Anonymity without VPN

Hello, I wanted to know all the methods of maintaining anonymity without the use of a VPN. I understand that using fake names and avoiding social networks is the first step, but we do use ISPs that are registered to our names and address. There is also the factor of identifying my hardware and mac addresses correct? My goal is to blend into the crowd, and not be bothered by agrovated hackers and other malicious third parties while I'm online gaming, but I don't want to lose my latency so using a VPN or any other slow-downs isn't an option. It would be nice to know all the vectors prying hackers use to follow their targets and the mitigation to counter them. If I take the step of a brand new computer, change IP and the firewall system then use generic configurations I'm not sure how I can still be followed?

 

someone i know uses IP changer programs/software, doesn't bother with vpns, tor and etc. never tried this myself though. just throwing out the idea/suggestion, as i don't know if it works either.

 

You can be anonymous without VPNs, Tor, etc.

Just use free WiFi, and never provide any identifying information to websites, email servers and so on.

Doing that, it's best to frequently change the MAC address of the device that's connecting to the WiFi access point (AP). If you're connecting with your computer and a built-in or USB WiFi interface, it's your computer's MAC address that must be changed. Although that's doable, be aware that some public APs run software that reveals true MACs.

Unless you want to do lots of driving and trying to be inconspicuous, you may want a stand-alone WiFi radio. With that, and a good parabolic antenna, you can use APs as much as 5-10 Km away. However, a parabolic antenna is itself rather conspicuous. I believe that the MAC changers in WiFi radios aren't so easily evaded.

 

I'm looking for home use. I'm currently behind a pfSense firewall which is running on a mini-itx box that has dual nics. The ISP's router is in dummy mode, which runs into the pfSense box which runs into a dd-wrt router with wifi turned on when needed and from the dd-wrt router into the pc's nic. The mac addresses and DHCP is controlled on the pfSense box. When I change the mac address on the WAN there I can achieve a new IP.

Driving around hunting WiFi APs for the sole purpose of gaming online seems a bit over the top for me.

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

Your title is "Anonymity without VPN".

Just sayin'

 

I know, but I tried to elaborate in the message. I apologize for the misunderstanding. It wasn't my intention to be rude or anything.

Anonymity while online gaming but without the need for a VPN as it will introduce extremely high latency and immensly take away from the experience since most VPNs have no local servers for me. I can see how effective driving around and hopping WiFi spots would be for those looking to do general online activities that require low bandwidth, but for me it's not effective. Plus, I'm agoraphobic among other things so it's impossible for me to leave the house. Any ideas for home please?

I just want to game like an average, ordinary person without the shadow of grudge holding power obsessed who hire basement dwellers to stalk, spy and harass me everywhere I go... nothing else... there's a bit of an irony here though... if anybody needs a VPN or proxies, it's definitely me and I do use them.. to post here for example... you can't imagine what I have to deal with online... and traditional authorities have better things to do.

Thanks.

 

With a good WiFi radio and parabolic dish, you can get 20-50 Mbps from a strong AP at a Km or so.

 

I think the only way to beat the spies is to know their methods. If I don't log in to old accounts, don't use my name, change my hardware and the only thing attached to personally identify me is by my ISP.. but I don't care about ISP or government spying.. unless they're involved somehow?.. which equals corruption.. I don't know how else I could be followed by these people. If anybody is kind to explain.

 

how do I acquaint myself with this, where do I start? is it legal? thanks

 

Ubiquiti makes low-end enterprise radios.

Look on Amazon for parabolic dishes.

It's legal if it's a public AP.

 

What are you trying to accomplish?

 

OK, how do I locate a public AP? I can't find anything on them. There doesn't seem to be any in my city

Could I get one set up somewhere myself?

If I understood that question correctly and I might be repeating myself here but I want to blend into the crowd, be a nobody and be left alone which seems to be only achievable if I lose my tail of followers. I don't want to pop into a game server, have them show up on cue and have to deal with the chat section of these people trolling me personally. I want to enjoy the experience without feeling imprisoned to the way they want me to live, under their control.

 

It varies a lot. Coffee shops and restaurants often have wifi access points (APs). Often there's no password required. Some cities provide free public APs, but sometimes only to residents. You'll need to ask around.

That's possible, but I don't see how it would help. You'd need to provide as much ID to set up the AP as you need for your ISP account.

You've posted about this before, I think

Let's say that you log into the game server using a new account. Actually, do game servers allow that? I would suspect them to ban multiple accounts from a given IP address.

But anyway, you log in. And you say that other users start trolling you. How do you think that they are identifying you?

Also, have you tried using a fast VPN to change your IP address? If so, are other users still identifying you? If they are, do you have any idea how they're doing that?

Are you using a P2P system, with game servers operated by other players? If so, the server operator may know more about your machine than its IP address.

 

Accounts are unlimited. Each account = a new purchase of that game. Battlefield 4 for example. You buy the game, you get a cd key, register with that cd key and all you can change then is your username.

