Internet Anonymity
by Alex Tutorialized
Internet anonymity is, in essence, the subject of internet privacy and its issues. Internet anonymity is basically the method by which people send messages and conduct business via the Internet without revealing their true identity. The information that they do reveal is controlled by the user him or herself. It includes the obvious personal information, however maintaining Internet anonymity extends far beyond the user: it includes computer information and location as well. To maintain Internet anonymity means to utilize the Internet without giving anyone the ability to trace or link web activity, or personal information, back to the user.
Those who are concerned about Internet anonymity often discuss several risks to personal privacy. Cookies are among the most talked about privacy risk. Cookies are text sent to a web browser about a site or page that has been visited. The text is stored by the computer's server and sent back every time that particular web page is revisited. It makes for downloading the page quicker since the computer accessing the page is authenticated by the cookie. Cookies also contain specific information about the user, such as preferences, passwords, log-in IDs and even electronic shopping cart information. This is why the cookie is considered a privacy risk by Internet users, and has thus been disabled by many computer owners prior to surfing the web. How to disable cookies in Mozilla Firefox you can learn in this tutorial.
Proxies
These are your first line of defense, so let's start with them. Proxies provide a useful layer of mediation between your machine and the Internet. There are several types, but Web proxies and Socks proxies are the two most relevant to our purposes.
Grossly oversimplified, a proxy is a remote machine which you connect through to the Net, which forwards your IP traffic, and which you then appear to be originating from. When you contact a Web site via an anonymous proxy, it's the proxy's IP which shows in their logs.
You can use either Web or Socks proxies with your browser, and Socks proxies with other Net clients to obscure your IP from prying eyes. But you do have to choose them with care.
Socks proxies are the best, general-purpose proxies. This is so because Socks are non-caching, which means, for example, that there won't be a record of the Web pages you fetched while connecting through one, except on your own machine -- and this you can fix rather easily (more on that in 'Browser Settings' ). It also means they're slow, but if you want anonymity, you shouldn't quibble.
But older versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape don't support Socks. What to do? You can upgrade, but I prefer an older browser with fewer 'features', which I equate with fewer security leaks (though these should be patched regularly, of course). Rather than upgrade, you can download an application called SocksCap, and use it to 'socksify' any IP client you use. It will work with browsers, e-mail clients, telnet, SSH, chat clients, even your l4me e-mail bomber. Test it; socksify your e-mail client and send a message from one of your accounts to another. Check the header. Is the originating IP your proxy? If so, your e-mail now appears to originate from the proxy's IP. This can be extremely useful, as we'll see below.
Useful but not foolproof. Of course the proxy machine's admin can easily learn that you connected to it after perusing his logs, so a proxy doesn't actually conceal you; it just adds a layer between you and whatever you're contacting on the Net. This layer can be thick or thin, depending on where the proxy machine is physically located. If your proxy is located in a country unlikely to cooperate with requests for their logs from foreign officials, or a country where your mother tongue is rarely spoken, it can be, in practical terms if not theoretical terms, quite an effective layer of protection.
It's easy to determine a proxy's country of origin with the $20.00 Patrick Project DNS utility, which will resolve IPs to addresses and vice versa, and a good deal more to boot. You cheapskates out there can go to SamSpade.org and do it all for free.
Advocates for Internet anonymity argue that it is the most important aspect of free speech on the Internet. Anonymity allows for Internet users to express themselves freely without worry of being discovered or tracked, ridiculed, or harassed. This is important to online discussions and forums, especially those involving personal questions or topics, in which those participating do not want to have to admit who or where they are. A perfect example of the importance of such anonymity is in medical forums where patients are free to ask medical questions of doctors or others with similar medical afflictions. Advocates also maintain that Internet anonymity is essential for transmitting information that must remain anonymous. The reporting of illegal activities and criminal behavior via the Internet is also an example of how vital anonymity can be: it gives witnesses and reporters the comfort and security necessary to offer their testimony.
Opponents argue that certain abuses and illegal activities are perpetuated by available Internet anonymity. Spam, or unsolicited email, is a common abuse of Internet anonymity. Most spam emails are junk mail and non-threatening; however, there have been cases where spam has been utilized to communicate hate-speech, threats, and harassment, and the anonymity of such spam has made it difficult, if even impossible, to track their originators. Opponents also debate that anonymity protects criminals and sexual predators. These offenders utilize the forums and discussions groups that protect the identity of all users to target their prey via the Internet.
