Privacy and Security Online

We want this forum to be different from many others like it, in that we absolutely respect the privacy of our members, and do not force you to share any private details about yourself that you want to keep private. Not that we would like to know you better, but we firmly believe that privacy and security is an integral part of trust, and without trust, there is little point of us being here.

Unfortunately, me can only do so much in ensuring your privacy, being limited by the capabilities the service offers that is hosting this board. For example, we cannot accept registrations without a valid email address, (but we can - and do - allow anonymous posts without registration!). We would like to do both of those things, but unfortunately, the hosting service will not let us. So here are some things that you can do do ensure your anonymity and safety online (not only here with us, but also on other sites you are visiting, where you don't necessarily want everybody to know who you are).

Note: You can actually post on this board as a guest, it is not required to register in order to make posts or comment. Registration is optional, but it comes with some features that you may find useful, such as private messages, notifications about new posts, etc. If you would like that, read on. Here are some recommendations of things you can do to become a registered member but remain anonymous, and not have to disclose any information about yourself that you would rather not share.

• Use temporary/anonymous email address
  
  Service like google, yahoo etc., have recently requiring that you give them your mobile phone to create a mailbox. This defeats the purpose of anonymous emails, because the inbox is forever tied to your phone number. Besides, some of our users don't even have a mobile phone or a landline, that they have full access to. 
  Luckily, there are options.
  
  tempr.email is a service, that lets you create temporary email addresses. It has a long list of domains you can choose from, and then just use an address like anyname@tempr.email to register at the forum. You can then check back at the website for the confirmation email. 
  Beware, that anyone can read that mailbox though. So be sure no sensitive information is ever sent there. Also, anyone can use it too, there are no uniqueness constraints on the name, so someone else could have just used the same mail box for registering somewhere else. Do not assume all emails you see in that mailbox are for you, just look specifically for the message you expect to receive.
  
  There are also a few "real" email services, that provide real anonymity and security. inbox.lv is one such service. You can google "free anonymous email" for others as well. These services allow you create email addresses, without asking for any personal info (or, if they do ask for it, none of it is required or verified, so you can just put "anonymous" in all the fields). Unlike tempr.email, these are real permanent email addresses, that you can use for communicating with people, not just anonymous registrations. Some of these also offer encrypting the messages.
  
  
• Use a proxy or VPN
  
  Many sites online nowadays log your IP address. It is tied to your internet provider, that in turn, logs your connections, so, it is possible (and relatively easy) for someone, who knows your IP, to figure out who (and where) you are. This forum logs the IP with every post you make, and some other actions. To be clear, WE DON'T WANT IT TO, because we respect your privacy, and do not want to collect any information you don't share with us, but this is just what the hosting service does. 
  
  This is a common problem, not with just this board, but most of the sites on internet nowadays. To avoid being exposed like this, you should use a VPN or a proxy.
  
  VPN is a software, that runs on your computer or mobile device, and routes your network traffic through its own servers, so that the endpoint (like this board) "sees" that server's address as making requests rather than yours. There are many free services like this out there both for PC and mobile. Just google "free VPN software" (be sure to read some reviews, to make sure the software is reputable: you are about to share all of your outgoing traffic with it). I will add references for a few of those services here later. If you know of a good one, please, share it here too. TOR is a very popular and secure network of anonymous servers, that also comes with its own browser, and a VPN extension for PC and mobile. Unfortunately, this board seems to be blocking most of the addresses I have checked, so it is not really a good option here, but I encourage you to get the browser, and use it wherever you can to enhance your privacy on internet.
  
  Proxy is a similar concept, but it works with your specific requests rather than all of the network traffic. There are a few popular chrome and firefox extensions that work with your browser as a proxy to hide your address from websites you visit. Browsec is one of them (it says "VPN" in the title, but they really are a proxy). It adds a button to your browser window where you can select which address to use when accessing websites. There are also proxy services online, such as anonymouse.org - you just go there first, and then type the address of the page you are visiting, the page will see the address of the proxy as the sender rather than yours. 
  
  Whenever possible, a VPN is a better choice than a proxy (for the reason I explain below), but it is also important  to remember to turn it off when yu
• Always use secure connection (https, not http)
  
  Secure http (https) protects you on internet in two important ways: it allows you to make sure that you are really talking to the website you think you are talking to (some rogue websites may look like google or facebook, or another popular page, and trick you into entering your credentials, that they will then steal), and it encrypts all communications between your browser and the website, so that only you can read access the contents. 
  
  This last part is particularly important for your privacy. If you are using an online proxy, like anonymouse.org, that I described above, you will not be able to benefit from secure http unfortunately (because the proxy will read all the traffic that goes through it), so, you have to reasonably trust the host of that service, that they are not going to spy on you. But those proxies that (like Browsec) run on your device or VPNs are actually passing traffic encrypted by https through them, meaning that the VPN/proxy servers your connection goes through on the way to the website, cannot access the contents of your communications with the website even if you wanted to. Only your browser, and the target webservice can read the encrypted data.
  
