Paranoia Squared

Off the keyboard of RE

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Published on the Doomstead Diner on February 26, 2014

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Discuss this article at the Guerilla Free Speech Table inside the Diner

Communicating on the Internet is full of all sorts of hazards. Two of the biggest are the loss of Privacy resultant from dropping your thoughts on far distant Disk Drives run by other people and the fact that both Da Goobermint and Private Individuals can ascertain who you are and in some cases also where you live.

Over my years participating on the Internet in chat rooms and on forums and blogs, I have pursued a semi-Anonymous paradigm. I write under a Nom-de-Plume, and my email addresses don’t feature my real name, like say [email protected]. :)

So for the typical user who reads something I write, I am anonymous to them. Reason for this is that dropping your real name out there to the world at large can cause you all sorts of problems if somebody is annoyed at what you wrote. They can find out where you work, and you can get harrassed on the job because of it. In fact, going back to my earliest years in internet participation, I actually got fired from a job because some critiques I wrote of my industry got back to my employer of the time.

After that less than pleasant experience, I elected to do all my writing as an Anon, under the nom-de-plume most of the time in recent years in the Collapse Blogosphere as Reverse Engineer, aka RE. This allows me to write my thoughts more freely, without so much fear of Blowback from it. However, as I got deeper into internet participation and eventually started up my own websites with my own URLs and server space, I began to realize how really limited this level of Anonymity is. When you register a URL (the Uniform Resource Locator which is your Web Address), you have to pay for that, and to do that you have to use a Credit/Debit card with your real name on it. This goes into the database of all the owners of URLs, which can be looked up by anyone. You can pay EXTRA to have your personal info masked to the public at large, but it of course always visible to the NSA as well as all the Admins of various routers that transit the information.

The next area of vulnerability is in participation on privately run websites, where whether you sign up or not, each time you post up your IP address is recorded along with whatever content you dropped on. This IP address is Unique to the computer you were keyboarding on at the time, and records also the Host through which you are connected to the net. In some cases it is possible to nail down a location just from this information. For instance, if you are connected up to a Hotel WiFi and there is no masking or proxy servers being used, any Admin can see what hotel you are staying at when you make a post.

Internet surfers who are both truly paranoid as well as quite savvy will mask their locations by using proxy servers, if they do this then the typical Admin of a website can’t discern their location just from the listed IP address, though Tracing is possible and done by for-pay Security firms specializing in this sort of stuff. Again for the NSA, this level of adding personal security is pretty much a waste of time too unless you are very, VERY good at it. I am certainly not that good, so I simply no longer worry about being listed and followed by the NSA, if they deem my stuff worthy of following.

At the level of the individual website though, the folks who sign themselves up and post Anonymously hope to REMAIN Anon to the population at large. So if/when they find out or realize that the Admin on their favored site has checked into who they are and where they are posting from, they get the feeling their Privacy has been Violated. Has it been?

Not really, because the moment you sign up or even just post up, you GIVE AWAY certain privacy rights. You cannot participate without your IP showing up with the post. From the POV of the website Owner/Admin, you have to know the IP addys, because if you have Troublesome people on your website, this is the only way you can Ban them. Troublesome people include Spammers who throw on Pharmaceutical and Video links in with their post as well as Trolls who drop on the site specifically to disrupt the conversations taking place and deliver their own agenda to the readers.

Here on the Diner, I have a basically No Ban policy except for Spammers, but even so with the Trolls I keep track of the IP addys so I know if somebody is posting under more than one Screen ID. Besides the general practical problem of keeping the conversation civil and on track, there are also legal issues you face if you have a particularly extreme commenter show up on your site. Such a commenter might be someone who is a Neo-Nazi advocating a Violent Revolution who also posts up Diagrams for making IEDs and maybe even Nuclear Bombs. Or somebody who persistently makes links to and embeds explicit Pornography. I have never had either of those types show up on the Diner fortunately, but if they did I would Ban them despite my No Ban general policy. Reason is at this point I can be held legally liable for allowing the stuff to go across my website.

InternetCensorship061208Most of the time though, you don’t face such extreme problems, but you still do keep track of everyone posting, and sometimes issues come up regarding the general Honesty of the poster, which happened here recently in the case of our Favorite Energy Industry Shill, MKing. His real qualifications have been a persistent question on the Diner by many because he is very nebulous about them, and so one of our Admins decided to at least determine if he was where he said he was at an Energy Conference, and it turned out he was. He was in fact validated as at least being there by the research this Admin did, and he wasn’t particularly upset about this.

However, though he was not upset much by this, some other Diners were TERRIFICALLY upset, and in fact one of the Diners deleted his membership as a result of this. The Paranoia became rampant here that people were being SPYED on and that Real Identities would be Outted on the Diner for the Anons. Nothing of the sort has ever happened here, and will not happen if I can prevent it, because this is against my own personal ethics and the way I post on the net! I don’t want my IRL Identity bandied about, so I am not going to advocate any other Anon Poster gets outted either.

