At least we can hope somebody is watching.


It must be terribly distressing to, let's say, request your file through the Freedom of Information Act, only to discover that there are no files, and that the FBI hasn't been following you. After all, secrets are only worth keeping if somebody wants to find them out.

Sites that promote privacy seem to maintain that sort of attitude. They have a wishful thinking sort of approach which suggests that some government agency should be keeping tabs on them. The people at Kuro5hin.org, for instance (what sort of a name is that?), seem to be a good example. One of their discussion threads is devoted to How To Post Absolutely Anonymously?.

The first thing that happens when that page comes up is that a box appears on the screen, telling me that the page contains "nonsecure" items, and lets me choose whether I want those items to appear or not:


Of course I chose to view the page both ways. The only difference I could find was that some of the advertisements didn't show up on the secure version. I'm not sure I should have been particularly worried.

But what about the content? The person who has started this very lenghty thread (including quite a few spin-off threads) presents us with a scenario of the future in which the powers invested in the government via the Homeland Security Act have mushroomed, and the methods we once were able to use to cover our tracks can no longer be trusted. Perhaps, he suggests:
the safest thing [would] be to use a crowded library or internet cafe's computer, where one is not required to sign-in? I suppose if someone is to post a long missive, it could be written on paper, then brought in person to the internet cafe and typed in, though it could attract attention from employees. It would probably be too risky to leave it in any kind of temporary internet storage or mail account, as that would leave an electronic trail.
Of course it's important to think things through. What about the paper it was written on? After typing out that missive he's going to have to eat it, or something similar. Even typing can leave "an electronic trail", so maybe we can take a chance at preparing that missive on a disk and then copying and pasting it into whatever program it's going to be sent from? That might also leave an electronic trail, but since it's faster, it might not attract the attention of the employees. On the other hand, it's easier to eat a piece of paper than it is to eat a disk. We'll have to think of some other way of destroying it.

Many of the responses to this posting (there are over 200 altogether) volunteer various tools, or tricks, that might keep us anonymous or at least keep the bad guys off our tracks. Many are sophomoric at best. Some seem to, well, take things to their extreme:
To ensure anonymous posting, first you will have to create at least two mental personas and never let on that one may know about the other one... That way not even your hand writing will match, if the Omnipotent, All Seeing Eye sees your handy work. After you've got that down pat, move to the next level and realize they will be psychological profiling on everyone's pattern of life and be able to pick you out of the mindless masses like some ugly toad surrounded by beautiful, featureless concrete -- unless you are able to foul them with your dual personas.
Others, it should be noted, take a somewhat more down to earth approach:
okay, these people who want ALL their information and communication turned into fort knox --- who are they? are their lives really THAT interesting?
I tend to side with the latter.



Go to: They've got a little list.