EFF Guide To Blogging Anonymously

jacksonwest writes "Annalee Newitz and Kurt Opsahl just published a great how-to on blogging anonymously. How To Blog Safely About Work (Or Anything Else), covering both the legal and technical aspects of blogging about your job and staying truly anonymous. A must read for those blogging from or about their office."

Comments

Re:Just be careful

[badasscat]

It's scary to think that we leave a trail behind online.

No, it's stupid to think that you don't. Especially if you are blogging, where the entire idea is that you leave a trail behind online.

Here's an idea for those who'd like to blog about work: don't. Seriously. I'm as pro free speech as anyone, but being in favor of free speech doesn't mean I think people should be gabbing endlessly on cell phones during theatrical movie showings or that strangers should be screaming in my ear as I'm walking down the street or that employees should be talking about their employers on publicly accessible blogs. I mean, use your freakin' head.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do that thing.

And if you do, and you have to face the consequences of it, tough tits. It was your choice. Nobody asked you to write a blog. In most cases, nobody but your employer probably even cared to read it.

To think you can actually write something in public online and not "leave a trail" is beyond naive.

(And yes, I practice what I preach - I have a blog, and I have another site as well. I have never even mentioned the name of either my current employer or my previous employer online. It should be pretty much common sense, but I guess it isn't. These are things you do not publicly broadcast unless it is part of your job to do so.)

Tor: another security/privacy tool

[goon]

Bit surprised nobody has mentioned Tor.[0] Tor is a way for individuals, groups to source and share information but avoid some of the pitfalls. Tor is a useful tool for making your data (somewhat more) anonymous. Tor allows users to better hide the source or destination of their activities on-line. Tor unlike conventional encryption focuses on the header component of TCP packets so it makes it harder to determine the source or destination of your packets and ultimately your data. You can read more about how it works [1] and the Tor Protocol Specification here [2] and how it works here [3]. Tor should be another essential tool in your security kit.

Reference
[0] Tor, EFF Overview: http://tor.eff.org/overview.html
[1] Tor, How it works: http://tor.eff.org/howitworks.html
[2] Tor Protocol Specification: http://tor.eff.org/cvs/tor/doc/tor-spec.txt
[3] Tor: How it Works: http://tor.eff.org/howitworks.html