Re: Anonymize internet access

["Michael Painter" <tvhawaii () shaka com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeffrey F. Bloss" 
Subject: Re: Anonymize internet access

> On Thursday 22 September 2005 03:05 pm, Joshua Graham wrote:
> > You might try checking out:
> >
> > http://www.findnot.com
> >
> > I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who has opinions
> > about,
> > or who has used, this company as well. Thanks!
>
> There's some indication that they have made false claims in the past. A 
> conversation in alt.privacy about a year ago  brought to light the fact that 
> at least some of their servers were located in Texas (I believe), while they 
> play on potential customers' fear of "Big Brother" by claiming they're an off 
> shore entity.
>
> The truth of the matter is that many/most of these "anonymity" providers 
> operate under the false premise that you can't be traced through their 
> service. In reality, they're a single point of contact that can be 
> compromised as easily as local laws allow. Generally that's pretty easily. It 
> varies from country to country.
>
> Their anonymity and privacy also hinge on the assertion that they do not keep 
> logs.  Any competent system administrator can tell you that maintaining a 
> system for outside consumption is next to impossible without some level of 
> logging. Also, most of these services use "rented" equipment. The machines 
> that you connect to are not under their direct control, and they have no way 
> of knowing one way or the other what's logged and what's not. In the case of 
> servers located in more restrictive countries, it's almost a certain bet that 
> much IS logged.
>
> If you want casual anonymity, I suppose any of them are fine. but don't spend 
> your hard earned money thinking that you're anything but superficially 
> anonymous from the average net-loon. And most assuredly don't trust any of 
> them with any mission critical, or even marginally illegal activity. To do so 
> is pure folly.


Since I'm a customer of findnot.com, I asked them for comments on the above.
They (quickly) replied with this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most of your questions from this post can be answered here:

http://www.findnot.com/howitworks.html

We do not keep logs at all, and won't. Is it harder to keep servers up and running that
way? Sure it is, but it is possible we do it every day. Our server location are not some
big secret, you can check it out for yourself here:

http://www.findnot.com/servers.html

Our company IS an offshore entity, and we are not in a jurisdiction that would compromise
our privacy or yours. If we were forced to keep logs, we would move our server to another
location. We demand control of the servers to suit our needs, and if we can't get it we
move to another server provider.

Thanks,
Will
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will has expressed an interest in this list, so hopefully he'll join and answer any additional queries.

--Michael