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Topic: The importance of operating completely anonymous - page 2. (Read 400 times)

sr. member
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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.
full member
Activity: 443
Merit: 110
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.
sr. member
Activity: 873
Merit: 268
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.
hero member
Activity: 1344
Merit: 583
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
hero member
Activity: 2338
Merit: 757
► 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.
legendary
Activity: 966
Merit: 1042
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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)




legendary
Activity: 2478
Merit: 1360
Don't let others control your BTC -> self custody
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.
hero member
Activity: 1344
Merit: 583
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.
hero member
Activity: 1022
Merit: 667
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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.
hero member
Activity: 504
Merit: 625
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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.
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 661
- Jay -
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 -
full member
Activity: 1092
Merit: 227
I don’t know, we have to have internet access for various stuff these days. You have entire bank account at your finger tips, you have entire social squad one message away and entire universe information at tip of one click.

Are we going to be anonymous in any sense you think?

Pick any category from the above you will have to submit mandatory cookies to the site for enhancing user experience. Know how, they will always capture your location data, personalised cookies and they will tailor all of your data in no time!

You can’t be private over an internet.

You can just stay secure, alert and safe over internet. That’s all.
legendary
Activity: 1666
Merit: 1037
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.
sr. member
Activity: 826
Merit: 460
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?

This is a very complicated thing to do, it's a crazy thing in my opinion, I think if you don't register anything on social media and you don't use your personal data to enter the internet world but you have the identity of the country's residents, which are almost all in those days the government stores it through the internet network, so in my opinion it's quite impossible, unless you don't have an identity either in citizenship status or whatever and what is certain is that you will have very difficult access to facilities that must use personal data.

A reliable hacker they always have personal data that can be said they are more anonymous than ordinary people who say they are anonymous, I think you can't do everything anonymously as you expect unless you are able to manipulate personal data.
hero member
Activity: 3024
Merit: 745
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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?
Don't be too showy with all of your life happenings in social media. You don't imitate those people that keeps on bragging their achievements, things, vacations and other things. And only register to websites that you're really using because if you sign for random websites and that includes your main email, you'll be swarmed by scam emails that you might fall because of how scary their message about your "dirty little secrets". That's how they manipulate their victims and scares them as if they really know what you do but in reality, those are just scary you and tries you if you're gonna fall. For email, I've read that the most suggested one is to use protonmail.
newbie
Activity: 24
Merit: 0
Well, i don't have much to say.

But i think you wouldn't want to be anonymous while dealing with country own data, (e.g - creating of bank account,  national identification numbers, House address and others...) .

In terms of internet, anonymous would be a little bit difficult because of gmail, KYC verifications and more,
Even if so many people has fall into creating multiple or fake gmail accounts, face verification has started coming into the picture.
full member
Activity: 1302
Merit: 129
Vaccinized.. immunity level is full.
It is not possible to be completely anonymous unless you are not using any devices such as phones or computers and are not participating in any social platforms, your identity will be guaranteed. But with today's society, all of that is tied to us on a daily basis, I don't believe someone wouldn't use any centralized platform.



Do not use Centralized exchange if you can. If you submit KYC in Centralized exchanges, you have already leaked your Identity online. Almost all of us use Centralized exchanges to buy or sell our Bitcoin for fiat. That's why I said it's tough to remain anonymous these days. But if you have alternatives. You are the lucky one.

We need to admit this, most people don't like centralized exchanges for many reasons but most of us use them, they are almost indispensable for us if we want to invest in bitcoin.
legendary
Activity: 4410
Merit: 4766
alot of sponsored people love to scare people into using their services.

heres a few hard facts that debunk their narratives
they mainly try to use china as a prime example

china has been promoted as a surveillance state. where its been promoted that china is a one bank system and government are watching everyone in china..
that is completely false and illogical on many levels

china have lots of banks and payment services. most owned by private businesses. also london has more camera's than chinas main city.. and im sorry to burst some bubbles but there are no wire fences or prison warden turrets with gunman watching chinese rice paddy workers, office workers, or fishermen around china
china is too huge to have politicians sat at computers or in turrets watching everyone
again britain has more turrets then china does

so dont believe the idiots that get their info from fox new types of sources.

what you will find however is that BUSINESSES watch THEIR CUSTOMERS and they have to report suspicious customers to authorities

so the key thing is
a. avoid telling too much to businesses about yourself
b. avoid large value transactions through unregulated services then being sent to regulated services
c. dont do things that are like waving a red flag shouting that you want to hide

(b) is the important part. by acting suspicious by promoting yourself as a hider. you will actually get noticed more and put onto watch lists which businesses share.

make yourself appear insignificant, unnoticed
most watchlists are of large value items that have been mixed. they only find larger value items significant enough to prompt an investigation because the time and effort and cost of an investigation means its not worth pursuing the small value stuff

(heck even scammers know this. knowing a victims costs of going to court are over $1k scammers that only steal a few dollars or hundreds know victims wont waste time trying to trace and sue a scammer)

regulators dont take someone to court for just one $90 theft. they have bigger fish to fry

so make yourself insignificant, not even worth looking at. dont make yourself notable or shout that you are trying purposefully to hide. just blend into the crowd. not become famous

the more you reveal about yourself the more famous/infamous you become

regulators IN REAL WORLD regulations and policies ACTUALLY DO list that customers of businesses that use mixers should be treated as suspicious by the business. so that right there (research it) shows using mixers will get you watched..
also listed are AEC which are currency networks designed to enhance anonymity. such as dash/monero/lightning
find another way. dont use services/systems that promote that they are designed specifically to hyper anonymise you. as those services will be the things that get you watched. use services/systems designed for other functions. but as a unadvertised side effect just happen to change taint handling of users funds

sr. member
Activity: 728
Merit: 388
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1. Use strong IP masking, like Tor.
2. Stay away from any Centralised exchanges.
3. Use Bitcoin Mixers.

The only way the government can get its hands on your information is through the help of centralized crypto exchanges because all centralized exchanges must abide by the law, they are running their businesses because they are permitted, it's easier for them to betray their customers and give up the customers information, starting from identity information and home addresses, KYC is very dangerous and unsafe if we think about it very well.
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 547
It's tough to remain anonymous these days. You have to be careful wherever you have to use personal information online. Do not create a Social Media account with accurate data: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other platform. Never use factual information. If you gamble in casinos, Avoid KYC Required casinos. There are a bunch of NON-KYC Casinos. Not sure how reliable they are. Do your own research before you sign up for those casinos. Most Non-KYC Casinos do not have licenses. You have to be careful with that.

Do not use Centralized exchange if you can. If you submit KYC in Centralized exchanges, you have already leaked your Identity online. Almost all of us use Centralized exchanges to buy or sell our Bitcoin for fiat. That's why I said it's tough to remain anonymous these days. But if you have alternatives. You are the lucky one.
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