Computer Privacy and Anonymity Online

Thought I might make a thread about having anonymity online. I assume most people are not real computer savvy, having other lines of work, and there are a few who are in the business and know a lot more than me.

Anyhow for those interested here is my limited knowledge.

Firstly, everyone always touts Virtual Private Networks or VPNs as paramount to having anonymity. When you use the internet and are connected through a router or modem either by Ethernet (wired) or wifi (wireless) connection you go through an ISP or Internet Service Provider. That ISP logs everything you do online. The searches you type into your browser, the websites you visit. What a VPN does is basically using a proxy server to reach the internet. That proxy server encrypts all of your web traffic so that your ISP and anyone else sniffing out your activity cannot see it.

Nevertheless, using a VPN in and of itself is not a be all and end all for privacy. The YouTuber Kitboga explains it quite well in this video:



To quote part of that video:

"There are still hundreds of data points that are available to track you. Things like time zone, fonts you have installed, the width of your device, battery level, video format, even how you render graphics can be used to uniquely identify you and associate you to user accounts and information companies already know about you. Apart from using Amazon or Gmail your data is sold all the time, sometimes even by the government. All that information...gets indexed and cross-referenced online. So if you have been using the same email or or username for years, a VPN can't stop someone from associating you with a dozen other websites that you made accounts on over the years."

That is right, just the type of fonts you have installed can identify your computer as unique. And there are trackers that notice it. Some have suggested installing a program that randomizes the types of fonts your computer uses each time you fire it up. Not running your browser in full screen mode, but leaving it somewhat smaller than the actual size of your screen.

How to leave as small a trace as possible while online? Well firstly you probably should start with a fresh install of your OS. I use Windows so I can only really talk from my experience with Windows. An old install will have trackers and cookies that are embedded that are constantly feeding companies information about you, while you never knew they were on your system. Some cookies known as super cookies embed themselves deep in your OS and can nigh on be impossible to remove if you don't know what you are looking for.

Normal cookies usually expire so often, like every 30 days. But super cookies, such as ones that Facebook download onto your computer when you visit their website never expire. And you never have to log into Facebook, or have an account. They will make a "shadow profile" of you. This shadow profile logs everything you do and sends the information to Facebook, even though you never gave them permission, and never created an account with them. They still know everything you do.

After having installed Windows 10 edit it so that it stops sending a lot of needless identifying information. Britec90 is a YouTuber that has tons of wonderful PC tutorials. One such is the following:



I highly recommend following his tutorial for changing Windows 10 settings to make your privacy more secure.

Also a program that is quite helpful is the following:
O&O ShutUp10: Free antispy tool for Windows 10


After a fresh install of Windows all old user accounts are out. Don't long into your decades old email, whatever. Download a web browser such as FireFox and install privacy extensions such as: Ghostery, Privacy Badger, HTTPS Everywhere. Then add a VPN.

There is so much information on VPNs I will not make any recommendations myself. I will add a couple of videos from Britec90 on the subject though:





Then create a new email account. You can use gmail or what not if you want they will want a phone number for verification. There are some free website alternatives that you do not need a phone number such as:

Inbox.lv

mailbox.org



These websites do not require a phone number. There are other free email websites such as protonmail.com and mail.com but they usually require some form of identifying yourself, even if it is just another email.

Technitium MAC Address Changer
A freeware utility to spoof MAC address instantly

This is a free and easy program used to spoof your MAC Address. Every computer has a specific machine address or MAC address. This is an identifier that is sent out every time you log onto the internet. You can add a VPN but your computer will still send its unique identifier to whatever website you go to. This will randomize the MAC address.

Well this is a small but simple tutorial about keeping anonymity online. It is not perfect, but it is sufficient for most reasonable purposes.

There are other steps such as download TOR and the like. But I am not interested in or use such but if you are inclined you can look up information on using them as well.

Also nice to have handy is a tool such as Ccleaner and/or Glary Utilites to erase trackers/cookies on a regular basis.

How about pgp, mixmaster, nym servers and chained remailers? Anybody out there still play with those toys? Now THAT was net anonymity.

That's how we did it 20 years ago to chat about growing something something. Very robust security!

I wonder if usenet is still even a thing...🤔

originally posted by: tjack
How about pgp, mixmaster, nym servers and chained remailers? Anybody out there still play with those toys? Now THAT was net anonymity.

That's how we did it 20 years ago to chat about growing something something. Very robust security!

