Internet Anonymity at Risk

Edit: Title spelling

[edit on 6-7-2010 by projectvxn]

The internet is the last place for freedom of speech so requiring identification will limit the freedom here as well.

To be honest, I am torn on this one since the internet has simply replaced the old JC Penny catalog system.

The MSM are giving Prince a hard time today but he has to see what you are seeing here as well.

Prince declares Internet Dead

There is no such thing as internet anonymity. The government knows who you are, the owners of ATS know who you are, the moderators know who you are. Give me three minutes, and I can easily find out who you are.

reply to post by WolfofWar


What this means is that eventually programs that do provide anonymity, like TOR, will be outlawed.

reply to post by projectvxn


Should they even be legal? Your I.P is your internet license plate. It's illegal to spray-paint or obscure your car's license plate, and for good reason.

I have mixed feelings about this type of topic.

While I'm all for personal privacy, whether online or offline, I don't think anonymity equates to privacy.

You wouldn't be allowed to walk through the store with a ski mask on, to protect your privacy, or remain anonymous. But you don't have to announce that "ThaLoccster" is here, and provide your private information at the door either.

I'm not for any type of ID restricted internet access, or for many invasions of privacy.

But, saying anonymity is the same as privacy is a bit of a stretch. And I think, or hope anyways, that a line can be drawn to distinguish the 2.

I would like to see you figure out who I am in 3 minutes. I will be mildly impressed!

I would like to see you figure out who I am in 3 minutes. I will be mildly impressed!

reply to post by WolfofWar


That reminds me of a story.

I used to frequent a p2p based program that allows file sharing, and chatroom capabilites. Being the admin in a certain chatroom, we were able to see a person's IP when they joined our chat room.

Once a user was in your chatroom, you could then browse files that user had chosen to share, as well as the respective directories the files were stored in (not just admins, all users). Many people chose to store their files, in folders or directory trees that contained their name, or full names at times.

Using their IP, and their name which they unwittingly provided, we would use a "whois" service, or programs like NeoIPTrace to find their locations.

We would then say something like, "hey Jim, hows the weather in Santa Fe?"

You would not believe the reactions from people. Freaking out, thinking they had been hacked or worse.

Many a fun night was had at other peoples expense.

reply to post by projectvxn


If only TOR itself offered any... It was developed by the NSA and anyone can easily sniff data that not for everyone's eye just by acting as a terminal node and sniffing the data as it goes through its actually pretty simple.

Don't get me wrong, I know you said "like TOR" I just wanted to add my geeky 2 grains of salt

That wil be the final blow to freedom of speech on the internet. Yes the Government knows who you are already, but before there was no real sure fire way to 'legally' identify you...
I just posted this on another thread, thought it was appropriate here as well.

Originally posted by twitchy
Source
Check out my last post on this thread,...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
They are going to be 'diagnosing mental illness' based on blog posts soon, with all the money they've spent on stereotyping conspiracy theorists, I think we will be the first to take a hit from that trend.

As to those of you who think they can't shut down the internet, I really don't think that's realistic, your ISP is hardly going to argue with a Federal Cease and Desist order. In my opinion, it's likely that rather than 'shutting it down', they will simply reinvent it to create a system where by you have to personally identify yourself before surfing. Once they rid themselves of the anonimnity of the internet and can 'legally' verify who is on the computer, they already have the legal foundation they need to charge you with any number of flakey definitions of crime, hate speech, and terrorism. Look at the laws that have been pushed through lately, homegrown terrorism prevention, patriot act...

For the first time in human history, we have access to information and a means to exchange that information on an equal basis, and it's not going to take long for Big Brother to figure out what a threat that is.

reply to post by ThaLoccster


Yeah we did that alot too in the past when I was a kiddo Taking over nearly every single PC there was in a IRC channel with NetBIOS exploits and a couple of other nifty tricks.

IP Geolocation is not THAT accurate... If you'd try to geotrace me you'd get a location thats 250-300miles from where I am really...

I, for one, hope this happens. At least YouTube comments would probably get a lot more tolerable.

reply to post by Genius22


Done.

Tell me, how would you describe yourself?

reply to post by Pseudonaut


I'm sure you want hundreds of people to have access to everything you type/say/do on your PC. Full access to view any of your passwords, bank data, transactions, see everything you type about your wife to your friends... use it all up to build themselves a nice profile database then flag you as a nutcase and on no fly list for having matched to certain "behavioral" patterns...

Don't forget the last thing about the internet... Its one of your last hope... the reason some politicians are soiling their pants right now about the big "political awakening" is almost entirely because of the internet...

When communication goes blackout.... no one can blow the whistle on their latest sick plans and so on... we're going to be deep into it... realllly deep...

You have no clue my friend the power that controlling the internet wields trust me... I know a bit about "controlling" the internet... and it can be a very very very lethal weapon...

