The One About Jim Rawles and the FBI Cookie Caper

March 20th, 2012

Several people have submitted this one, and, as usual when non technical people offer technical advice on their blogs, I hold my head in my hands and ask, “When is this going to stop?”

Rawles saying that using a VPN, “Will allow you to surf the Internet anonymously,” is VERY reckless. He goes on to recommend HideMyAss, among other VPN providers.

HideMyAss. Really?

The Register:

HideMyAss has defended its role in handing over evidence that resulted in the arrest of a suspected LulzSec member last week.

UK-based HideMyAss, which offers freebie web proxy and paid-for VPN services, said it handed over potentially incriminating data to the feds only in response to a court order.

Ok, I’m not going to rehash all of this again. If you’re interested in this topic, see my 2007 post, High-Traffic Colluding Tor Routers in Washington, D.C., and the Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity, and know that the situation has only gotten worse since then.

Via: Survival Blog:

It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog’s US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers. (Note that this happened several months before we moved our primary server to Sweden.) Furthermore, we discovered that the FBI attached a long-lived cookie that allowed them to track the sites that readers subsequently visited. I suspect that the FBI has done the same to hundreds of other web sites. I find this situation totally abhorrent, and contrary to the letter of 4th Amendment as well as the intent of our Founding Fathers.

Research Credit: HPLovecraft666

2 Responses to “The One About Jim Rawles and the FBI Cookie Caper”

  1. I kind of figure its too late in the game, they know everything or have the capability to know everything if they really want to.

    My interest was initially peaked with VPR, but I’m not so sure about it.

    I think TOR is really good for certain uses.

    Its worth it to make certain small steps. For one, I like to use a keyscrambler:

    http://www.qfxsoftware.com/

  2. AHuxley says:

    My thoughts on the VPN use in the USA are –
    All ip’s to a site of interest will be tracked back to their isp’s- names found – one step, your interest is noted.
    The VPN ip would have to be tracked back to the .com, CC, isp and then end user, a few steps, more paperwork.
    The idea that you felt the need to use a VPN would put you on more lists.

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