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Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

cyb3rsecurity.tips

51–60 of 139 posts

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#51
The only real way to ensure your data isn't being collected and sold in the course of every single transaction you engage in (cash transactions being somewhat less trackable, however), is to get data privacy laws passed that forbid this activity by retailers, data brokers, and related entities. The EU has the right idea on this.

Ordinary individuals who attempt to use technology to 'go dark' will likely, if they're careful, be able to conceal their online identity from your average stalker type, malicious ex, or seedy credit card fraudster, but certainly not from the likes of Google, Apple, Verizon, or any number of government agencies with access to those outfit's data centers. This is called mass domestic warrantless surveillance and it is illegal under any reasonable interpretation of the US constitution, and certainly shouldn't be allowed by private parties either.

As far as spies, every history of spies I've ever read has one thing in common: they all hide in plain sight, using cover identities of some sort, acting as much like a normal member of society or their organization as possible, and then running off to do their data transfer/nefarious activity in secret only rarely. Notably, mass domestic surveillance isn't a very useful tool for catching such people - it's more about authoritarian snooping on the population, engendering fear of the state as with STASI, as a means of control. That nonsense shouldn't be allowed, and those who promote it are nothing but authoritarian enemies of democratic rule and free expression.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always assumed it was his real name, but I suppose that was just an unexamined assumption. Gwern Branwen is a prolific [1] netizen who is also completely anonymous. I don't know how people like him [2] do it. Surely the people who know him IRL are aware of what he's working on day-to-day and someone would be able to connect the dots. Unless he lives alone or his housemates are completely offline - and he doesn't ta…

iirc lots of Japanese manga artists are also anonymous. Like the author of the recently popular Jujutsu Kaisen series [1], who appeared on TV wearing a mask of one of his characters [2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gege_Akutami [2]: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2021-01-27/gege-ak...

Apparently getting into manga is really difficult in Japan. Most start out doing hentai. To make money until they get a break and their manga becomes popular.

(I don’t know how true this is, something I read many years ago cos I’ve been watching anime for 25 years)

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also leads to manipulation. People don't want to hear that - they think, as imagine many people reading this are thinking, that they aren't manipulated. People are manipulated on a large scale. States, advertisers, political movements, and others are investing a lot of money in it. They are getting something for their money. That is the most important issue; that is the power in our society. Propaganda was effecti…

In the old country, there was a story ( which since I heard variants of ) my parents told me trying to explain why it is not a good idea to share details of your life with strangers, which goes something like this. Secret police was trying to recruit a dissident to be their informer, but he was resisting. They tried to bribe him. They tried to cajole him. They tried to threaten him. He did not break. One day a senior…

I don't disagree with your anecdote in general. But it is somewhat interesting that, in the modern world, the implicit threat of an authority figure knowing this bit of trivia about you wouldn't be all that threatening. To the person in the story, it implies someone fairly close to him is giving information. To us it would be like "did get that bit of information from my Google searches, Facebook likes, or did you go through the effort of asking my bank where I shop?"

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#54
post #3

Author does not mention the major reason I care which is that allowing others to know what we are doing, thinking, saying, where we are going.. either individually or collectively anonymously or not, gives them power over us in many ways to predict, manipulate, dispossess.. which leads to the imbalances we have today of the haves and have nots of data. The people who say big tech already has so much data on them so w…

There are some who have argued that crytopcurrency is an effort to make everyone's spending habits public. Imagine virtually anyone having access to global purchase history. No need to approach VISA, etc. to purchase the data. This seems like Nirvana for "tech" intermediaries sitting on the internet.

A crypto proponent might argue that transactions are anonymous. However it is impossible to remove entries from the ledger, which is of course public. Hence even if this anonymity was true today it would also have to withstand ever-increasing capabilities of "chain analysis" for an infinite amount of time.

The existence and use of "crypto mixers", e.g., by criminals, suggests identities are indeed traceable.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#55

The only real way to ensure your data isn't being collected and sold in the course of every single transaction you engage in (cash transactions being somewhat less trackable, however), is to get data privacy laws passed that forbid this activity by retailers, data brokers, and related entities. The EU has the right idea on this. Ordinary individuals who attempt to use technology to 'go dark' will likely, if they're c…

> "cash transactions being somewhat less trackable, however"

"Then he said he was going to buy the book with cash, so nobody could trace the purchase to him and exploit his interests for commercial purposes" - Calvin, talking about his Dad, in Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, December 1993.

https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/12/07

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#56
post #3

Author does not mention the major reason I care which is that allowing others to know what we are doing, thinking, saying, where we are going.. either individually or collectively anonymously or not, gives them power over us in many ways to predict, manipulate, dispossess.. which leads to the imbalances we have today of the haves and have nots of data. The people who say big tech already has so much data on them so w…

There are some who have argued that crytopcurrency is an effort to make everyone's spending habits public. Imagine virtually anyone having access to global purchase history. No need to approach VISA, etc. to purchase the data. This seems like Nirvana for "tech" intermediaries sitting on the internet. A crypto proponent might argue that transactions are anonymous. However it is impossible to remove entries from the le…

What about Monero, which is supposedly completely anonymous even with chain tracking?

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#57
post #3

Author does not mention the major reason I care which is that allowing others to know what we are doing, thinking, saying, where we are going.. either individually or collectively anonymously or not, gives them power over us in many ways to predict, manipulate, dispossess.. which leads to the imbalances we have today of the haves and have nots of data. The people who say big tech already has so much data on them so w…

>either individually or collectively anonymously or not, gives them power over us in many ways to predict, manipulate, dispossess The thing is, is that actually true? What always comes to mind for me is the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved their self-declared 'psychometric targeting', which it turned out, after scientists did some studies had a measurable effect of zero on people's behaviour[1]. People lov…

I’d follow the money as opposed to some study.

Social media isn’t a boogeyman responsible for everything but it is a critical channel to influence. My mom gets bombarded with crazy tales of Joe Biden taking gasoline away, etc. I get lots of crazy dramatic fundraising requests from EFF, broadband advocates, etc.

It’s real and it works.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#58
post #2

I don't bother. Not worth the effort. I assume everything I do is (potentially) seen by someone, and the typical approaches are only going to make me look more suspicious.

Privacy allows you to live without this fear of someone watching you and your thoughts. It's worth investigating.

Re: Online privacy: to what extent should you try to go dark?

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some who have argued that crytopcurrency is an effort to make everyone's spending habits public. Imagine virtually anyone having access to global purchase history. No need to approach VISA, etc. to purchase the data. This seems like Nirvana for "tech" intermediaries sitting on the internet. A crypto proponent might argue that transactions are anonymous. However it is impossible to remove entries from the le…

What about Monero, which is supposedly completely anonymous even with chain tracking?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/09/mastercard-to-buy-blockchain...

Lets assume Monero is untraceable. Did MasterCard buy a company that cannot deliver on its promise of Monero tracing. In 2020, it was announced that American tax dollars were paid by DHS to CipherTrace for "tools" to trace Monero transactions.

Thought experiment: What is the financial incentive to keep transactions "untraceable". Is it greater than the financial incentive to make transactions traceable.

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