Originally posted by WolfofWar
Should they even be legal? Your I.P is your internet license plate. It's illegal to spray-paint or obscure your car's license plate, and for good reason.

A valid point, if you will. Though, apparently somewhat ill-conceived and/or misguided given the nature of the correlation attempted in comparison.

Is your license plate tracked, recorded and documented through Every stoplight, intersection or stop sign traveled through?

Some may think or say "Yes", but the Real answer is No, it's Not.

While one's IP can Always be resolved to the physical address using such at Any given time, be it via court requested documentation or otherwise, that would seem a far cry from Recording each and every turn made heading to Walmart, for example.

The most recent trend/threat on the internet is Fake:Fraud Alert type malware ... baiting folks in with a False sense of "my PCs infected" - Click Here To Fix It Now - All for the low, low price of $umpteen.99.

All the while merely playing upon the age old equation of Problem - Reaction - Solution


I personally see this proposed legislation as little more than the same ... merely taking lessons and realizing potential gains all the while

Fear - vs - Security would Always seem a profitable venture ... ADT, whilst not exclusively, is a good example of the same. (?)





Nah ... much the same as with Net Neutrality ... leave my Internet as it Is ... aside from technological advances.

Original Purpose, Folks ???

It'll first start with "Here take this good citizen! This will facilitate everything and make the internet safer for your kids... no need to remember complicated passwords or have high encryption standards... just take this cute little card /usb stick that will remember it all for you... All of this in small little card specially designed to fit your wallet...

THEN It will be

Wow we never anticipated that everyone would lose their cards and give your complete identity to anyone who finds it.. Now its sad the complete internet infrastructure has been modified to fit the new "PUMPED" security standards and going back would cost billions in "now obsolete" software/hardware which would end up raising your taxes....

And FINALLY!

We'll we've found an ingenious solution... the odds that you lose your arm are thin so here's a copy of your card on a cuuteeeeee little chip... guess in what its going to be put into

Originally posted by WolfofWar
Give me three minutes, and I can easily find out who you are.

Ok I can't stand it anymore lol
Do me! Do Me!

U2U me if you do figure out who I am though, god help some of these guys figure it out lol.

Originally posted by WolfofWar
reply to post by projectvxn

 

Should they even be legal? Your I.P is your internet license plate. It's illegal to spray-paint or obscure your car's license plate, and for good reason.

Internet anonymity programs like TOR should certainly be legal. The problem with this kind of legislation is the governments track record with how it treats dissent. Programs like TOR or other anonymity-ware help dissidents around the world protect themselves from snooping governments. Places like Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia.

If we allow our government to force us to use these stupid identifiers, what's to stop them from showing up to your home after you posted something they don't like on ATS?The problem with arbitrary government is that it applies force arbitrarily. You don't even have to be a dissident, you just have to be taken out of context.

No more power. Government has proven to be truly fearful master. The more power we give them the more freedom they take.

This has GOT to get out! Please post this or tell everyone you can! I registered on this forum just to post this news, but I cannot create a new thread yet!

The game World of Warcraft is immensely popular, snagging around 12 million subscriptions worldwide. On June 6th Blizzard Entertainment, the game's developer, made a startling announcement regarding their forum system. This announcement was made out of the blue, and there is a thread that is 1141 pages long, with 21,100 replies of members screaming "NO!" that has fallen on deaf ears. Blizzard said they are going through with the change anyway.

...The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID -- that is, their real-life first and last name -- with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

The official forums have always been a great place to discuss the latest info on our games, offer ideas and suggestions, and share experiences with other players -- however, the forums have also earned a reputation as a place where flame wars, trolling, and other unpleasantness run wild. Removing the veil of anonymity typical to online dialogue will contribute to a more positive forum environment, promote constructive conversations, and connect the Blizzard community in ways they haven’t been connected before. With this change, you’ll see blue posters (i.e. Blizzard employees) posting by their real first and last names on our forums as well.

forums.battle.net...

Since this announcement they have been deleting many threads opposing it, linking it to internet censorship. In my 15 years of sitting around online, I have NEVER seen an internet forum, let alone one of this size, REQUIRE their members to post their full first and last name to use the forum system.

Blizzard's reply? "It's optional". They argue that you are not required to use the forums, when their forums are used extensively for official beta testing on new games, technical support, and general user feedback.

One of the moderators on the World of Warcraft forums listed his name last afternoon, and people promptly dug up his home address, phone number, his parent's names, how many residents in his home, his facebook, his twitter, and other goodies. After this was posted in response to the moderator, he turns around and says it's against the forum policy to disclose personal information on the forum. Ironic, isn't it?

This is bad and I can see it being the first step in a large internet censorship movement.

PLEASE get this on the front page of ATS!

[edit on 7-7-2010 by Carch70]

[edit on 7-7-2010 by Carch70]