  The bottom line: especially when using a VPN or a proxy, always make sure that the website you are connecting to has https:// in front of its address, not just http://. Some websites (notably, this board) work with both protocols, so, if you access a link that is not secure, just add "s" to the protocol part of the connection:
  teen-zone.boards.net - insecure, do not use!
  teen-zone.boards.net - secure! Your communication will be encrypted. 
  
  Also, when linking to posts and materials on this board (or on other websites for that matter),  please, always use the https:// version of the address if possible to help people who use your links remain safe.
• Don't forget to turn off your VPN when not using it
  
  VPN is great hiding your identity, but it is only efficient, if you never forget to turn it off  when accessing websites that know you real identity (your gmail account, facebook, school website etc.). If you do, it may be possible to correlate the IP address you used there with the other websites where you wanted to remain anonymous, and that would give someone a hit at your real identity. 
  
  To be fair, even if you did forget to turn off the VPN before hitting your gmail, your privacy is still much, much safer, than if you weren't using VPN in the first place: someone looking to uncover your identity would now have to get google disclose its access logs to them, not just your other website, and your internet provider, which is not a small feat to accomplish. Additionally, while you having used your VPN with google might suggest that you also used it with the other website, there is no way to actually prove it, because many other people might be using the same VPN service as you do. 
  
• But also don't forget to turn it ON when you need it
  
  Forgetting to turn ON your VPN before accessing the service is potentially much more harmful than forgetting to turn it off when not in use: now the service logs contain your real IP address, that is associated with your login, and other information, and it fairly easy to use to to track other posts you have made with other IP addresses, and uncover a lot of your other activity on the internet. 
  
  If you accidentally make a post or a comment (or even just log in) on this board with your real IP, that you did not mean to be visible, be sure to contact Admin immediately. We will remove your data, and make sure your privacy remains safe.
  
  
  
• Use good passwords
  
  You won't believe how easy it is for hackers nowadays to crack passwords, even "good" looking ones - with digits, and special characters and other things. 
  The secret to a good password is its length. Don't worry about special characters, and uppercase letters, just make sure your password is really long. It should really be a pass phrase, rather than a word. Pick a long phrase, you like and remember, and type it without any abbreviations. 
  Better yet, use software like  Lastpass to generate a long random password and keep it for you. 
  
  Also, very important: whatever you do, never use the same password twice. Especially, never share the password between your "anonymous" accounts, and those that use your real identity. Why? Well, if one of those gets leaked or hacked, it gives the attacker immediate access to the other. You don't want that. 
  
  
• Don't trust strangers
  
  You have heard it before. Perhaps, an even stronger version of it: don't talk to strangers. Well, we are are all "strangers" on internet, so, it would be hard to follow that advice, especially on an anonymous board. But there are still some things you can do protect yourself. 
  We've been talking about privacy, but, somewhat paradoxically, sometimes, publicity is your friend. Bad guys hate being public. So, whenever at all possible, try to communicate with people here on public boards, rather than exchanging private messages or emails. Don't be shy: you are anonymous here, so, it is OK to let others read what you are writing. Sometimes, it will help: maybe you don't know the person you are talking with very well, but someone else reading your conversation does. Maybe they can warn you, or the other way around - vouch for that person to you, and help you build trust. 
  
  If you still have feel a need to have a private conversation, a couple of rules for your safety:
  
  • As a general rule, avoid responding to unsolicited messages. If someone writes to you "out of the blue", just ignore the message. 
    If the person still persists, and bothers you with their messages, let Admin know (it is OK to write private messages to Admin).
    
    
  • Never give anyone your email address, not even the "anonymous" one you created specifically for this board. Use private messages on the board instead.
    This feature exists for a reason: it isolates you from weirdos out there, that want to abuse your email mailbox. You can always turn off your messages, it is
    harder to "turn off" email. Also, there are ways to "hack" an email message, so that it will do nasty things to your computer once you simply open it. 
    If you are getting spam via private messages, or someone is sending you things, that make you uncomfortable, do let the Admin know. We have ways to help with that.
    
    
  • Never give anyone your address or a phone number. Even if you feel completely comfortable with sharing your information online, this is too much. The members here will ask you about some personal information legitimately, because it may help them help you better or better answer your questions, but you should not feel obligated to give it to them. Decide for yourself where you draw the line (maybe first name is ok, but last name is too much? Maybe, the country you are from, but not the city? etc.), but never give anyone as much detail as your home address or your phone number. This should be completely off-limits. If you are worried that you may have written too much in a public post, let the Admin know immediately, we can clean it up (not much we can do about private messages - another reason not to use them too much).