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Anonymity
on the Internet
There
are many reasons one may want to protect their real
identity, Put simply you have a right to privacy &
anonymity as long as you use those rights ethically and
responsibly. You may want to protect yourself from an oppressive
government,
Send something "off the record" to a journalist,
Communicate with a self-help
organization,
or just want to post all those politically
incorrect thoughts.
Just
changing or clearing the 'real
name'
field in your newsreader setup won't help you much
unless your trying to pull a fast one on one of your
friends, It's very easy to trace a message back to its
original site by reading the headers in the mail
message, and the system administrator can easily look up
the senders 'real
name'.
Clearly
there is a better solution by using an Anonymous
Remailer, These systems strip all headers from the
message making it next to impossible to trace where the
message originated. Some systems give you an anonymous
address
that other people can send you mail, which is then
forwarded to your real address, (Sometimes known as a pseudonymous
server) A majority of remailers use encryption.
Remailer
List
This is an automatically
generated listing of remailers. The first part of the
listing shows the remailers along with configuration
options and special features for each of the remailers.
The second part shows the twelve day history, average
latency, and uptime for each remailer.You can the very
latest remailer information by fingering
rlist@anon.lcs.mit.edu.
This is more or less, a
fairly comprehensive list of the known working Type-1
& Type-II remailers
Penet
remailers
The original Penet
remailer was anon.penet.fi
run by Johan Helsingius which was closed in 1996 after
troubles with the Church of Scientology, Spammers,
and a story ran in the Sunday Observer alleging
transmission of child pornography from the penet.fi
remailer which was later proven false by Police Sergeant
Kaj Malmberg of the Helsinki Police Computer Crime
Squad.
Recently a new penet
class remailer is now open for business and as of the
21th of December 1998 had around 2000 regular users.
Anonymous
email
offers all the same features of anon.penet.fi
Mixmaster
remailers
Mixmaster
remailers are the next generation of remailers, Using
advanced techniques and strong cryptography to make most
methods of traffic analysis next to impossible, It
however requires the use of a special
client
to generate the Mixmaster messages. Below is a lists of
links for more information on Mixmaster remailers.
Run
your own remailer!
Joey
Grasty probably summed it up best on why the Windows
based remailers are needed, For the most part remailers
have been installed and run by a dedicated, but very
small group of skilled cypherpunks who wrote and ran
remailers on Unix systems. These remailers require
detailed knowledge of the Unix operating systems. Most
potential remailer operators do not have this skill set
and do not have the computers that run Unix. To fix this
problem, Joey created a remailer that runs under Windows
and is comparatively easy to setup and use. But
unfortunately Joey is no longer working on the WinSock
remailer. But that doesn't mean there are no more
Windows based remailers.
Reliable
v1.0.5
offered by Potato
Software
is an anonymous Type I/Type II, Hybrid remailer to run
on the Windows operating system. Reliable has several
new options not seen on other remailers. The Potato home
page has all the information to set it up.
Required equipment to run the Reliable
remailer are...
- Windows 95 or
Windows 98 & Windows NT 3.51 and higher
- Computer with
ideally a Pentium processor, and a minimum of 16MB
of memory
- POP3 mail
account
- SMTP mail
server
- NNTP server (if
direct posting to USENET required)
- PGP
Version 5.5x or 2.6.x (RSA & IDEA support
required)
- Mixmaster
2.0.4
[b45 or later required] Optional
I should mention
that will the relative low cost of Windows
computers
today, There is no real reason not to start a remailer,
Either for your own personal use, for private groups, or
to take some of the load off the existing remailer
network. Check this space in the future when I am ready
to announce the start of my remailer.
Remailing
from the WWW
There may
be the occasion that you don't have access to your home
machine and you have to send an anonymous message to
somebody, It is not as secure as composing your message
off-line, Your message and the final recipient are sent
unencrypted to the WWW server being used, (Unless you're
using SSL)
Opening yourself and your recipient to a
Man-In-the-Middle
Attack,
and your adversary can learn who and what it is that
you're mailing.
Mail
2 News gateways
A mail 2
news gateway allows you to post to newsgroups via
e-mail, This is very convenient if you want to use a
remailer or can't post to a particular newsgroup because
its not carried on your news server or your provider
doesn't offer news.
Remailer
Tools
Using a
remailer at times can be a real pain in the ass, but
there are some tools and commercial products aimed at
streamlining the process of sending anonymous mail.
