The importance of operating completely anonymous

[mendace]

If anyone can please add their expertise here on being completely anonymous for the sake of the masses. In a world that is centering on control and tracking activity as a means of control, what are the best measures one can take in any given region for the sake of remaining completely anonymous online with not only bitcoin transactions but online anonymity with delicate private information on not only location whereabouts but financial data, social data, phone number and email privacy etc?

First of all we should understand from which device if it is a PC or a smartphone, because generalizing is easy to answer a little less.  But suppose both cases.  If you use a pc, the best solution is to flash the Tails linux distribution image onto a usb stick, with this you are already far ahead in terms of security since it only connects under tor and leaves no trace on the pc it comes used.

Instead let's assume that you use a smartphone, the first thing to do is get yourself a google pixel and install GrapheneOs this is an excellent fork of Android but super privacy friendly.  Then install only open source foss applications and navigate under the tor network or at least VPN, from F-droid you can find Invizible pro which is an excellent tool if set correctly.  Other indications, use google services or other companies that sell your data as little as possible.  Try to self-host as many services as possible.  Use aliases for email.  Use voip or SIM numbers from other countries.  And get yourself a full node for Bitcoin.

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[Wiwo]

If anyone can please add their expertise here on being completely anonymous for the sake of the masses.

I fine this statement to be contradicting since we may not have experts in anonymousity and even if you try to bypass using the VPNif the fed want to know or identify an individualtheir could go extra length ansmd use whatever tools that is availableto link an identity, the Internet is not a free zone, so long as you make connection some of your datas are already linked it may not be available to the public but then third party can have access to it usi g the right tool and laws.
 

In a world that is centering on control and tracking activity as a means of control, what are the best measures one can take in any given region for the sake of remaining completely anonymous online with not only bitcoin transactions but online anonymity with delicate private information on not only location whereabouts but financial data, social data, phone number and email privacy etc?

Of a true the is no complete anonymous anywhere so for that you need to keep a clean sheet all over the internet, and pay your taxes and stay off every form of irregularities, that way you have nothing to fear concerning you identity.

Dont get the point wrong, you can be anonymous in some form such as Bitcoin storage on a cold wallet but then if you get connected to any exchange you already lost rhat privacy it can onky exist on a stirckly p2p level.

[tread93]

what are the best measures one can take in any given region for the sake of remaining completely anonymous online with not only bitcoin transactions but online anonymity with delicate private information...

Bitcoin users can best give you advice on staying pseudo-anonymous with bitcoin, you can achieve this by:

• Avoiding KYC/AML compliant exchanges
• Running your own node over Tor
• Keeping your cold storage wallet off the internet
• Not linking your offline identity with your bitcoin addresses
• Using change addresses.

...but online anonymity with delicate private information on not only location whereabouts but financial data, social data, phone number and email privacy etc?

Bitcoin helps with financial privacy. For the others, research on throwaway phone numbers and emails, also check up privacy email services.

- Jay -

Thanks! This is a good little write up here. I just saw that the US Government is actually trying to outlaw the use of a private VPN punishable by a million dollar fine and 10 years in prison with this tik tok legislation they are trying to push that though and take away all your privacy away basically. Sad times we are living in. They are after complete contol.

[darkangel11]

My advice for staying anonymous is have 2 separate computers. One of them should be dirty environment where you are allowed to open links, connect external devices like phones, sd cards, open emails. This one can be used for surfing unknown sites, gambling, downloading torrents.
Your second computer should be as clean as possible so no external devices unless those devices were only ever connected to the clean PC and nothing else. That's where you have your wallets, pictures and documents and where you don't install games or watch movies.

Keep your email addresses separate as well. Don't mix the address you use for various forums with the ones used with your bank.

When you pay with bitcoin on sites you don't want to expose your addresses to, and don't want to link your name with a bitcoin address, purchase a gift card with bitcoin, which can be done anonymously and use the card code in store.

[Hamza2424]

Another mixing related topic well, I am interested in such type of discussions. I have strong views on it if you really care about privacy then bro you need to mix your Bitcoins. Anonymous operating requires Mixing and you need to operate in such a way if you are facing some law enforcement restrictions. Avoid Exchanges if you want to be anonymous and you can now go for the P2P system for converting the fiat into crypto and vice versa. I was reading so much feedback on this topic, and some of the suggestions and recommendations are fabulous but I would like to suggest some tips here some of the main points are already recommended above still I would like to repeat them for their potential enforcement.