Same time though, the more you post, the longer you post and the more deeply involved you get in internet communications, the more likely it becomes that your IRL Identity becomes known. In fact, probably half of the Diners don’t bother with Anons at all, or have very thinly disguised ones. WHD for instance publishes himself as William Hunter Duncan on his own Blog Off the Grid in Minneapolis, and JDW uses his real name of John D. Wheeler all the time. In both cases also their locations are known, so you KNOW these guys are honest on this level.

I have seen how the paranoia regarding Identity and Location will hamstring participation on the net before. One of our most valued contributors, BC2K dropped off the net after I informed him that his location was transparent by IP Addy. Besides that, he used his real name as part of his email addy, so that is a dead giveaway right there. As someone who REALLY wants to remain unknown and private, this was too much to bear for BC2K, so he disappeared from the net far as I can tell. This was a great loss to the Diner Community, but a loss to BC2K as well, because there are always new things to learn here on the net no matter how good a solo prepper you are.

It is OK and in fact worthwhile to have a certain amount of Paranoia with respect to Web participation. At the same time though SQUARING the Paranoia, and allowing yourself to be completely cut off from the communication with others helps no one, including yourself.

There are many basic means of securing yourself from problems that you worry about, like being infected with Viruses and Malware. If this is a real big concern of yours, use a separate dedicated Netbook for participation on Websites that you think might infect your computer. If it does occur, you can wipe the Hard Drive clean and start over, without damaging any files on your main laptop. Don’t use your real name as part of your email address, make a separate email addy on Google or Yahoo just for the purpose of communicating on websites you believe are dicey or compromised. Use Free Wi-Fi at Coffee Shops and Libraries if you want to hide your main Internet Provider and location.

Awareness of the problem and taking your own preventative measures can allow the best of both worlds. You have good security for yourself while at the same time you can participate and glean more knowledge and information from others who are concerned with the same problems you are.

In the end here, we all are known quantities to the folks in control so long as we use the Internet they also control. You cannot use the Internet AT ALL, including email, if you allow your Paranoia to Square itself. Use CFS in protecting your identity and your computer if this stuff concerns you. You can remain pretty safe and still participate, long as you have awareness and knowledge of how the system works and what is visible and what is not. YOU have control over that, not the Admins of websites like the Diner.

From the NSA and Google though, you got no means to remain Anon unless you are simply first class Hacker. You gotta live with that one if you want to participate on the net at all.

RE

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Stucky

Nice informative article with good tips.

RE, are you going to post Jim’s “Google” article on the Diner?

Stucky

Regulars here can ignore the following. It is a story about my experience with making a post, and the subsequent police encounter.

——————————————————————————

Admin posted an article about Homeowner A who had a small PRIVATE vegetable garden. IIRC, he was not selling veggies to the general public. He was bothering no one. People loved the guy.

However, a neighbor, Homeowner B, had a bug up his ass. Homeowner B called police and had Homeowner A shut down. After years of growing veggies on his own property, it was now Verboten.

I made a single off-the-wall comment that someone should bomb Homeowner A’s house. It was clearly more tongue-in-cheek (lame) humor than an actual threat … and I never actually mentioned Homeowner A’s name.

Well, Homeowner A actually saw the comment HERE on TBP!! So he called the police. Unfortunately for me, he and I live in the same state, literally less than 20 miles away..

The Chatham police, eager to catch their first terrorist ever, jumped right on it. They contacted the Administrator of this site seeking information about me. Admin had nothing to do with it, but Chatham’s finest were eventually able to get my G-mail address.

My g-mail email is the ONLY private or personal item I entered when I registered here. HOWEVER, it contains my NAME … first initial and last name. With that info Chatham’s copfuks were EVENTUALLY able to track me down. It took the dumfuks TWO MONTHS. They NEVER did track me down to my current address. They found my old address …. that of my parents. So, in a tremendously efficient use of taxpayer resources, time and money, they sent TWO detectives to my parent’s home, TWICE … scaring the Living Shit out of them in the process.

They told my parents that I MUST contact them. I would have ignored their request forever …. meaning they would STILL be looking for a tall Austrian terrorist less than twenty miles from them…. however, my parents, especially my mom, were really flipping the fuck out …. most here know they LIVED under both Nazi and Communist rule … so, to alleviate their fears, it was ME who called Chatham’s Most Brilliant Sleuths. They told me to come visit Headquarters for questioning.