I wonder if usenet is still even a thing...🤔

I was still a kid back when Usenet was a thing. I remember good times as a sysop of a local BBS a couple kids from school and I kept up. We even made a few bugs and hacked into the primitive computer network in school back in the day. Nothing malicious, just all for fun. We basically ran the network for the teachers anyway.

a reply to: tjack

It is.

a reply to: Adreamunfulfilled

Some cookies known as super cookies embed themselves deep in your OS and can nigh on be impossible to remove if you don't know what you are looking for.

Google are sneaky and most certainly do this, for a full rundown on what's 'talking' between your device and the net, you may want to try something like Wireshark to scan your network devices including your router and/or switch(es).

If you find anything you don't like, then you should be able to block the IP or filter the port using anti-virus software

The ISPs say they aren't, and really shouldn't be logging that kind of data, but probably do as you say.

a reply to: Adreamunfulfilled

Supercookies are added as packet headers by the ISP. Perhaps in collusion with Facebook, but not by Facebook.

a reply to: Adreamunfulfilled

VPNs are a great way to stay anonymous on the internet, if they are honest and can be trusted. It's also very easy to put everyone on the network at risk if the VPN server is not configured correctly. A user could end up on a large network with untrusted hosts, if each host is not isolated for example.

And this is only accidental misconfiguration, consider the following and which is worse:

- Your ISP tracking a user's browsing via a non VPN connection
- A hacker is tracking a user, or maybe inserting headers, or performing man in middle attacks. If the user routes their DNS over the VPN (which they would if they are going for anonymity), they could strip SSL by redirecting a user to HTTP, non encrypted fascimiles of the site and steal credentials
- The government has found a weakness in VPN service ______________ and has been collecting all of the stuff a person thinks they are doing in secret
- The government subpoenas the VPN provider for their logs, linking real IPs with shared IPs, thus de-anonymizing the user
- A government realizes that crimes are often committed on a VPN due to their anonymizing potential, and creates their own service that becomes popular in order to honeypot users. The same way police camp around bars near last call to catch drunks.


The short of it is, VPNs are great as long as the user understands how they work, their weaknesses, potential for exploitation and their limits.

originally posted by: Adreamunfulfilled
I highly recommend following his tutorial for changing Windows 10 settings to make your privacy more secure.

People complain that they change the privacy settings on Windows 10, and updates reset them:

answers.microsoft.com...
Windows 10 Privacy settings constantly reset to default with every update

Maybe one option worth considering is using an operating system that doesn't completely destroy privacy by default, like Windows 10 does.

Why is Linux better than Windows or macOS?

Independent security experts favor Linux over either Windows or macOS, explaining all the reasons why is an article in itself. We’ll touch on two of the big reasons most pros favor Linux over Windows and macOS, then zoom in on Linux distros.

Two of the biggest reasons experts say Linux is more secure than Windows or macOS are that Linux:

Is Built on Open Source Software
Is a “Small” Target for Hackers
...
The most popular operating systems and programs usually have the weakest privacy protections. But they also work with the most websites and have the most support. This makes them ideal targets for the bad guys.

Worse, the makers of these operating systems and programs often want your PII for their own uses. Remember the uproar when people saw what data Windows 10 collects about its users?

Moving to a Linux Distro eliminates many privacy and security problems.

So not only are security, privacy, and anonymity potential reasons to switch from Windows to Linux, but also reliability is the reason the Space Station changed to Linux:

Ground control to Major Tux: Space station dumps Windows, now uses Linux

Linux might be faster too as this article explains:

This shouldn't come as any great surprise, but Linux is faster than Windows, and at least one anonymous Microsoft developer is willing to admit it and explain why that's the case.

The biggest threat to privacy and security probably isn't the operating system though, it's probably the user since some exploits rely on social engineering.

originally posted by: Adreamunfulfilled

originally posted by: tjack
How about pgp, mixmaster, nym servers and chained remailers? Anybody out there still play with those toys? Now THAT was net anonymity.

That's how we did it 20 years ago to chat about growing something something. Very robust security!

I wonder if usenet is still even a thing...🤔

I was still a kid back when Usenet was a thing. I remember good times as a sysop of a local BBS a couple kids from school and I kept up. We even made a few bugs and hacked into the primitive computer network in school back in the day. Nothing malicious, just all for fun. We basically ran the network for the teachers anyway.

The kid on "War Games" was just having fun when he almost blew up the planet, but that movie was noted for having done some actual research into hackers of the day.