► Mix your Bitcoins/Cryptocurrencies
► Use P2P platforms
► Use VPN
► Use separate emails for crypto activities
► Use pseudonym (Greatly Efficient for Anonymity)

[coupable]

► Mix your Bitcoins/Cryptocurrencies
► Use P2P platforms
► Use VPN
► Use separate emails for crypto activities
► Use pseudonym (Greatly Efficient for Anonymity)

I don't think these recommendations alone are effective enough, but at least it achieves the minimum.
It is not easy to choose the party to whom we will hand over our personal data, given that it is not easy to use the Internet in complete anonymity. It is very important to know what information we will share with any site we will use, including navigation data. And given that no one can read the privacy terms on every site, it is better to rely on the most reliable sites in terms of the number of users and ratings.
It is more unfortunate that people do not care about this despite the frequent cases of suspected misuse of data, especially on social media platforms.

[tread93]

And yet another user who could vastly benefit from the vast amount of knowledge that would be compiled and discuss if the forum were to house a Cybersecurity & Privacy board.

Achieving anonymity and privacy with peace of mind that you're doing it right requires a lot of research. It's a personal experience and it varies from person to person based on their threat model (who are you protecting yourself from?) and their knowledge-base (what practices you know of, what you can comprehend and what you are capable of employing). Discussion helps to learn more about both of these topics, which is why I am hoping the aforementioned board is added.

To answer your post, two basic rules:
1. Never share your personal information online unless you absolutely need to. If you do absolutely need to, do so in a secure environment that is away from where you'd like to remain anonymous.
2. Never upload sensitive files to third party services unless you are okay with the potential for eyes other than your own viewing these files.

Some privacy-enhancing technologies include:
- Linux: While there are a vast amount of linux distributions out there, varying in their security/privacy hardening out-of-the-box, almost all popular Linux distributions beat Windows and Mac OS when it comes to privacy.
- VPN: Even a VPN is not enough in some circumstances these days, however a VPN can help to hide your day to day internet usage from your ISP and protect your IP from services online by passing traffic through their servers. Look for a non-logging VPN with a reputation for privacy-first. A bad VPN would make using one redundant.
- Tor: If you need another layer of security, using Tor over VPN is a good way to enhance your anonymity.
- Firefox: Firefox is great because you can learn to harden it further than just in the settings page. There are also some browsers which have forked Firefox and have hardened them so that they're more privacy friendly out of the box. Privacy from tracking is dependent on your browser!

Avoid google and services using big tech to preserve your data and privacy further. It's a hit to convenience though there are almost always just-as-good solutions to google services that are much better for your privacy.

This is a fantastic post, thanks for the info! I also agree with you that the aforementioned board should be added! Today I feel that it is more important than ever and I don't think that I should even need to look so far as to make the post here to get this info, it should be readily available. Thanks man! Cheers to anonymity

[crypticj]

If anyone can please add their expertise here on being completely anonymous for the sake of the masses.

I think there is a lot of info on the internet about it. The best way is to stay away from social media, use the TOR browser or/and VNP, buy SIM cards that are not in your name, and use crypto through a mixer so your transactions won't be traced.

But I won't recommend doing this stuff if you want to commit a crime using crypto because it's giving crypto a bad reputation it doesn't deserve.

[Supreemo]

However, I'd be very careful with the statement "Bitcoin helps with financial privacy" <- I'd go as far as to say for 95+% of Bitcoin users this is not true, actually the opposite. As soon as you buy from a KYC exchange or get your identity linked in any other way with your BTC, you are more transparent than ever before.

That is not a direct influence of Bitcoin but from the use of 3rd party services. Bitcoin keeps you pseudo-anonymous, if you use an exchange and submit your private details, you break that anonymity yourself.

...Bitcoin is in-itself not private at all with its open-ledger and the complete visibility of all transactions ever made, including the funds sent and senders and recipients' addresses.

Addresses have no identity linked to them. Transparency does not break your pseudo-anonymity.

- Jay -

to be precise being anonymous in your transactions can greatly benefit you in terms of decision making and having no interference in whatever you will do or decide to do. the disadvantage is that, due to 3rd party services that mostly lets you cash out your money, will start to get suspicious once you are constantly making transactions even if it is a little amount. they will start to monitor you and give you warning, and then ask you where does your money come from.

being anonymous in terms of bitcoin is only temporary, and everyone knows that fact. i have never seen or heard someone who doesn't comply to KYC in every way, since mostly all the complaints are the ones who are done doing those verification process.

