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Be anonymous

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Re: Be anonymous

#41

Post by hammock »

bugBunny wrote: post #34
mindvirus wrote: post #23

The article touches on a good point: one mistake and you're out. It doesn't even have to be your mistake - you didn't choose to put your SSN out there after all, yet here we are. This gave me a radical company idea, on the other end of the spectrum: spam as a service. Something that'll take your name, email, and other things and put it all over the internet in questionable and plausibly denial ways. That way, even wh…

I guess none of these suggestions really work without the last one "Move to Brazil and live in the rainforest" :)

Even that didn't work for John McAfee

Re: Be anonymous

#42

Post by hammock »

mindvirus wrote: post #23

The article touches on a good point: one mistake and you're out. It doesn't even have to be your mistake - you didn't choose to put your SSN out there after all, yet here we are. This gave me a radical company idea, on the other end of the spectrum: spam as a service. Something that'll take your name, email, and other things and put it all over the internet in questionable and plausibly denial ways. That way, even wh…

This idea exists but doesn't always work.

Example A: Apparent Nazi sympathizers planted inside the Canadian protests- some people thought they were provocateurs, others assumed they were legit and cast a negative light on the protests overall

Example B: Hunter Biden's laptop (before it was acknowledged to be real). Saying he was a target for disinformation campaigns mostly worked

Re: Be anonymous

#43

Post by RustyConsul »

Ansil849 wrote: post #22
retrac wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't know about you, but I don't want to do all of that. [...] I don't recommend being on either extreme of this spectrum. It's a list of extreme techniques for protecting ones' identity online. Of course, completely sanitizing your online presence is difficult, and probably unnecessary. I thought the two lists were a nice rhetorical framing - present a dilemma (total openness vs. total anonymity) and then wiggl…

> It's a list of extreme techniques for protecting ones' identity online. The items I quoted do nothing to protect ones' identity online. Snark is only effective if relevant.

holy cow! I literally laughed out loud when i read the rainforest remark. Chill out dude, you're reading something called 'Thoughts' by some random dude on the internet lol

Re: Be anonymous

#44

Post by hammock »

ronnier wrote: post #37

I don't care about being anon, but I don't want all my info sitting in databases, so I've made done the following and trying to evolve over time and fix gaps that I currently have. This is things I've done... * Use Brave browser with ublock origins and privacy badger * Use pihole + unbound to resolve my own DNS and do not use google * Run wireguard on my home network that I connect to when I'm out and need to use wif…

I believe Brave browser has fallen out of favor but I'm not an expert on why

Re: Be anonymous

#45

Post by ronnier »

hammock wrote: post #44
ronnier wrote: post #37

I don't care about being anon, but I don't want all my info sitting in databases, so I've made done the following and trying to evolve over time and fix gaps that I currently have. This is things I've done... * Use Brave browser with ublock origins and privacy badger * Use pihole + unbound to resolve my own DNS and do not use google * Run wireguard on my home network that I connect to when I'm out and need to use wif…

I believe Brave browser has fallen out of favor but I'm not an expert on why

Interesting. Please let me know if you have a better alternative. Ideally I'd like to just run chromium but then I have to build it myself or use some build by some untrusted person so I've decided I'll trust Brave for now...

Re: Be anonymous

#46

Post by numpad0 »

ReactiveJelly wrote: post #7
nickstinemates wrote: post #3

The conclusion is a weird one, given the premise. The crux of the argument is basically true. Its an all or nothing proposition. Or you can lead a double life. One for your public persona, where you don't care at all about security, and your real persona, where you do. This has been my approach on the internet since basically it started and handles were a common thing.

> The crux of the argument is basically true. Its an all or nothing proposition. No, it's not. Every online account (that doesn't involve money or legal paperwork) can have its own name. Then you can decide whether to have _some_ accounts ultimately link back to your legal name, or all accounts, or none. > Or you can lead a double life. ... This has been my approach on the internet since basically it started and hand…

> Then you can decide whether to have _some_ accounts ultimately link back to your legal name,

No, you don't. Someone else could, if there is one with high enough affection to you. I think you'll have to think of bulk ingestion and on-prem processing to be sure your activities won't trace back to you.

Re: Be anonymous

#47

Post by Liiiii »

mindvirus wrote: post #23

The article touches on a good point: one mistake and you're out. It doesn't even have to be your mistake - you didn't choose to put your SSN out there after all, yet here we are. This gave me a radical company idea, on the other end of the spectrum: spam as a service. Something that'll take your name, email, and other things and put it all over the internet in questionable and plausibly denial ways. That way, even wh…

"Something that'll take your name, email, and other things and put it all over the internet in questionable and plausibly denial ways."

What if instead of spamming the correct information out, spam slightly incorrect information out.

Correct address, incorrect middle initial, wrong birth month, and a machine generated SSN would be from the right time period, area number, but with an incorrect group and serial number.

Re: Be anonymous

#48

Post by adelie »

mindvirus wrote: post #23

The article touches on a good point: one mistake and you're out. It doesn't even have to be your mistake - you didn't choose to put your SSN out there after all, yet here we are. This gave me a radical company idea, on the other end of the spectrum: spam as a service. Something that'll take your name, email, and other things and put it all over the internet in questionable and plausibly denial ways. That way, even wh…

This is essentially the premise of Neal Stephenson's Fall or Dodge in Hell.

Re: Be anonymous

#49

Post by fsflover »

can16358p wrote: post #30
Ansil849 wrote: post #18

> Don't use macOS or Windows -- only Linux > Move to Brazil and live in the rainforest Juvenile, snarky, irreverent and irrelevant advice I'd expect to read on a 12 year old's Reddit post.

Linux part is perfecly valid IMO, though the rainforest was I think a bit deliberate exaggeration.

Linux is definitely more anonymous than Windows/Mac, but if you seriously want to be anonymous, you should use Qubes with Whonix.

Re: Be anonymous

#50

Post by psacawa »

> Don't buy domain names

Can anyone explain this? Assuming your data isn't in the WHOIS record, why does this increase your exposure more than any other company knowing your name?

A search shows up options for anonymous domain name services.

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