3 ms·

If you don't trust the administrator of your instance not to sell you out to the government, you simply use an anonymous email address at sign up and use a VPN

If you don't trust the administrator of your instance not to sell you out to the government, you simply use an anonymous email address at sign up and use a VPN or TOR to access the server. It is as simple as that since Mastodon is designed to know as little as possible about you.

_jal 4y ago
That's a super dangerous way of thinking. Being anonymous online today is hard. Even operatives with nation-state resources behind them like Guccifer 2.0 screw up. You have to think through what you're doing, and then execute perfectly every time. Anyone who wants to try to be anonymous needs to start practicing their opsec well before relying on it, and keep in mind the risks they're running.
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  Precisely. The important thing to remember is that the Internet isn't designed to keep you anonymous. If anything, its fundamental design is deeply collaborative, cooperative, open, and auditable. The pseudonymity most people enjoy is the lack of observation, not an intrinsic property of the medium. Everything from your final destination for traffic to the physical origin point to which you're connecting to the network is known by somebody who is by default under no obligation to keep it a secret (unless otherwise legally bound).
- kornhole 4y ago
  I am referring explicitly to using Mastodon instances and not about other platforms or software. I run Mastodon and other instances and know what is collected and what trackers are enabled from server which is very little. Yes some information can be gathered at different points in the network using traffic and packet analysis, netflows, and such. Outside the server, it would be difficult to determine a user's ID on an instance without some client side back doors that capture logon credentials. If you want to enlighten me otherwise with details, I am interested to learn.

_jal 4y ago

That's a super dangerous way of thinking. Being anonymous online today is hard. Even operatives with nation-state resources behind them like Guccifer 2.0 screw up. You have to think through what you're doing, and then execute perfectly every time. Anyone who wants to try to be anonymous needs to start practicing their opsec well before relying on it, and keep in mind the risks they're running.

shadowgovt 4y ago
Precisely. The important thing to remember is that the Internet isn't designed to keep you anonymous. If anything, its fundamental design is deeply collaborative, cooperative, open, and auditable. The pseudonymity most people enjoy is the lack of observation, not an intrinsic property of the medium. Everything from your final destination for traffic to the physical origin point to which you're connecting to the network is known by somebody who is by default under no obligation to keep it a secret (unless otherwise legally bound).
kornhole 4y ago
I am referring explicitly to using Mastodon instances and not about other platforms or software. I run Mastodon and other instances and know what is collected and what trackers are enabled from server which is very little. Yes some information can be gathered at different points in the network using traffic and packet analysis, netflows, and such. Outside the server, it would be difficult to determine a user's ID on an instance without some client side back doors that capture logon credentials. If you want to enlighten me otherwise with details, I am interested to learn.