aren't you lying about who you are?

Nope, he's going to honestly say "sorry guys I am not telling you my real name", or in a shorter form, "I am anonymous".

 

[nunim]

I've found a couple free hosting platforms that you can signup with just an email address and no name, but they require you to use their shitty website builder.

http://vpsboard.tk - My completely anonymous site, created without entering any personal information whatsoever.

So if you don't want to lie about your name for some odd reason and buy a proper VPS and domain, you're limited to crap like that but it is possible.  You could also probably do a post-to-host scheme to get a free VPS/site hosting with just a forum username.

 

[raindog308]

That's the thing though. We're trying to find ways to be anonymous and not lie. You're assuming that being anonymous == having to lie but I think we can probably find a way around it (or hopefully). I personally see this as an issue.

Right.  Ideally, no deception is needed.  Because ideally, it shouldn't be needed.

Now if I was working in some dissident movement under a repressive government, would I think twice about using a fake name to sign up for Gmail?  No.

 

[nunim]

Right.  Ideally, no deception is needed.  Because ideally, it shouldn't be needed.

Now if I was working iorn some dissident movement under a repressive government, would I think twice about using a fake name to sign up for Gmail?  No.

I don't live under a repressive [SIZE=10.5pt]government [/SIZE]anymore (I've moved from the USA to Canada ) , but only one out of the 5 email accounts I frequently use has my real name attached to it  and it is strictly used for work related correspondence.

[SIZE=10.5pt]I’m not sure what has happened during the last ten or so years, but when the internet was younger everyone was cautioned about posting their information online lest they be found by an “internet stalker”.  These days it’s trivial to learn someone’s personal information by following their Facebook or Twitter accounts. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I would like to know why people have become more willing to post their personal information on the internet. Am I one of only ones who still use fake names and other information whenever possible?  [/SIZE]

 

[peterw]

[SIZE=10.5pt]These days it’s trivial to learn someone’s personal information by following their Facebook or Twitter accounts. [/SIZE]

You talk about the people using vpn and tor only to login into their facebook account anonymously :lol:

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

That's the thing though. We're trying to find ways to be anonymous and not lie. You're assuming that being anonymous == having to lie but I think we can probably find a way around it (or hopefully). I personally see this as an issue.

I've known legitimate, non-skid hosts that would occasionally allow someone to sign up anonymously, after they explained the situation, what they planned on doing, etc.  It's rare, but trust does still exist in places.

[SIZE=10.5pt]I would like to know why people have become more willing to post their personal information on the internet. Am I one of only ones who still use fake names and other information whenever possible?  [/SIZE]

You'll notice the majority of those people have next to no experience with the net.  Years back, tons of people fell for ponzi/pyramid schemes because it was a 'new' thing they knew nothing about, and had no inkling of the danger/scam.  Same thing with the net - it's 'cool' to have a Facebook/etc (and even worse, convenient).  They willingly believe that Facebook is the product, and the ads/games provide the capital - completely unaware that Facebook is merely a broker, with their personal information/pics/posts/etc being the commodity to be sold.

 

[wlanboy]

I've known legitimate, non-skid hosts that would occasionally allow someone to sign up anonymously, after they explained the situation, what they planned on doing, etc.  It's rare, but trust does still exist in places.

Yup there are some providers left that give someone a hand if they need support.

Even if they know that it might get burned by public authority.