I'd love to know that myself, but I don't think it's a matter of identifying me while I'm in the game. I rarely chatter. Think of it this way: you're following / stalking someone you've been on to for some time and one night you see them walk into a bar, you enter the bar after them, then you see this person interacting with the people in that bar in a game of pool perhaps.. you get near this person, you start listening in, you see who they're interacting with, you mention things that only they would understand, messing with their head, indirectly threatening them trying to get a rise out of them but pretending like you have no malicious intent, you then begin to manipulate this persons newly acquainted friends to look at the person the wrong way, behind his back, you demonstrate to these people how powerful you and your connections are, you entice them to turn against this person while still.. pretending like nothing is going on. I'm that victim.

^ rough example.

That's what I'd like to know. By knowing that, I can mitigate against it.

Thanks.

 

What is the best and easiest way to change my mac address?

 

I play games on a VPN, without my ping is 16, and with 25. Its not really that much of a loss. I don't even choose the server closest to me. Don't use the same username if you don't people following you around, there is no other way other game players can find you again with that level of accuracy, when you play games you connect to a server, not the other people.

 

Hi lucygrl,

See: MAC Address Spoofing for Windows, Linux and Mac.

Note: The above article does not mention macchanger for Linux which it should have.

The utility known as macchanger is commonly used on Linux platforms - see Macchanger linux downloads at linux23.com, or your Linux distribution's repository.

-- Tom

 

That is off-topic in this forum, I suspect, although I have talked occasionally about meatspace privacy.

I've been in similar situations, but never so subtle. People just picked fights with me. But that was over meatspace disagreements, not online gaming

If I were you, I'd move to a different country, or at least to a distant city. It's worked for me And to be really secure, don't tell anyone where you went. Use a mail forwarding service if necessary.

 

I gave that real-world example to better explain the situation but implied it to where the bar=the online environment. I hope that makes sense. I'm hopeless at expression.

Please liberate me from these emotional terrorists. I'm after anonymity technology (or lack of...) whatever helps me blend into the crowd. Real world escapes are not applicable. I have family who rely on me financially etc. Greatly appreciate your suggestions.

mirimir, I see you use pfSense. VMs aside, what's your basic package and firewall configuration? do you block all incoming traffic including ICMP? Could the pfSense configuration call out to probes saying 'this is me and my new IP address, continue spying'

I use Windows, could there be a backdoor which allows third party monitoring, does pfSense's Snort package have a rule to block all backdoors?

I can tell you this, I know one of the guys who have a grudge on me and is in on this use to (or still does.. can't confirm) worked for the US government in some kind of tech department.. I know he has hacking abilities.. could he have worked for NSA? I believe NSA have the low-down on all possible vulnerabilities an operating system like Windows can hold... see this is why I think they blow... all employee's would have knowledge of the technology, backdoors etc. and these people have a home to go to as well.. they could use whatever they have gathered against whoever they will and nobody would be the wiser... or the holes they leave would just be an opening for any other third party... It's not fair... even with a VPN.. can we trust the promises of these people? The only appealing VPN-like service to me seems to be Roadwarrior where they have strict rules on who accesses what and zero tolerance towards monitoring... the next best thing to a VPN service run solely by state-of-the-art machines and no human involvement.

 

OK, so why can't you use a VPN?

 

I believe I've already answered that. I'm sorry that what I've written has been difficult to understand. You have ignored most of my questions, however of course, nobody has to read or respond, but I really do appreciate it.

To avoid feeling like I'm repeating myself, I'll try to give an alternate answer to the question in general. Who am I to judge what the average person needs, but I personally think VPNs are useless, especially for somebody in my situation.. possibly 99% of services lie, and most are run by people like you and I. They have no legal obligation to stick to what they promise. If they can sell access to your network in some form through their VPN and get away with it, why wouldn't they? Only in popular cases like HMA where authorities are involved would we ever find out what our VPN services do with us. That aside, how does a VPN benefit me exactly? The traffic is encrypted and the ISP doesn't see where you connect, that's it right? Well, unless my ISP was - illegally - selling off my data and providing direct monitoring to my foes, I couldn't care less about what my ISP sees. I think that's a compromise as most ISPs have larger, more secure infrastructure's in place than the average VPN server no?

With that said, I want to do online gaming at the lowest latency possible. The lowest I can get through the closest VPN is 400 ms. That's no fun.

If I move to a new house, buy a new computer, register to a new ISP, register to a VPN using bitcoin, and buy a new copy of the game, play online, avoid social interactions and let's say I've already done all that.. what would be giving me away to these malicious spies exactly? is there database of IP addresses attached to people's names or something?

 

That's one reason why I use pfSense VMs as VPN clients. There's a NAT firewall between the VPN tunnel and the pfSense LAN. That's also why I use well-established VPN services, who have more to lose from being dishonest.

It gives you a different IP address on the Internet.

That seems high. My latency is currently 290 msec through three VPNs.

But I do get that. You're dead before you know it.

Maybe it's just you. If you truly don't chat, maybe it's your playing style. Perhaps "they" suspect that any new player who is highly skilled and doesn't chat is you.

Why not just pick a new game?

There are lots of them, I'm sure. Many websites keep logs of user IP addresses.

Edit: There are other ways to get low-latency Internet connections. For example, you could have a dedicated line installed. But that would be VERY expensive.