[Jatiluhung]

Maybe there will always be a way to do this. but I think being completely anonymous is really hard. but if we do it carefully and patiently then of course it can be done. but that means we can't be careless in every activity we do when surfing the internet. and perhaps many have succeeded in doing this (in complete anonymity) for example like the creator of bitcoin himself. but lately even the use of VPN is banned in some countries. so things have become more and more difficult.

[wxa7115]

If anyone can please add their expertise here on being completely anonymous for the sake of the masses. In a world that is centering on control and tracking activity as a means of control, what are the best measures one can take in any given region for the sake of remaining completely anonymous online with not only bitcoin transactions but online anonymity with delicate private information on not only location whereabouts but financial data, social data, phone number and email privacy etc?

You can reach a high level of privacy on the internet but being completely anonymous seems like a very difficult goal to achieve, after all your ISP tracks everything you do online, and if you try to avoid that tracking with the use of a VPN then now the VPN provider can track everything you do anyway.

Now many VPNs claim to not keep records but this has to be a lie, but even if it was true this is just the first step, you will also need to find a way to buy and sell bitcoin anonymously without having to go through KYC, and this is becoming more difficult by the day.

[davis196]

If anyone can please add their expertise here on being completely anonymous for the sake of the masses. In a world that is centering on control and tracking activity as a means of control, what are the best measures one can take in any given region for the sake of remaining completely anonymous online with not only bitcoin transactions but online anonymity with delicate private information on not only location whereabouts but financial data, social data, phone number and email privacy etc?

There are lots of tutorials on Youtube and on the internet in general about becoming anonymous online. There's no need to ask here.
Here are my tips:
1.Stay away from Google and the other big tech. Never create a Google account. Use Duckduckgo instead of Google search.
2.Run a VPN over an RDP, over another VPN, over Tor, over another VPN. Good luck with this.
3.Use Protonmail, instead of the big email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.
4.Never share anything about yourself online. This is common sense, but whatever.
5.Never download anything and never click on suspicious links.
6.Use a privacy-oriented browser like Firefox. There are even anti-detect browsers like Dolphin Anty, but they are used for other purposes.

[un_rank]

being anonymous in terms of bitcoin is only temporary, and everyone knows that fact. i have never seen or heard someone who doesn't comply to KYC in every way, since mostly all the complaints are the ones who are done doing those verification process.

If you never use a KYC compliant exchange, you never need to submit your personal details and never comply with KYC in every way. There are alternatives to those centralized exchanges so it is possible for anyone who wants to to protect their privacy.

When you comply with even one KYC process, your privacy is already exposed, this cannot be undone, but the more random platforms with your details the higher risk of it being used for malicious activities.

- Jay -

[death69]

Oh, I get it, dude! In a reality where our every byte is scrutinized and big bro's practically breathing down our necks, keeping our personal deets and interweb adventures on the QT is like a Herculean task. But hey, I've got some slick tricks up my cybersleeve

Let's kick it off with the ABCs. Sport a bulletproof VPN to disguise your IP and lock down your online tomfoolery. Whip up crazy strong, never-seen-before passwords for all your accounts, and go the extra mile with two-factor authentication when it's on the table.

For all you Bitcoin trailblazers, get jiggy with a mixing service to muddy the waters of your transactions and maintain their hush-hush status. If you're all about that privacy life, Monero's your go-to crypto for flying under the radar.

But wait, there's a cherry on top! Wanna push your anonymity game to the max? Slap on a phony name and address for your online alter egos. Sure, it's a smidge goofy, but who can resist the allure of an epic alias?

[fuguebtc]

Today, due to the needs of life, most of us are forced to use technology devices, online services, etc., so it is completely impossible to hide our identity. I believe that even companies like Apple claim to respect their users' privacy but still secretly collect our data in a more sophisticated way after being detected. User data is something they can earn a lot of money on, they will never ignore it easily. As long as we depend on government-generated products and services, anonymity is not possible.

[Twentyonepaylots]

Today, due to the needs of life, most of us are forced to use technology devices, online services, etc., so it is completely impossible to hide our identity. I believe that even companies like Apple claim to respect their users' privacy but still secretly collect our data in a more sophisticated way after being detected. User data is something they can earn a lot of money on, they will never ignore it easily. As long as we depend on government-generated products and services, anonymity is not possible.

