how to have anonymous/private communications while traveling?

Discussion in 'privacy problems' started by magenta, Feb 19, 2009.

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  1. magenta

    magenta Registered Member

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    Hello, this is just my second post so sorry if this is in the wrong section.

    I would like some advice regarding how to keep my communications by cell phone and laptop private and anonymous while travelling and also how to limit my trackability while using these devices.

    i realise that this is not 100% possible bit what are the best steps to take

    thanks for any help and congratulations to whoever runs the site. its an excellent service
     
  2. jonw

    jonw Registered Member

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    Well for your laptop you can use a vpn it will not only keep you safe from being on public hot spots it will help keep you anonymous, I use xerobank but there are other options.Now as far as phones that's a hard one I really don't no how to help you there cause even if you use a prepaid phone there is voice recognition but you would have to be doing something really bad for them to use that on you.Read about cryptophones but there like 2 grand for the one I was reading about so there really expensive to use and they only encrypt the phone call if both you and the person your talking to use one.
     
  3. magenta

    magenta Registered Member

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    is vpn/xerobank the same as tor and if not waht are the differences. thanks for the reply
     
  4. caspian

    caspian Registered Member

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    From what I understand, one of the things that makes Xerobank different and safer is that the traffic is not accessible to anyone and everyone, as it is with Tor. I do not understand all of the technical details and jargon but I do understand this much. Tor is used to spy on people and steal information, and I have also heard that criminals can send stuff back to you that is "malicious". I don't know exactly what "malicious" entails, but it doesn't sound good. But anyway, Xerobank is protected from these dangers.

    But here are some huge differences that mean a lot to me.

    (A). My entire internet connection is covered. Chat sessions, Skype, everything.

    (B). I have a super fast connection and I am able sometimes to get download speeds up to 700 or 800 kb/s. This means a lot to me because I am incredibly spoiled and impatient. Hell I would hate to even have to download a single picture or song with Tor. It would probably take an hour. Not good.

    (C). Unlike Tor, I can use flash and javascript or whatever to my heart's content and never have to think about it or worry that my true IP is showing.

    If I could not have these things with a privacy/anonymity service, I would just have to skip it and just run around in the nude.:argh:
     
  5. magenta

    magenta Registered Member

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    how do you set it up. is it software you download or a service you sign up to. is it anonymous and private
     
  6. jonw

    jonw Registered Member

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    Well ok xerobank has a $1.00 trial. You use software for the system to work its very easy to work and once its setup you won't hardly notice a slow down of your internet, very fast lol.
    http://xerobank.com/
    If you have any problems setting anything up just post your problems over at the privacy software section on here and I am sure someone will help you.
    Another good thing with xerobank is you can run more than one connection meaning you could have your laptop, desktop, work computer, and anything else all running this at once.Not many companys let you have multiple connections to there vpn at once
     
  7. caspian

    caspian Registered Member

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    You will get an access account number (16 digits). Make sure that you keep that in a safe place because it cannot be retrieved. Download the installer and when it asks, just copy and paste the access account number and that's it. There is an icon in your system tray. Just right click to disconnect or to choose a different exit node location. So far there is the Netherlands, Canada, and USA.

    And of course always wipe cookies with Ccleaner or something when needed. Otherwise it may still show the reaL ip.
     
  8. n33m3rz

    n33m3rz Registered Member

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    It really depends on your threat model, and how much money you have, as far as cellphones go. you can buy a Cryptophone for a thousand or two dollars that will encrypt voice with other cryptophones. It is pointless to have one unless you know others with one though, so you are looking at $2,000 - $4,000 to have a single person you can talk with encrypted. If you are part of an organization that needs privacy, provided it is small enough or it makes enough money, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get everyone set up with cryptophones. If I was the CEO of a bank or something I would make damn sure all people who may talk about sensitive information do so with encrypted cellphones.

    There is Skype which I don't know much about, some say it is strong encryption others say it is some obscure algorithm the company made itself and they change it constantly. If it is the later then it probably sucks but I imagine it is the former just because I know the german feds have had trouble to decrypt voice on Skype.

    Neither of these will do much for trackability. If you want some minor help against being tracked down you could use one of those disposable phone number services. They are usually free. I have not done much research on them and can't figure out what the catch is but there is almost for sure a catch. Pretty much they give you a temporary phone number that for X amount of time (decided by you) can take calls and forward them on to Y (your real phone number. So you can pick an X and have them forward calls on to Y for X days, after X days the number will stop forwarding calls to your phone. I don't know if this works with encrypted cellphones well, and it wont stop a REAL adversary from finding your location, its just something cool I read about the other day that could come in handy if you talk to someone once and never want them to contact you again.

    As far as communications with a laptop goes, that is easy. Just use Pidgin OTR with SSL over the Tor network and you will be really hard to trace down and your messages will be essentially impossible to wiretap. You can also use GPG with email and Tor (would also use SSL).

    That pretty much is all you need to know =).
     
  9. magenta

    magenta Registered Member

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    thanks, can you tell me more about pidgin otr. i presume its an instant messaging service but ive never used them before. what is the advantage of it over email
     
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