They grilled me for an hour. Informed me that The Prosecutor was considering filing a felony “Terroristic Threat” charge. Was I scared? You betchyer sweet ass I was. I used to watch a lot of Law & Order, and Youtube videos, so I know who these lying sacks of shit operate. They had at their disposal a printed copy of the “offending” post. “Wouldn’t YOU be concerned if someone wrote that about YOU??”, they asked. “No!! It was a damn joke. albeit a poor one!! You can see that in the context!!”, I said. They had other posts of mine. They asked me why I referred to police as ‘copfuks’. Yes, really. I had to do the Austrian Dick Dance around that one.

How did it all end? No charges were filed. I never heard from them again. I offered to give Homeowner B an apology for my lame joke. They said that wasn’t necessary. I believe our Admin deleted that thread. People, including me, now have fun from time to time doppeling as “Chatham Police”. New Jersey is once again safe from Austrian terrorists. I’m probably in the NSA database. I hate copfuks more than ever. All is well.

——————————————————————————

So, what can you learn from my experience?

Here is what I learned;

1) NEVER … EVER!!! …. make threats to an INDIVIDUAL. Obviously, I mean real, actual threats. I also mean threats meant as a JOKE / HUMOR. It’s NOT funny to the authorities. Don’t do it!! Ever!! Got it??

2) Even in my joking around, I never actually made a threat directed AT Homeowner B. I mentioned only the home. NEVER …. EVER …… make threats to DESTROY PROPERTY. Obviously, I mean real, actual threats. I also mean threats meant as a JOKE / HUMOR. It’s NOT funny to the authorities. Don’t do it!! Ever!! Got it??

3) I capitalized “individual” in point #1. I don’t think that applies to a general group-at-large. For example, “I think we need to hang bankers!”. Yes, we do. But it’s just an opinion … shared and spoken by millions on the internet. Then again, there’s a banker who lives a few doors down on my street. If he’s swinging from the oak tree some day, will the Chatham police come a knockin?
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When it’s all said and done, none of these precautions may be enough. Blog and post long enough (a day or two for some) and there will be SOMETHING this Gestapo State can use against you. If the Feds want you, the Feds WILL get you.

They can twist anything you write to be used against you; —— take things out of context, lie, add to your content, delete your content, make implications not there, make deductions that belie the actual intent, threaten you, threaten your family, threaten your job, pressure, scare you with prison or fines, harass and harass some more, break you down psychologically, emotionally and financially ——— these and MORE are all tools at their disposal.

And God help us if and when Predictive Analytics are perfected and accepted —- as in the movie Minority Report —- then your posts will truly come back to haunt you and fuck you over. “Ummm, Mr. SSS, based on your obsession with Selma’s bodacious titties, our software indicates you will rape Selma next year on your 90th birthday. You are under arrest.” And if you think that’s far-fetched, you’re just kidding yourself.

Administrator

Stuck

How about the time you threatened to come to my house and beat me up? Ah, the good old days when TBP really was the Fight Club.

Stucky

“How about the time you threatened to come to my house and beat me up?” ——- Admin

It might still happen.

Stucky

awww fuckme!!! Goddammit.

Dear Chatham Police,

Regarding the above threat to Administrator, I forgot to add this; :mrgreen: :mrgreen: This means I’m just fucking kidding around, like last time. Got it?

Sincerely,
A Big Police Supporter

Chattham Police
Chattham Police

Watch it Stuckfucker, you’re back on the list!

hardscrabble farmer
hardscrabble farmer

While I was reading this thread the Chatham Police came to my house.

Oh, and Stuck, they want you to stop by to answer a couple of questions.

boondoggle
boondoggle

stucky
very interesting
that’s why I change screen names all the time
but you just made me regret a humorous thread I have been having fun with on craigslist Philadelphia
so , to the watchers, I do not a have third eye in the middle of my back that I am using to spy on ken Gregory with
I will not hunt him down
I have not placed a camera in his underwear drawer

MuckAbout

Bomb! Bomb! Bomb!

Run for your lives (wherever you are!)!!!!!!!!

(If you don’t, I’ll cast a hex on the whole bunch of you and have the Wicked Witch of the West make some house calls. She’s a real bitch and love doing S&M on TBP contributors.)

MA

TJF
TJF

It is possible to set up a LLC in st least a couple states that do not have your name associated with them. The website hosting could be paid for from the LLC. Check out the book, “How to be Invisible” by JJ Luna or take a look at his website for tips to get some privacy.

link

Anonymous
Anonymous

Bwahah, just as i planned

send me one billion dollars!

all you have the address

Anonymous
Anonymous

If you don’t, I’ll cast a hex on the whole bunch of you and have the Wicked Witch of the West make some house calls. She’s a real bitch and love doing S&M on TBP contributors.)

BABAYAGA!!!!!

Anonymous
Anonymous

Sadly, she is gone. North Witch

Nice playa vatos!

West, has won the night.

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