[seniol]

In 2016, it makes sense to be very careful to using your real IP, which is a huge risk when using Internet.

Your real IP gives out your exact location, as everyone probably knows.

Solutions for safe, anonymous browsing, that are free
are few.

I actually know just one, I would like to find out more like it.

This is a free Internet browser that gives a different anonymous IP
each time you start it, and it is fast and pretty cool.
I am using it since the "meetup outrage" and I feel safer with it.

Anybody knows other free anonymous browsers like this?

http://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

[storm]

VPNs do this:
http://www.rooshv.com/why-you-should-use...b-browsing

[seniol]

Anything is better than your real IP address unprotected.

The tools from the article you gave are not free, as far as I checked.

[Valentine]

There's a misconception here. It's the network the browser connects to which grants you anonymity, not the browser itself. Conceivably you can change any browser to connect to the Tor network.

When it comes to changing IP addresses, there are only two methods really - Tor or VPNs:

Tor Browser
+ Strong anonymity e.g. from NSA
+ Free
- Slow
- Many websites block Tor users e.g. those which have CloudFlare often do
- Installing additional browser extensions can break anonymity

VPNs
+ Much faster
+ Moderate anonymity e.g. from website owners, web services etc (unless they slap your VPN provider with a court order)
- Not free

[seniol]

(06-26-2016 03:25 PM)Valentine Wrote:  

When it comes to changing IP addresses, there are only two methods really - Tor or VPNs:

Tor Browser
+ Strong anonymity e.g. from NSA
+ Free
- Slow

You should know that Tor Browser has improved dramatically lately.

Now the speed is as fast as regular Internet. I can't tell the difference.

It's not slow like it used to be few years ago

[Stadtaffe]

(06-26-2016 03:25 PM)Valentine Wrote:  

...
When it comes to changing IP addresses, there are only two methods really - Tor or VPNs:
...
VPNs
+ Moderate anonymity e.g. from website owners, web services etc (unless they slap your VPN provider with a court order)

I figured out the same. I think that "we" are not just 0.1% anymore but a few percent of internet users and we're not really doing anything illegal so what can the thought police really do anymore..

Yes, most of these sites are quite unfriendly to the tor browser, especially when ROK was all over the news and for weeks after.

Someone said above that they can find your exact location with your IP. I don't think that's right. Only your city and internet provider. Thing is, if a VPN can be "slapped" with a court order, so can your service provider, so in a way, it comes down to politics, jurisdiction and trust. Why bother replacing one service which can be slapped with a court order with another?

[Running Turtles]

(06-26-2016 04:50 PM)Stadtaffe Wrote:  

(06-26-2016 03:25 PM)Valentine Wrote:  

...
When it comes to changing IP addresses, there are only two methods really - Tor or VPNs:
...
VPNs
+ Moderate anonymity e.g. from website owners, web services etc (unless they slap your VPN provider with a court order)

I figured out the same. I think that "we" are not just 0.1% anymore but a few percent of internet users and we're not really doing anything illegal so what can the thought police really do anymore..

Yes, most of these sites are quite unfriendly to the tor browser, especially when ROK was all over the news and for weeks after.

Someone said above that they can find your exact location with your IP. I don't think that's right. Only your city and internet provider. Thing is, if a VPN can be "slapped" with a court order, so can your service provider, so in a way, it comes down to politics, jurisdiction and trust. Why bother replacing one service which can be slapped with a court order with another?

Your VPN can be slapped with a court order. To prevent this, they should not keep any logs on who was logged into their VPN server during the time the court order specifies (Google: logless VPN).

Additionally, it helps if your VPN is in a different country than you. If you're in the US, the VPN company is Italian and the VPN server is located in the Netherlands, whoever is sending the court order will have trouble enforcing it. A "logless" VPN provider would additionally have no information to give them.

I recommend AirVPN (https://airvpn.org). I'm not an affiliate (maybe I should be, I recommend them a lot), but I've used them and they provide a great service.

