Introduction

Today significant part of our communication takes place over the Internet, mainly through the services of different corporations.

Our digital lives are being recorded, it’s the reality of the world we live in.

Every day, corporations & agencies around the world are recording lives of millions, they collect massive amounts of information about who we know, where we’ve been, and what we’ve done.

This surveillance apparatus can track the location of hundreds of millions of people, collect the phone records of the entire nation, and tap into the very backbone of the internet Is collecting millions of electronic records belonging to people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing.

The manner in which we use the internet influences our lives, data once written on the web stays on the web.

As a user, you need to be aware of risk, and the specific threats that are related to your methods of communication via Internet. Some of these risks are different, but as long as you’re aware of them, you can manage them.

To become and remain anonymous online you need to use the Internet without giving anyone the ability to trace or link your web activity, or personal information, back to you.

What is Anonymity

“A desire for privacy does not imply shameful secrets; Moglen argues, again and again, that without anonymity in discourse, free speech is impossible, and hence also democracy. The right to speak the truth to power does not shield the speaker from the consequences of doing so; only comparable power or anonymity can do that.”

—Nick Harkaway

Anonymous communications have an important role in our political and social discourse. Individuals desire to hide their identities because they may be concerned about political or economic retribution, harassment, or even threats to their lives.

Everything you do online leaves traces, and that information is considered very precious for commercial and intelligence purposes.

Majority of users are too quick to fill out forms or checkmark a yes box, or I agree box and to give out personal information on themselves online. Most of us don’t see the internet as a threat until the un-imaginable happens.

As days go by it’s harder to find online establishment that doesn’t want some type of information about you. You even have your major store chains online asking for this stuff. So your information is being stored everywhere for everyone to see in one form or another. Even if the public online can’t see this information, someone has access and is looking at it.

About the book

Anonymity Handbook is a practical, pragmatic guide with intent, to show you ways you can use to become and remain anonymous in digital realm.

Content of this book is important part of much broader area, presented in the book Privacy in Digital Era which addresses the question of privacy in our society, and guides trough the process of achieving privacy by utilizing encryption methods, operating system hardening, data wiping and more.

You’ll learn how to:

Encrypt your internet traffic.

Use anonymizing services ( Tor and I2P)

Safely use your email.

Encrypt files in your Browser.

Properly use social networks and open web.

Most of all, this book will give you the power to control the information that you wish to reveal.

Book formats & versions available

The book is currently available in pdf, epub and mobi format, all included in the same price! The epub and mobi formats are best for reading on dedicated e-readers. Even if you are reading it on an e-reader, you may wish to download the PDF version as well for use on your computer.

Being published on leanpub.com, this book can easily be revised and updated. You will automatically be notified about any updates in the future.

Whichever versions you use, you will always get free access to all future updates to the e-book.

Anonymity Handbook is published & provided by the leanpub.com web platform. All rights are reserved to Richard White under © Richard White 2013.

Copying or publication of any part of this book is not allowed.

Author’s website

An important note for Windows and Mac users

Software solutions discussed run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux operating systems.

There is something else I want to bring your attention to!

To effectively use information provided in this book you should consider giving Linux a go. You need a reasonably secure system from which you can use Tor and reduce your risk of being tracked or compromised.

If for some reason you are unable to set up Linux, use Tails or Whonix (we covered Whonix in chapter titled “Encrypting your Internet traffic”) instead, where most of this work is done for you. It’s absolutely critical that outgoing access be firewalled so that third party applications cannot accidentally leak data about your location.

Few thoughts from Richard Stallman

Without Richard Matthew Stallman, who founded the Free Software Movement, there would be no GNU, and without GNU there would be no Linux distributions as we know them today.

People who use proprietary software [programs whose source code is hidden, and which are licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder] are almost certainly using malware. The most widely used non-free programmes have malicious features – and I’m talking about specific, known malicious features.

There are three kinds: those that spy on the user, those that restrict the user, and back doors. Windows has all three. Microsoft can install software changes without asking permission.

When people don’t know about this issue they choose based on immediate convenience and nothing else. And therefore they can be herded into giving up their freedom by a combination of convenient features, pressure from institutions and the network effect.

A proprietary programme gives you zero security from the owner of the programme. The users are totally defenceless and the owners often wipe the floor with the users because every non-free program gives the owner unjust powers.

People are aware that Windows has bad security but they are underestimating the problem because they are thinking about third parties. What about security against Microsoft? Every non-free program is a ‘just trust me program’. ‘Trust me, we’re a big corporation. Big corporations would never mistreat anybody, would we?’ Of course they would! They do all the time, that’s what they are known for. So basically you mustn’t trust a non free programme.

Conventions used in this Book

There’s several conventions used through this book.

This is a Warning You should really pay attention here, otherwise be prepared to deal with the consequences.

This is a Tip Usually a piece or two of useful information.

This is an Information box Special information here.

Terminology

I’ll use some acronyms in this book. The first time I use an acronym, I’ll write its expanded form in parenthesis, like this: AAG (Acronyms Are Great).

For your convenience, here’s a short list of acronyms, abbreviations, and potentially confusing terms that I use in this book:

CLI Command-line interface. A textual interface for a tool that is meant to run in the terminal.

GUI A graphical user interface.

OS Operating System.