Ethan Zuckerman @ Global Voices Online
Second draft of Anonymous Blogging Guide

I posted, some weeks back, the first draft of a technical guide to anonymous blogging. I've gotten great feedback from folks all over the world and have just posted a second draft of the guide on the Global Voices wiki, inviting collaborators to help me improve it. If you're interested in the suject of anonymous blogging, please visit the guide and lend a hand in improving it.

(If you're going to participate in editing this document, two requests: One, create an account on our wiki, so we can keep track of your contributions. Two, keep in mind the audience for this document - we're hoping to write a document that's fun, readable, technically correct, translatable, and aimed at activists in developing nations. We're not trying to write a document aimed at cypherpunks.)

Thanks for your help!

As regular readers of my blog will know, I am a strong advocate for anonymity and anonymous free speech. Ethan et al have done a great job on getting this started. If you can contribute to the document, I urge you to participate in the editing on the wiki.

11 Comments

You could also send an anonymous email with myTrashMail.com to tell people about secrets you know.

Its fully untracable (no ip address stored or other records)

I know this because I am the creator of it. (Michael Weber) :)

I read your wiki about anonymous blogging and I checked the need for such a service. Overture's keyword suggestion gave me following results

90  anonymous blog
7890 anonymous email

Why not a portal with the title "Say it anonymous"
Then you would have subtitles like
"Gouverment Fraud",
"Drug Dealers"
"Domestic Violence"
"Tax Fraud"
"whatever Fraud"

Then people could post their "tips" and hopefully the CIA/FBI is listening....kind of 911...

Anyways, good luck Joi

It would be cool to set up a wiki for whistle blowers, although I feel like it would get too many trolls.

Making anonymous blogging easy means making anonymous abusing easy.
What can we do for the victims of the anonymous defamation?

In Japan, freedom of speach in the 'Net is often violated by anonymous abuser rather than the Government or Big Companies. So, I am afraid that complete anonymity will howl down the ordinary citizen.

Ogura-san. I agree that it can be abused, but I think this is one of those things where I believe the benefits outweight the costs...

"It would be cool to set up a wiki for whistle blowers, although I feel like it would get too many trolls."

Why not a wiki about Usenet Trolls? :-)

Kind of off-topic, but please have your readers look at this post--it's important:

whowilldietoday.blogspot.com

RK - Why are you killing all of those people?

I'll take your anonymous blogs if you give me my NON-anonymous comments.

class action law suites can evolve around blogs vs the government: lots of problems with medicare rules and rationing of healthcare. lots of remote surveillancers are creating hassles for ordinary folks in healthcare.

being annonymous and building a large case could create even more law suites. This could undermine capitalism if we are overburdened with even more law suites.

Over at a stockboard, a poster used annonymous name to collect information to build a law suite.

"This could undermine capitalism if we are overburdened with even more law suites." - cyborgopulos (#9, May27, 2005 12:27 PM)

I don't want to get into the "tort reform" issue, which is a huge and multifaceted enigma - not simple or "one-sided" like so many interested parties would have us believe on either "side". Not even CLOSE!

What I want to know is this: Are you implying that undermining capitalism is a BAD thing? Because, the more I really honestly look at it, I am becoming convinced that capitalism is a BAD thing gone way out of hand that needs some undermining.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not some communist (state owns everything) or anything like that. And I am not a simpleton or member of the great herd mentalities beseiging the global cognosphere. At least I try not to be.

I believe that people should have a right to "profit" from their work. That is the gut-level appeal that is used to support the notion of capitalism. But capitalism is NOT about that at all! Hell, most people seem to even think that "capital" means money. Ha! Capitalism is a one-way system that basically serves to concentrate wealth. It is not a general good for the people. It really serves the few and concentrates power. Sounds good on a small scale - Joe Bloe makes a buck and puts bread on the table. Or once in a while John Public makes it big. Isn't that sweet?

But be honest with yourself. Huge multinational corporations are the result of all this, with the super-wealthy becoming wealthier and most of the rest of the world becoming poorer. You know darned good and well that the politicians on all sides mainly serve corporate and wealth interests. There is a word for a system like that. It is called Fascism, also known as Corporatism. It is bad, bad, bad, bad, and needs some undermining. Certainly it is time to re-think, don't you think? There must be better ways.

Keep an open mind. Peace!

hmmm...what if multinationals ceased to be? if there where only us, would we know how to build cameras, or cars: grow food? would we be able to take someone to court without someone from the local corporate law office?

if we where free to be on our own, we would, but the world requires increasingly smart persons who can do there specified things: leave the rest of the dirty to robots: who needs the prolitariate.

I hope you hear my sense of satire though these words.

stef

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Ito-san, Thank you for your response. You say you believe the benefits outweight the costs in anonymity. I do not agree with you, but it is okey. That is your opinion. But, if you advocate anonymity, I hope that you Read More

joi ito invites everyone to contribute in editing the Read More

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