Any New Ideas for Internet Security/Anonymity?

[JustSayNoToStatism]

So I learned about this thing called OperaTOR which used TOR and a USB version of opera, so you had some anonymity and also kept internet records off your hard drive. But it turned out to be pretty old and the new version of it doesn't have TOR.

Also you can run ubuntu from an iso image on a flash drive (similar to a live cd), which keeps the hard drive safe. I keep thinking that there has to be some way to mix free things together to become invisible...Maybe surfing public locations with a pendrive operating system, TOR, and another web based proxy? If we mix enough stuff together can we get something effective? If someone could figure this stuff out, then I'd abandon all of my accounts and everything online and start over with invisibility... I hate that sites like this and other libertarian sites are probably being monitored and the users tracked.

Is it possible to block out my IP address?
If I surf from a public place, can I make it so that no one can track it to my computer if I use a liveCD?

I'm just sort of rambling here, not really expecting anyone to have figured all of this out, but maybe someone knows something more than I do. Does anyone think it's possible to become invisible with the right army of applications and precautions etc?

[Seth King]

Based on all of my research it seems the best bet for anonymity is for pay VPN service.

On a side note, I wouldn't bother with anonymity until you've switched over to Linux first. Seriously, I can't stress enough how much of a threat Windows is to your privacy, identity, and security. Switching to Ubuntu full time has been the best move I've ever made in the computer world. I never use Windows anymore, for anything.

After you've done that, I would work on securing a good email account if you haven't already. Something privacy friendly like Hushmail or something that you can use with an email client like Thunderbird or Evolution. The free ones are garbage. I'm going to write a semi-interesting story on that in the future.

I'm really close to getting VPN service myself, but it's a tossup between that or purchasing an SSL certificate for Daily Anarchist. Anonymity for me, or better security through encryption for my website's participants? Tough one. =)

[JustSayNoToStatism]

Thanks for the advice.

From what I've heard (indirectly, since I don't watch news anymore), this whole Wikileaks crisis looks like it might be the spark that drives a new crusade against the internet? American political leaders calling for Assange's head, literally his execution....? Just what I've heard. I better figure this stuff out before they start rounding up political dissidents and putting us in camps, or monitoring us more heavily!

EDIT: Also, what do people think about layering a network anonymizer (TOR) with single-point web-based anonymizers? (anonymouse, etc) Are there any risks specific to layering that I should know of? How about using TOR and MULTIPLE single-point anonymizers!!??!

Also Seth, whenever I go on the computer with the sole intent of going online, I use an old version of ubuntu that fits on a 1GB flash drive, and then when the computer starts, I can boot from USB, so I like to use ubuntu for that. But as a persistent operating system, I just can't switch yet, I need to get ubuntu for dummies or something. Learning how the file organization works with "root" and all this weird stuff, and the fact that I can still see the things on the windows partition, just can't open most of it really confuses me. I would also have to decide if i want to convert a music collection to .ogg or something like that. For browsing though, I stick with ubuntu live, I feel like viruses can't touch me with that, because it's not supposed to be able to write to the hard drive at all!

[Seth King]

Fair enough. Someday you'll make the switch full time and you'll be glad you did. Just remember, I was a total Linux noob when I made the switch. It's not that difficult to learn. It's like jumping off the 3 meter board. Looks scary, but really not.

[JustSayNoToStatism]

Someday you'll make the switch full time and you'll be glad you did.

You are right. Windows seems to start blue screening every 10 months or so, requiring a reinstallation of the OS. So I'm about 6 months or so away from having it crash, and when it does, I won't run to the Vista re-installation disk...It'll be linux full time.

[Seth King]

The only problem with waiting until then is that migration does take a little time. I think I went back to Windows a half dozen times or so to transfer files or remove programs and such. Plus it's not the end of the world to have it as a small partition on your disk just in case. But for full time usage you should be able to do everything on Linux.

[JustSayNoToStatism]

purchasing an SSL certificate for Daily Anarchist

I was browsing around and read something about "OpenSSL." I really don't know much about this stuff, but maybe worth looking at? OpenSSL.org  ...