Some geezer on the radio recommended this search site if you don't want to be followed around duckduckgo.com...

At the end of the day, if an entity with virually unlimited resources decides to track you, they will find a way.

As much as it bothers me to acknowledge it, it's probably a waste of time to strive for absolute anonymity unless you find it interesting and fun. Like if trying to be anonymous is your hobby, you would have a hobby that will consume you for a lifetime. For the average human, it's a waste of time to try and achieve anonymity on the user end.

You'd be more likely to have success lobbying for more privacy laws. Not that TPTB are ever, EVER going to give anyone complete anonymity. And frankly, it's probably too dangerous even from the perspective of someone who wants privacy. If you think about all of the people on the planet, some people would abuse it in ways that you definitely would not want.

originally posted by: Adreamunfulfilled
Also a program that is quite helpful is the following:
O&O ShutUp10: Free antispy tool for Windows 10

Been using this for years, highly recommended...

After a fresh install of Windows all old user accounts are out. Don't long into your decades old email, whatever. Download a web browser such as FireFox and install privacy extensions such as: Ghostery, Privacy Badger, HTTPS Everywhere. Then add a VPN.

Personally, I think most if not ALL VPN providers are run by the CIA or the NSA or one of the other alphabetsoup agencies.

They are good for certain things - like bypassing geo-blocking crap (Netflix while you're overseas), and hopefully hiding financial transactions...

But the only truly secure computer is one that is powered down with all cables disconnected, and secured in a steel vault.

originally posted by: Arbitrageur
People complain that they change the privacy settings on Windows 10, and updates reset them:

answers.microsoft.com...
Windows 10 Privacy settings constantly reset to default with every update

Only if you do it through the GUI. That is why the guy in the vid said it is better to do it using Group Policies.

Maybe one option worth considering is using an operating system that doesn't completely destroy privacy by default, like Windows 10 does.

Why is Linux better than Windows or macOS?

Independent security experts favor Linux over either Windows or macOS, explaining all the reasons why is an article in itself. We’ll touch on two of the big reasons most pros favor Linux over Windows and macOS, then zoom in on Linux distros.

Two of the biggest reasons experts say Linux is more secure than Windows or macOS are that Linux:

Is Built on Open Source Software
Is a “Small” Target for Hackers

The last one is the only real truth. Open Source software is just ... software. It has bugs, like all software does.

So not only are security, privacy, and anonymity potential reasons to switch from Windows to Linux, but also reliability is the reason the Space Station changed to Linux:

Ground control to Major Tux: Space station dumps Windows, now uses Linux

Linux might be faster too as this article explains:

This shouldn't come as any great surprise, but Linux is faster than Windows, and at least one anonymous Microsoft developer is willing to admit it and explain why that's the case.

It can be much faster, especially if you use a really lightweght distro with a lightweight desktop environment...

The biggest threat to privacy and security probably isn't the operating system though, it's probably the user since some exploits rely on social engineering.

This, times 1,000, is the bottom line.

Good post...

a reply to: Adreamunfulfilled

I'm going to tell you straight up, anonymity online does not exist if someone really wants to
watch what you are doing.

I worked for one of the biggest companies in the US, with tons and tons of money. They paid ethical hackers and
it took them less than 2 minutes to have all of our social security numbers.

Keep that in mind that whatever you look at, whatever you post, there are eyes somewhere....

a reply to: JAGStorm

Exactly, the internet was alot of fun in its early days. It was a technical affair. In my 25 years of IT experience I´ve noticed the human factor slowly being reduced from admin to user. You used to be able to do a ton of stuff with windows that is no longer possible.
In the long run the internet will evolve as a social construct instead of a pure technical one. And in that light you don´t really want ppl running around in a mask feeling confident no one can see them. It tends to bring out the worst in us

a reply to: Adreamunfulfilled

Too bad, despite all that, your processor itself has a built in network stack that bypasses everything else that's used to phone home back to intel or amd. It runs on ring -3 and has complete control over everything on your computer.

en.m.wikipedia.org...

Critics like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Libreboot developers, and security expert Damien Zammit accused the ME of being a backdoor and a privacy concern.[94][4][95] Zammit stresses that the ME has full access to memory (without the owner-controlled CPU cores having any knowledge); has full access to the TCP/IP stack and can send and receive network packets independently of the operating system, thus bypassing its firewall.[6]

Bumping for later

Thanks for all the info in this thread, tho it is very depressing.
Bottom line is : No Privacy!