Other alternatives:

• Mullvad (https://mullvad.net) - Smaller than AirVPN, less countries to choose from, fewer configuration options.
• CryptoStorm (https://cryptostorm.is) - New guys on the block. Their tech-knowledge is unrivaled and they have a great product. I would recommend them for someone who's experienced with using and testing VPNs
• PIA (https://privateinternetaccess.com) - US based and the cheapest (with their yearly subscription). Decent and recommended for torrenting by the Reddit torrent community.
  
  Any questions, feel free to ask or PM!

[polar]

(06-26-2016 03:56 PM)seniol Wrote:  

(06-26-2016 03:25 PM)Valentine Wrote:  

When it comes to changing IP addresses, there are only two methods really - Tor or VPNs:

Tor Browser
+ Strong anonymity e.g. from NSA
+ Free
- Slow

You should know that Tor Browser has improved dramatically lately.

Now the speed is as fast as regular Internet. I can't tell the difference.

It's not slow like it used to be few years ago

1)
2)

It's safe to assume there ain't nothing that makes you 100% anonymous. Much of the world's Internet traffic is logged and even if you're not identifiable now, you might be identified later.

Between online profiles and cross-contamination, biometrics (such as typing patterns), and fingerprinting (based on your typical website history and even some and computer specs), the most anonymity you have is vs. blue-haired doxxers.

[Valentine]

(06-26-2016 07:35 PM)polar Wrote:  

It's safe to assume there ain't nothing that makes you 100% anonymous. Much of the world's Internet traffic is logged and even if you're not identifiable now, you might be identified later.

Between online profiles and cross-contamination, biometrics (such as typing patterns), and fingerprinting (based on your typical website history and even some and computer specs), the most anonymity you have is vs. blue-haired doxxers.

Agreed, once post-quantum cryptography becomes widespread then all currently encrypted data becomes an open book. But that is many years off, so relatively speaking it is still strong anonymity.

I'm referring to the protocol's anonymity only, not the actions you might take on it. Of course if you log into your Facebook or do anything else which harms compartmentalisation then Tor won't save you. However case studies have proven that Tor + good OPSEC works well enough for child pornographers, darknet drug dealers and hackers to thwart identification.

[seniol]

(06-26-2016 07:35 PM)polar Wrote:  

It's safe to assume there ain't nothing that makes you 100% anonymous. Much of the world's Internet traffic is logged and even if you're not identifiable now, you might be identified later.

Of course nothing makes you 100% anonymous.

But it's better to be 80% anonymous with a free browser that gives you
different IP address every 10 minutes, and redirrects the traffic through
5 different servers all over the world,
instead of using your real IP address, and being 0% anonymous...

[seniol]

the problem with the VPNs which have a monthly fee is that of course, you can easily be identified from the details of your payment

[Running Turtles]

@Seniol ^

Most logless, anonymous VPNs accept bitcoin as payment. Bitcoin can be purchased anonymously with cash, although that requires some technical knowledge.

A low-tech solution would be to get a prepaid credit card paid in cash from a store. Ideally, you'd buy this in a high-traffic place of a city you don't live in, but I doubt anyone has to be that paranoid. If prepaid, anonymous credit cards are not available in your area, you could open a PayPal account in a different name using public WiFi. To get money on it, buy an Amazon or IKEA gift card in cash and put up a Craigslist ad (or local equivalent) that you're selling the gift card for 90% of the value - payable to your PayPal address.

Another option is the VPN provider Cryptostorm. They realized the vulnerability that you point out and decided to create a token system. Essentially, a token is a pre-made account with a random username and password. The token is then distributed to resellers who have no access to the VPN servers. When you buy a token from a reseller, the reseller knows your payment details, but have no access to your VPN usage data. Cryptostorm has potential access to your usage data, but they don't know your payment info.

[seniol]

Yes, you are right about these steps, but you notice that there is a lot of work and at least few days of preparation involved into getting all these anonymously, bitcoin and the rest.