The reality of Internet anonymity is that it will be a subject of heated discussion for years to come. Fortunately there exist avenues that Internet users can take to protect their identity, preferences, and IP addresses, if anonymity is important to them. Disabling cookies is common choice and some web browsers, like Mozilla Foxfire and Opera, have a setting that automatically deletes all cookies at the end of an Internet session. Overall, users need to remain cognizant of what information they provide on the Internet, including that in on-line screen names and profiles, if they want to maintain anonymity while using the web.
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Those who are concerned about Internet anonymity often discuss several risks to personal privacy. Cookies are among the most talked about privacy risk. Cookies are text sent to a web browser about a site or page that has been visited. The text is stored by the computer's server and sent back every time that particular web page is revisited. It makes for downloading the page quicker since the computer accessing the page is authenticated by the cookie. Cookies also contain specific information about the user, such as preferences, passwords, log-in IDs and even electronic shopping cart information. This is why the cookie is considered a privacy risk by Internet users, and has thus been disabled by many computer owners prior to surfing the web. How to disable cookies in Mozilla Firefox you can learn in this tutorial.
Proxies
These are your first line of defense, so let's start with them. Proxies provide a useful layer of mediation between your machine and the Internet. There are several types, but Web proxies and Socks proxies are the two most relevant to our purposes.
Grossly oversimplified, a proxy is a remote machine which you connect through to the Net, which forwards your IP traffic, and which you then appear to be originating from. When you contact a Web site via an anonymous proxy, it's the proxy's IP which shows in their logs.
You can use either Web or Socks proxies with your browser, and Socks proxies with other Net clients to obscure your IP from prying eyes. But you do have to choose them with care.
Socks proxies are the best, general-purpose proxies. This is so because Socks are non-caching, which means, for example, that there won't be a record of the Web pages you fetched while connecting through one, except on your own machine -- and this you can fix rather easily (more on that in 'Browser Settings' ). It also means they're slow, but if you want anonymity, you shouldn't quibble.
But older versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape don't support Socks. What to do? You can upgrade, but I prefer an older browser with fewer 'features', which I equate with fewer security leaks (though these should be patched regularly, of course). Rather than upgrade, you can download an application called SocksCap, and use it to 'socksify' any IP client you use. It will work with browsers, e-mail clients, telnet, SSH, chat clients, even your l4me e-mail bomber. Test it; socksify your e-mail client and send a message from one of your accounts to another. Check the header. Is the originating IP your proxy? If so, your e-mail now appears to originate from the proxy's IP. This can be extremely useful, as we'll see below.
Useful but not foolproof. Of course the proxy machine's admin can easily learn that you connected to it after perusing his logs, so a proxy doesn't actually conceal you; it just adds a layer between you and whatever you're contacting on the Net. This layer can be thick or thin, depending on where the proxy machine is physically located. If your proxy is located in a country unlikely to cooperate with requests for their logs from foreign officials, or a country where your mother tongue is rarely spoken, it can be, in practical terms if not theoretical terms, quite an effective layer of protection.
It's easy to determine a proxy's country of origin with the $20.00 Patrick Project DNS utility, which will resolve IPs to addresses and vice versa, and a good deal more to boot. You cheapskates out there can go to SamSpade.org and do it all for free.
Advocates for Internet anonymity argue that it is the most important aspect of free speech on the Internet. Anonymity allows for Internet users to express themselves freely without worry of being discovered or tracked, ridiculed, or harassed. This is important to online discussions and forums, especially those involving personal questions or topics, in which those participating do not want to have to admit who or where they are. A perfect example of the importance of such anonymity is in medical forums where patients are free to ask medical questions of doctors or others with similar medical afflictions. Advocates also maintain that Internet anonymity is essential for transmitting information that must remain anonymous. The reporting of illegal activities and criminal behavior via the Internet is also an example of how vital anonymity can be: it gives witnesses and reporters the comfort and security necessary to offer their testimony.
Opponents argue that certain abuses and illegal activities are perpetuated by available Internet anonymity. Spam, or unsolicited email, is a common abuse of Internet anonymity. Most spam emails are junk mail and non-threatening; however, there have been cases where spam has been utilized to communicate hate-speech, threats, and harassment, and the anonymity of such spam has made it difficult, if even impossible, to track their originators. Opponents also debate that anonymity protects criminals and sexual predators. These offenders utilize the forums and discussions groups that protect the identity of all users to target their prey via the Internet.
The reality of Internet anonymity is that it will be a subject of heated discussion for years to come. Fortunately there exist avenues that Internet users can take to protect their identity, preferences, and IP addresses, if anonymity is important to them. Disabling cookies is common choice and some web browsers, like Mozilla Foxfire and Opera, have a setting that automatically deletes all cookies at the end of an Internet session. Overall, users need to remain cognizant of what information they provide on the Internet, including that in on-line screen names and profiles, if they want to maintain anonymity while using the web.
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