i live in a authoritarian country. i'm making a website publishing some statistics that the government probably doesn't want to me publish. need tips on remaining anonymous. maybe i just need to abort this
i'm doing this in some vm that i'm using for some other stuff that isn't associated to my identity, and i will separate the two things soon. i'm thinking that if they look for unusual connections to this server (say, not port 80 or 443) they will realize someone's using ssh to connect to this server and find my ip, and they will know who i am. is there a way to make my traffic indistinguishable from other traffic?
anyway, i'm thinking about not connecting directly to this server ever again but doing it through some other vm that's outside the country. but now i have a problem: the vms providers know who i am. i don't think they're willing to give out that information because they aren't in the country but still, this is something i have to consider. also the domain name people know who i am
there are two people that know i'm behind this. i don't exactly trust these people with my life. this worries me the most
>there are two people that know i'm behind this. i don't exactly trust these people with my life
Abort mission. You're compromised from the start.
Alternatively, if you're ballsy enough, use Tails, Tor, and SecureDrop. Give it to journalists. Attempting to publish on your own is folly. Don't do it.
Cooper Foster
can't give it to journalists. it isn't that big. and it's software that analyzes some data that's constantly changing, so it isn't like i can give them some docs and be done with it
it is folly. but i really want to do it. all of this is very interesting to me. but it really is the kind of fucking dumb shit you do knowing it's going to ruin your life and still you keep on doing. so besides aborting, ignoring these two people (just remembered they're actually three), what suggestions do you have
i know i should just abort or leave the country and do it elsewhere
Nolan Collins
>Tails, Tor, and SecureDrop This, but only use Tor if the US doesn't like your country. >can't give it to journalists. it isn't that big. No, but there's likely someone abroad that would help you with this. They can publish the data you give them, or run a system that can use your data (submitted securely of course) to make it public. Also make sure you have good opsec, like plausible deniability. Good luck, I hope you succeed.
Dominic Phillips
If it's something that could genuinely get you in trouble, send it to someone in another country, anonymously, encrypted. I could give you hand if you want. Use pgp to secure and sign everything.
Dylan Sullivan
1) Purchase stolen identity off darkweb 2) Use new identity to start your mission all over again 3) ??? 4) Profit?
>buy shitcoin with cash >buy hosting outside your country with shitcoin >connect over tor only
Samuel Scott
>i live in a authoritarian country If that's true, stop while you are alive.
Hunter Robinson
How authoritarian are we talking about? Better yet, which coutry?
Wyatt Perez
Publish to Freenet.
Easton Martin
secret police could just break into my house and put me in jail. doesn't matter if i broke any laws
don't really want to say which country because i'm a bit paranoid about this doing whatever the government doesn't like can get you in trouble
the thing is that it isn't that kind of data. it's software that has to be running constantly indeed the us doesn't like this country
i feel like plausible deniability won't do me any good. i wouldn't be judged fairly... so if they figure out it's me, i'm fucked i don't get it yeah i was thinking about getting a vps with cryptocurrency. are there any reputable hosts that won't ask me who i am, or won't care if i lie?
Christian Gonzalez
there's no way to do it safely. just don't do it, nobody cares about some shitty statistics from a shithole country and publishing them won't change a thing trust me don't waste your time
Ethan Sullivan
>Authoritarian country and problem is ?
unless of curse you are a amurican mongrel and can't distinguish totalitarism from authoritarism
Owen Martinez
host the website on a server in another country, obviously. do everything on a burner laptop. find a cafe or something with free wifi and go in an alley that's as far away from it as possible where you can still get signal from it. destroy the laptop when you are done.
Oliver Long
Every country is authoritarian
Carter Clark
>arguing semantics when it is perfectly clear what he means Just kys faggots
semantics are the principality of life ever read 1984 ? unless it's a country ruled by Left than it's totalitarian in every aspect
Jaxon Myers
Well I assume the answer would be something dumb like that but in his reply OP seemed much more serious.
Jaxon Gonzalez
If the police could just knock on your door and get you arrested with no proof, it’s obvious that the three people that know about it will say it was you regardless of your opsec.
You have to kill the people who know, leave no witnesses and then securely talk with a journalist in the US. You will not be credited for any of this, and you will not be saved from your government for this.
Nathaniel Howard
You seem to be shying away from handing off data to others, which implies that this information has no value outside the current moment and can't be compiled into useful summaries. If so, can you just automate the whole thing? Load it onto a throwaway laptop / microcomputer (pending complexity), start it running, and pipe whatever output it's generating straight to whatever hosted-in-some-other-country webpage? You can probably have it maintain a connection via Tor the whole time. And then bury that whole assembly in the fucking ground or someone else's walls or where the hell ever. Anywhere but near you.
Alternatively, if it can be summarized, then give some thought to just handing off summaries to someone in a different country so they can help. Probably a lot easier than hiding an active terminal in such a way as to cast suspicion away from yourself. Though you'll want to have some very thorough way to destroy your computer available straight away if anyone comes knocking.
And whatever you're going to do, be fully (like 150% fully) careful about the two people who know but who you don't trust. People just fuck everything up, and if they're asked/forced they'll turn your ass in. It might be a good idea to make a show of "deciding it's not worth it" (for their eyes only! if it spreads any further, I'll have to suggest a more Final Solution), then waiting like 8 months so it looks like it was just someone else's bright idea, before actually turning the thing on.
Gavin Turner
>secret police could just break into my house and put me in jail. doesn't matter if i broke any laws Is it an Eastern European country?
Ryan Bailey
nope
doesn't matter anymore. not doing it, at least publicly, at least not now, in the way i was doing it
i was summarizing some public bitcoin transaction data from venezuela, making statistics out of it, computing some values and publishing 1. the value of the local currency/dollar rate (because there's an useless official rate and publishing any other rate is illegal) 2. summaries of the most recent bitcoin-local currency transactions, because i think it's really interesting that in a country so poor there would be at least $300.000 changing hands every day in the bitcoin-bolivar market
not giving the url or more details now in case i find a way of doing this again, people can't use this thread to dox me
i'll probably keep working on this for personal use. i wanted to make some money out of it too but i don't think that would pay my jail escape or whatever
Easton Diaz
Do you work from different coffee shops that have wifi. For example, you could register a domain name and hosting from one copy shop, have your website ready to deply as soon as you get the hosting going.
Then you can make updates to your website by just logging into your web host from coffee shops when you are ready to update it.
If you are worried that they will track you at the coffee shop, just go to a different one next time.
Also, consider spoofing your mac address. Change it before going to the coffee shop, then change it back when you get home, but before you connect back to your wifi network.
Jacob Allen
yea, i don't mind the technical details as much. all of that i think i can handle. but i've said too much to people that know me already, in discord