While the solution that I use since the beginning of this year,
which I detailed in the first post of this thread, is fast and free, download and use,
and it gives a different IP address somewhere else in the world, every 10 minutes

[Adonis]

It is not a terrible amount of work to swing by the grocery and get a pre paid Visa (paid for with cash of course) and pay up a VPN for a whole year's time. I was at the store anyway, and signing up for VPN took maybe 15 min until I was up and running on all devices.

Minimum = HTTPS Everywhere
Good = Tor
Better = VPN
Best = VPN + Tor

Also perhaps it should be noted, it may be wise to stay within the stratum of "statistical noise" since while ISPs can not see what you are doing, they can see if you use Tor and that may raise red flags in and of itself whereas VPNs are used by a larger number of people for a wider range of seemingly legitimate purposes. Accessing Tor through a VPN would give you even more layers to hide behind. Saying we are not in the eye of the establishment would be disingenuous at best and harmful at worst, its more of the establishment's cronies (i.e. SJWs and their technically literate white knights) than the actual NSA itself. If the NSA is actively attempting to track you as opposed to passive data mining, you will likely be eating alphabet soup in short order.

If you want true anonymity you need to learn fieldcraft and run ops in the real world.

[seniol]

(07-05-2016 04:37 PM)Adonis Wrote:  

It is not a terrible amount of work to swing by the grocery and get a pre paid Visa (paid for with cash of course) and pay up a VPN for a whole year's time. I was at the store anyway, and signing up for VPN took maybe 15 min until I was up and running on all devices.

Tor is used by at least few dozen millions of people every day,
people who hate the hundreds of
advertising corporations inserting themselves in their lives
and collecting info about them.

Using Tor is not a red flag in any way, that's only what big corporations would like you to believe, to instill irrational fear inside you

[dtf]

(07-05-2016 04:37 PM)Adonis Wrote:  

It is not a terrible amount of work to swing by the grocery and get a pre paid Visa (paid for with cash of course) and pay up a VPN for a whole year's time. I was at the store anyway, and signing up for VPN took maybe 15 min

You were able to use a prepaid Visa to pay for something online? I bought two prepaid Visa cards but they were debit cards and when I tried to pay for something online, the card was rejected. I even tried to load an account with these Visa cards, but still not allowed.

[Il Bersagliere]

(07-09-2016 06:39 PM)dtf Wrote:  

(07-05-2016 04:37 PM)Adonis Wrote:  

It is not a terrible amount of work to swing by the grocery and get a pre paid Visa (paid for with cash of course) and pay up a VPN for a whole year's time. I was at the store anyway, and signing up for VPN took maybe 15 min

You were able to use a prepaid Visa to pay for something online? I bought two prepaid Visa cards but they were debit cards and when I tried to pay for something online, the card was rejected. I even tried to load an account with these Visa cards, but still not allowed.

Oftentimes, you need to register the cards using the instructions online or directions on the pack because payment portals will want a match on the billing address and zip. I know that was the case with Vanilla Visa and GreenDot a few years ago. These days I have no issues using prepaid card since it's these 2 I have been using consistently.

[Adonis]

(07-09-2016 06:45 PM)Il Bersagliere Wrote:  

(07-09-2016 06:39 PM)dtf Wrote:  

(07-05-2016 04:37 PM)Adonis Wrote:  

It is not a terrible amount of work to swing by the grocery and get a pre paid Visa (paid for with cash of course) and pay up a VPN for a whole year's time. I was at the store anyway, and signing up for VPN took maybe 15 min

You were able to use a prepaid Visa to pay for something online? I bought two prepaid Visa cards but they were debit cards and when I tried to pay for something online, the card was rejected. I even tried to load an account with these Visa cards, but still not allowed.