I agree with these, technology and internet has been transforming to be of necessity for majority of people. Most of the activities in our daily lives involves the use of at least one gadget and with the use of internet. So with these, it would be very hard to make yourself be completely anonymous. But there are still ways so that you can be as anonymous as you can get online. A lot has been suggested here, but for me personally, I could not see myself to be completely anonymous any part of my life. I have been somehow dependent of devices and internet; it would be hard to put an effort to do these things. What I am doing is keeping all my internet footprint to be contained in a small circle like having my social media be only for those close to me. Also, majority of services that is offered online requires personal data so it is somehow impossible to use this without using your real identity.

[pixie85]

It's important to understand what degree of anonymity you want to maintain. Are we talking about black hat hacker anonymity? Is it something that a person who trades on dark net requires?
Are we talking about the normal anonymity of a typical user of this forum? Are we trying to hide our investment from the government? Are we evading taxes?

The above is very important because one person will only want to avoid tracking cookies and KYC exchanges while someone else will want to protect themselves from being hacked and I don't mean phishing but a person taking control of your computer.

For your basic needs a privacy browser like brave or firefox with privacy addon + a firewall and a VPN should be enough. You can go a step further and use TOR, but this is going to make things much slower due to redirecting.

You can take another step and use Linux, then you can take another step and keep all the important files on an external drive that you unplug when it's not being used. This greatly increases security as the hacker will not be able to download your stuff. They will never know when you decide to plug the safe drive, which makes it very difficult for them.

Another step would be to have an internal server and connect through it with important files being on another server that is in a local network, each with its own firewall, so that hackers don't know which computer is which and spend additional time attacking a client PC that can get disconnected from the network at any moment.

[RealMalatesta]

For your basic needs a privacy browser like brave or firefox with privacy addon + a firewall and a VPN should be enough. You can go a step further and use TOR, but this is going to make things much slower due to redirecting.

You can take another step and use Linux, then you can take another step and keep all the important files on an external drive that you unplug when it's not being used. This greatly increases security as the hacker will not be able to download your stuff. They will never know when you decide to plug the safe drive, which makes it very difficult for them.

Another step would be to have an internal server and connect through it with important files being on another server that is in a local network, each with its own firewall, so that hackers don't know which computer is which and spend additional time attacking a client PC that can get disconnected from the network at any moment.

I would guess that none of that is really a "must" if you are a regular person. I mean even paying taxes is a must if you want to have a normal life, avoiding that could be a lot more possible and can be easily done but why would you do that, why would you want to put yourself at risk.

Imagine spending years trading and maybe even profiting and one day government figures you out and now you have to pay ten times more than what you can afford, how would that be? That is why I believe that we shouldn't really have any issues like this, it should be a lot better in order to continue living a normal life. Just ignore all the anonymous actions and be out in the public, and you should be having zero issues about it.

[majeed]

If anyone can please add their expertise here on being completely anonymous for the sake of the masses. In a world that is centering on control and tracking activity as a means of control, what are the best measures one can take in any given region for the sake of remaining completely anonymous online with not only bitcoin transactions but online anonymity with delicate private information on not only location whereabouts but financial data, social data, phone number and email privacy etc?

In the digital age, where people can easily snoop on you, being anonymous is super important. If you want to beef up your online anonymity, you should look into some tech stuff like Linux, VPNs, and Tor. Linux is way better for privacy than the boring old Windows or Mac OS. VPNs can help you hide what you do online from your internet company and others. But don't just pick any old VPN. Make sure it's trustworthy and doesn't keep logs.

If you want to stay safe online, using Tor over VPN can be a great idea. Don't go sharing your personal info unless you absolutely have to, and never upload anything sensitive to third-party sites. If you're looking for a browser that respects your privacy, Firefox is the way to go. You can even beef up its security by changing settings and using plugins. And don't trust big tech companies like Google blindly. Always be on the lookout for alternative solutions to safeguard your privacy.

[darkv0rt3x]

Since I started understanding a little bit about sovereignty in Bitcoin context and extrapolating to other contexts, I quickly acknowledge that information is now not only power, money, control, but a weapon that can be used in quite a few envoironments and domains of life. In this regard, I consider reamining anonymous as important as keeping our savings in Bitcoin.

As already mentioned, privacytools.io is an awsome resource and I must also include the so called "degoogling" as one of the most important steps for anonimity and privacy! There is even a sub reddit dedicated to this subject of deglooging ourselves! You have guides, tools and much more to help in the process!