Picture: Opencage.info (CC)
Considering that even top generals, senators, journalists and military brass are subject to the unreasonable searches being commited daily by the Surveillance State, it is important to be aware of the risks and act accordingly. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is your staunch defender and advocate, and have once again posted the methods for remaining anonymous online using a Tor onion browser, pseudonymous webmail and end-to-end encryption.
Tips and step-by-step instructions available at EFF:
So, just how do you exchange messages with someone, without leaving discoverable records with your webmail provider? This is an important practical skill, whether you need to use it to keep your love life private, to talk confidentially with a journalist, or because you’re engaged in politics in a country where the authorities use law enforcement and surveillance methods against you.
The current state of anonymous communication tools is not perfect, but there here are some steps that, if followed rigorously, might have protected the Director of the CIA, the Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, and their friends against such effortless intrusion into their private affairs.
Anonymous online communication is a valuable tool for journalists, whistleblowers, dissidents, and Directors of the CIA. As you can see, it is still quite hard to do and do well, and few people will have the discipline necessary to ensure that their webmail provider can never disclose their IP address or inter-account linkages, because the provider will never see the identifying information in the first place. Technologists all over the world are hard at work, improving the usability of all sorts of anonymous online communications tools, and we look forward to the day when all people who need to exercise their freedom of expression can do so safely, simply, and anonymously.
In other words, Don’t Be a Total Petraeus!
