Bloggers' search for anonymity

[SoCalDem]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6548555.stm


By David Reid
Reporter, BBC Click

The internet has given the individual unprecedented power to reach out to millions but some governments are cautious, even hostile, to giving their citizens free access to ideas they deem too democratic and dangerous. Bloggers can face harsh penalties from some regimes

Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia: they are all popular with holiday makers but they also censor and even lock up journalists and bloggers. This is why the media rights group, Reporters Without Borders, has published The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents. "There is another side to the picture post-card," said Robert Menard, secretary general, Reporters Without Borders. "There are around 100 people in jail in Tunisia and the entire media is controlled by the powers that be and there are bloggers who have been locked up just for criticizing the Tunisian president."

In many countries a journalism student covering a demonstration of school children would be commended for his initiative. In Syria, student Mesud Hamid posted photos on the net of Kurdish pupils demanding equal rights. He was arrested while taking an exam at university. "I was tortured," he said. "For one year and three months I was held in a cell measuring one metre by two. I didn't see the sun or sky for all that time." Mr Hamid has since fled to France.

Remaining anonymous

So what do you do if you want to escape detection from authorities who might not like your work as much as you do? The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents is pretty technical but it also contains some simple tips, so you can say what you think without having to worry the censors or cyber-police too much. If you want to protect your anonymity you can use a proxy, using a proxy is very simple. Anybody can do it even if you're not a geek.

"The first thing is don't write anything under your real name," said Julien Pain of Reporters Without Borders. "Even if you are using a pen name, then you have to be careful because the authorities can track you down on the internet." You might be tight-lipped about who you are, but your computer is screaming your presence all over the net. All net-connected computers get assigned an IP address - which ensures that they data you request is sent to the right place. It can let people know which websites you have visited, which e-mails you have sent and which articles you have posted. But if you are clever you can cover your tracks.

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