- FakeMailer
Version 2.5 Fake
Mailer is a powerful anonymous mailer that allows
you to send fake emails from any email address. You
can Send emails from any email address,
either from real email addresses, non-existant email
addresses or even other email addresses.
You can spoof any email address and send it to
anyone you like.It can send mails with
custom headers like,From ID,From Name, X-mailer,
priority and Content Type.
- Jack
B. Nymble
is a new Windows 95/NT application for composing and
sending anonymous and nym messages. Its from the
same folks that brought you the Potato DOS remailer
client..
- Privtool
Version 0.90
is intended to be a PGP aware replacement for the
standard Sun
workstation mailtool, Privtool now runs on Linux,
Free-BSD, Solaris, and SunOS.
- NewsRover
is a off-line Usenet newsgroup reader and posting
program that works well with remailers to post
private Usenet messages and e-mail
- S-Tools-4
is one of many steganography
tools that hides messages in photos, or sounds that
could be posted to Usenet or stored on your
computer. Steganography relies on security by
obscurity, If people don't know there is a message
hidden, they won't look for it. If you download this
software,
I have a test picture
for you to try it out.
Anonymous
& Public Proxy's
You would
be amazed the about the amount of information left
behind every time you visit a website, If you send mail
from Hotmail,
it will log your providers IP number and send it with
your message. Proxys allow you to avoid using your
provider's IP address, Some ISP's and countries have
blocked certain IP's from accessing certain sites on the
Internet, A proxy will allow you to access those sites.
- MagusNet
Anonymous Public Proxy Server
will allow free users to chain proxy servers for
greater anonymity, and is available on multiple
ports and domains to thwart filtering. Paying
accounts can make user of the 128 bit SSL encryption
and offers some of the services of the Janus
service.
- Anon.xg.nu
With
and without SSL, Please read the Acceptable
Use Agreement
before
using!
- Anonymouse
is a free anonymous proxy located in
Germany.
- ProxyMate
(Formally
LPWA Lucent Personalized Web
Assistant)
is a new tool that provides convenience, privacy,
enhanced security, and assists on controlling spam.
(Note: There are
some who belive the LPWA is a web based version of Echelon
scooping up all sorts of information about the users
of the LPWA, Some of Lucent's customers &
contacts within the U.S. Government are the NSA,
FBI,
U.S.
Navy and SAIC.
None of these rumors have been confirmed, nor
denied. -WK)
- I-Security
- A free Web-based proxy service for anonymous Web
surfing. A graphics free option available for
quicker downloads and privacy from "Web
bugs".
- SinaProxy.com:
Australian-based service which allows anonymous web
browsing.
- Websperts Anonymous
Proxy Fast proxy from Czech Republic Down
because of abuse.
- Defcon
Proxy Server
Down
indefinitely
The Defcon
proxy server also comes SSL
encrypted!
- COTSE
Anonymizer -
A free Web-based anonymizer from the security and
privacy information center "Church of the
Swimming Elephant".
- Proxys-4-All
is the largest & all around best site
for both public and anonymous proxy information,
(HTTP, FTP, Telnet, Socks, Gopher, Security, and
WAIS) Well worth a couple hours learning &
exploring this site. You have to wish there were
more places like this on the Internet!
Privacy
& Anonymous service providers
I have
been trying to put together a list of providers who care
more about the privacy and security of their users than
that of the almighty dollar, Surpassingly they are few
& far between (Probably too anonymous to tell
anyone.) Most of these providers use telnet, Some use SSH,
or S/Key
to log in for added protection. Mail me
if you would like your company listed.
- Anonymize.net
All
in one private
& secured Internet access.
- HushMail
Is the world's first 1024 bit encrypted
free mail service with SSL encryption!
- Freedom.net
Anonymous mail, telnet, IRC, SSH and
web-surfing.
- SecureNym
Offers secure and anonymous web based E-mail by
subscription.
- Pop3Now:
Access
your mail from the web with SSL encryption.
- Cyberpass
Run by Lance Cottrell, a well known cryptographer
& cypherpunk.
- LOD
Communications
$10 a month shell account with WWW page.
- SecureNym
secure e-mail to businesses as well as
individual mail accounts.
- PrivacyX
Free anonymous e-mail service using digital
certificates.
- Data
Haven Project
$10 a month shell account with full access.
- Offshore
Information Services
Anonymous services from Anguilla B.W.I.
- Somebody.net
Anonymous surfing and anonymous email
services.
- Altopia
Privacy accounts now, Anonymous accounts later...
