I would like to share with you all a process that I have refined over the past year to foster privacy. Let's be honest, you can't be 100% private on the web, but it's a matter of degree- you don't want your ass hanging out either.
Ever since the Russia/Facebook scandal, sites have been cracking down on "fake" accounts harder than ever before. I am a privacy advocate, and after the scandal, I discovered many of my accounts were being banned. I really sincerely take issue with the "real name" policy, and I have had to up my fake account game. Let's be honest, we all know that "real name"/"verified identity" policies are just a way for corporate and government entities to infringe upon our privacy and civil liberties even more. I think all of us on this sub agree on that.
Without further ado, I'd like to share with you the method and processes by which I circumvent these policies:
The IP Layer
Start with hidemyass or nordvpn. Sadly, TOR is blocked virtually everywhere and is going to cause you to be flagged immediately on most sites these days. Configure your devices to route through a single endpoint and to shut down if they are not connected to VPN.
For super critical stuff, you should still try to use TOR wherever possible.
Phone Number
For some reason in this day and age, having a phone number seems to be considered a gold standard proof that you are "real." I'm not sure why. This assumption is kind of silly.
For the longest time, I was using the softphone "Burner" app to generate virtual phone numbers. This loophole was closed sometime in 2018, and now "softphone" numbers are banned pretty much across the board, including Google Voice. This was a source of a great deal of aggravation for me, as you might imagine. But I was really determined to keep my system working, so I had to get creative.
I bought a cheap burner phone off amazon. Nothing too fancy. Then I bought a bunch of $5 - $10 prepaid SIM cards. You'll be good for a long time with these. If you can, configure your burner to go through your VPN as well to provide an extra layer of consistency and assurance. Set up a SIM and provide fake information. Here you can probably get away with using Burner if they ask you for a backup contact number. It should take a few hours to set up.
Social
Set up a google account. You should get one for free if your burner is an Android. This is a great place to start, as gmail accounts are considered "more reputable" than many others which do not require phone verification. This is your jumping off point for setting up all other accounts.
While you're at it, you should set up the following accounts with your new burner phone:
- microsoft outlook live email
- AOL Mail
- mail.com
- yahoo
- protonmail (YMMV. Some sites seem to treat protonmail as suspect, sad because it's so much more secure than the other jokers on this list)
Don't ask me why, but microsoft outlook live mail is still considered highly reputable, though it's really crappy. Make sure you use different and neutral usernames for each email.
I have had the best luck with neutral bullshit usernames like "baseballdude45." It is important not to use a name in your email. Nothing screams "fake account" to web site support more than a real name in your email or nick that does not match the name you have provided to them.
Social Part II: Social Media
I am sure that this section will be most controversial. For sure, it is the most likely to get you shadowbanned from various services across the internet, so beware. You must never log into any of these sites from outside your VPN, or from devices with cookies from your other accounts.
- Reddit (lol)
- imgur
It should almost go without saying that you are not to friend any of your usual friends via these accounts. It will be painfully obvious that you're a fake, and you'll be on your way towards getting yourself banned. Lastly, I'd like to add that there's really no point in using facebook- the entire point of the site is to de-anonymize you and then sell your personal information. Maybe just quit unless you have a very specific use-case in mind. And definitely stay away from the Facebook app- that thing is cancer. This is common sense- do I even need to repeat it?
Money
Here's where things get interesting. You can buy prepaid credit cards and then use them online. But know that signing up for credit cards under your fake name is a big crime- a felony as a matter of fact- so definitely don't do that.
If you're ambitious, you can also sign up for an amazon account and pay using your prepaid cards.
As a sidenote- you'll hear various people pushing bitcoin and ethereum. These are not anonymous. They're basically the opposite of anonymous- all of your transactions will be published and freely available for all the world to see, so just stay away from them.
Sunsetting your accounts
Depending upon how intensely you use your accounts, you should cycle them out of use and set up a new burner and VPN on a regular interval. Make sure you don't get complacent and stay on one account for too long.
You may choose to delete your accounts and all content on them so that you don't leave it orphaned, which may cause it to become a liability years down the road in case you get doxxed or you lose control of it. Consider deleting all of your content, or at least just the content that has personally identifiable information, especially on reddit. I'm sure you all know this already.
Another interesting possibility is to re-sell your accounts. There are a bunch of grey markets out there where you can make hundreds of dollars doing this. It also may help to obfuscate your identity because the other person will be using it towards different aims. Beware that this could backfire if they use your account to try to dox you, or to engage in illegal behaviours.
Conclusion
This concludes my guide. If any of you are like minded I'd really appreciate you letting me know if you have stumbled upon any other techniques. Or if you can poke holes in my methodology, that's great, too. I'd like to use your feedback to keep this guide up to date for a time.
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