Oftentimes, you need to register the cards using the instructions online or directions on the pack because payment portals will want a match on the billing address and zip. I know that was the case with Vanilla Visa and GreenDot a few years ago. These days I have no issues using prepaid card since it's these 2 I have been using consistently.

I used a "Vanilla Visa" debit card to pay for my VPN specifically last week, I put "Gift Card Recipient" in the name block and an address that is real but unrelated to me in any way. If you need to put a name and address when activating the card, I have an online alias with pre paid phone, emails, Twitter, FB, pre paid cards, etc. Very little is done under my real name/address. The govt loses my PII all the time, I don't need to make it any easier for the identity thieves out there.

[seniol]

Even Mozilla started taking ideas from the Tor Browser:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/mozil...to-firefox

[dtf]

(07-09-2016 06:45 PM)Il Bersagliere Wrote:  

(07-09-2016 06:39 PM)dtf Wrote:  

(07-05-2016 04:37 PM)Adonis Wrote:  

It is not a terrible amount of work to swing by the grocery and get a pre paid Visa (paid for with cash of course) and pay up a VPN for a whole year's time. I was at the store anyway, and signing up for VPN took maybe 15 min

You were able to use a prepaid Visa to pay for something online? I bought two prepaid Visa cards but they were debit cards and when I tried to pay for something online, the card was rejected. I even tried to load an account with these Visa cards, but still not allowed.

Oftentimes, you need to register the cards using the instructions online or directions on the pack because payment portals will want a match on the billing address and zip. I know that was the case with Vanilla Visa and GreenDot a few years ago. These days I have no issues using prepaid card since it's these 2 I have been using consistently.

I did register the cards on their lame website which was a basic form with account balance, etc. I used a fake name with a valid address but not mine.

The cards looked like this:



They did not say Vanilla at the bottom though and I don't recall if they were Green Dot affiliated.

Quote:

put "Gift Card Recipient" in the name block

What would you put for a somewhat valid sounding first/last name which is asked for usually when doing an online transaction? I guess you can say that 'Card' is your middle name.

[Stadtaffe]

I gave up with Tor because too many sites including ROK were placing too many "quiz" barriers to accessing the site through Tor for fear of DDoS attacks on their servers, and because I just didn't feel the thought-criminal activities were illegal enough..

[seniol]

Yes few websites indeed place a quiz confirmation that you're human, it takes about 10 seconds to complete.

The multiple benefits of VPNs heavily outweight the 10 lost seconds of your time.

[seniol]

(07-05-2016 04:37 PM)Adonis Wrote:  

If you want true anonymity you need to learn fieldcraft

What exactly is fieldcraft and how do you use it?

[Adonis]

(07-18-2016 02:32 PM)seniol Wrote:  

(07-05-2016 04:37 PM)Adonis Wrote:  

If you want true anonymity you need to learn fieldcraft

What exactly is fieldcraft and how do you use it?

I misspoke and should have said tradecraft, which is the use of techniques for HUMINT gathering such as dead drops, cut outs, etc.

[GlobalMan]

(06-30-2016 11:44 AM)seniol Wrote:  

the problem with the VPNs which have a monthly fee is that of course, you can easily be identified from the details of your payment

That isn't an issue to worry about for most people. As long as the VPN doesn't keep logs it doesn't matter that you could be identified as a customer, there is no data to give. Expanding on that- U.S. VPNs are the best way to go, the U.S. is (surprisingly) one of very few countries without a mandatory data retention law.

A monthly fee isn't a "problem"- You want a VPN that you pay for. You should not trust a "free" VPN. When something is free... well, you get what you pay for, the company has no obligation to do anything they say they do. "Free" often means you are the product being sold, or at the very least a compromise is being made somewhere. Very few things of important value are "free".

By paying a reputable company they are more likely to (and legally bound to) provide you with what they promised, they have a reason to follow through. And going back to the point about U.S. based VPNs- consumer protection laws add another layer to help insure a company a provides what is advertised.

Private Internet Access is great, highly recommend. They do not log any traffic or session data at all.