Not too
anonymous, but better than nothing...
- Juno
is a free Windows only Internet service supported by
advertisers, When you sign on they will ask you for
all sorts of information about your hobbies, income,
address & name, However I am told of a cat
(four-legged kind) who has an account with Juno, and
when it comes to addresses, There is always 1060
West Addison, Chicago IL 60613.
- AOL
Used be called the largest anonymous
service provider in the world allowing up to five
screen names each of which is a pseudonym only
traceable by AOL and law enforcement. Recent events
of AOL staff breaching customers identities through
social engineering by the U.S. Military and others
have led me to nearly take AOL of this list, But if
you want idiot-proof services, It can't be beat.
Anonymity
Technology
- The Anonymizer
enables users to surf the WWW anonymously, stop
cookies from being issued, stop Java and JavaScript
access to browser and hard drive information, and
effectively blocks tracking I.P. addresses.
- Zero-Knowledge
Systems
Its a cypherpunk's wet dream coming true,
Offering a product that will manage a users digital
identity, encrypts and routes traffic through the Freedom
network, transparently
decrypts all incoming traffic, watches all outbound
traffic for personal information, places cookies in
a 'cookie jar' and filters spam, All for $49.95
U.S.D.! Like it? WANT IT?
- Rewebber
(Formally
Janus)
is a service that makes it possible to offer WWW
pages to be posted anonymously as long as the
content doesn't contradict moral standards,
(Pornography, racism, or violence, Among others.)
Rewebber encrypts all references of the URL with a
768 bit RSA
key and makes the source URL unintelligible, and
gives no information about the original URL.
- IDzap
Anonymous web surfing and access services.
- ZipLip
offers snoop-proof mail, Password
protected, and securely deletes when you're finished
with it.
- The
Eternity Service
is a distributed data-haven which takes a different
approach to ensuring unpopular content and anonymous
speech can be published without fear of censorship.
- Mojonation
is
a revolutionary new publishing and content-sharing
network. It combines the flexibility of the
marketplace and the distributed computing power of
the Internet.
- Crowds
is
a system to protect your privacy while browsing the
web, it prevents a web server from learning
information that could identify you. Crowds was
named for the notion of blending into a crowd,
Crowds operates by grouping users into a large &
geographically diverse group (Crowd) that
collectively issues requests for its members. Web
servers wouldn't be able to tell the true source of
the request since it could have come from Cape Town
or Chicago. The team working on Crowds is looking
for testers of their system, Lucky users who keep
their Crowds server running all the time can win
this cool t-shirt.
Not
ready for prime-time, But worth a look...
- TAZ
Servers and the Rewebber Network
Ian
Goldberg
and David
Wagner's
implementation of the Janus
Service
allowing users to publish WWW pages anonymously
without fear of being identified by social and
political groups, while offering good protection and
protection from abuse.
- Onion
Routing
The Onion Routing research project is
attempting to build an Internet based system that is
strongly resistant to traffic analysis,
eavesdropping, and other attacks by both outsiders
and insiders. This will give the sender of a
message, and occasionally the receiver anonymity
from the medium. The only thing the network knows is
that communication is taking place, But it has no
idea who or what is being communicated. (Note:
The contradiction of what Onion Routing is trying to
do compared to the the warning at the bottom of the
page is good for a giggle. -WK)
Organizations
and interest groups
- American
Civil Liberties Union
is the United States foremost advocate of
individual rights, litigation, legislating, and
educating the public on a broad array of issues
affecting individual freedoms in the U.S., The ACLU
also has a site for dealing with the police.
- Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse
Offers consumers a unique opportunity to
learn how to protect their personal privacy with
publications and tips on privacy.
- Electronic
Privacy Information Center
is a public interest research center in Washington
D.C. Established in 1994 to focus public attention
on emerging civil liberty issues, protecting
privacy, and the 1st Amendment.
- Electronic
Frontier Foundation
is a non-profit civil liberties organization working
in the public interest to protect privacy, free
expression, and access to public resources and
information online.
- Right
To Privacy
An open discussion site on privacy issues
around the world.
- Internet
Privacy Coalition's
mission is to promote privacy and security on the
Internet through widespread public use of strong
encryption.
- Americans
for Computer Privacy
A coalition working to ensure the online
privacy and communication in today information age.
- Big
Brother Inside
Keeping your PC safe from those who want to
ID you.
- Privacy
International
is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog
on surveillance by governments and corporations.
Books
on Anonymity
Publications
& articles on anonymity
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