1. Acquire a U.S. cellular phone that can be used for at least 60 minutes.Purchase Tracfone (prepaid no contract mobile phone) and “minutes” card at retailer. Pay in cash. Register phone online from an anonymous computer (library, internet café, etc.) giving no personal information (there is an option to skip inputting name and other information). Risks in using this phone: voice and SMS data can be picked up by authorities. Research data has shown that even anonymous usage data can be tracked on a long enough timeline to identify users. Calls to people who are on the grid will eventually identify you. It is impossible to know when you have been identified using the phone, so they must frequently been discarded and the process must be repeated as many times as is financially feasible.
2. Show how you would get a cellular telephone in another country without revealing your identity.Using the Tracfone purchased previously is impossible due to frequency restrictions in the device which prevent it from being used overseas. To use a cellular phone purchased in the U.S. overseas it must be a tri-band or quad-band phone, meaning it can use the radio networks both domestically and abroad. One such model is the Tracfone LG225 but it can only be purchased through AT&T. To use this phone anonymously and for use overseas, it can be found on Craigslist and purchased locally from someone who has already unlocked the phone for use on any network. Once in possession of the phone, it can be brought overseas and a local SIM card for use on that country’s cellular phone network can be purchased via cash at a retailer. The SIM card will have to be registered in a similar fashion as outlined above—particular attention to not revealing personal information is crucial.
3. Create an email account that does not link back to you in any way.
Using a public computer at a library or internet café, go to any free email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) and register an account. Fabricate all personal information in required fields for registration (fake name, address, etc.). Do not link it to any other email accounts or telephone numbers. To keep this email account anonymous, do not use it from any computer or device linked to you unless you access it from behind a proxy server. A proxy server is a website (such as
www.hidemyass.com) that allows you to browse the web anonymous by sending all your internet traffic to another computer before it reaches its destination, thereby misrepresenting where you are accessing the web site from. For further protection, redundancy through multiple proxy servers is preferable. Similar to cellular phone usage, do not contact anyone more than once to avoid creating a network that can be traced back to you.
4. You need to read a particular Internet website that you know is being monitored by the opposition. The website requires that you log in with your secret password each time to get access to the information you need. How could you visit this site three times over the week without being identified?Using a public computer and proxy servers as outline above, log on to the website and access information as needed. Each time you access the website use a public computer at a different location and different proxy servers.
5. You and your friends want to share documents over the Internet without any of you being identified. Describe at least two mechanisms you would create to allow you to share documents.Using the methods outlined above for creation of anonymous emails and anonymous internet usage, create account on file sharing website
www.dropbox.com. Upload documents to be shared in the public shared folder on your new account. Access these documents using public computers and proxies, being sure to never use the same computer and proxy combination twice.
6. Make international calls anonymouslyThe most effective way to make an international call anonymously is to not use any phone network as cellular and landline phone calls are easily intercepted. Instead, use of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is preferred. To make an anonymous VOIP call, create an account using the same procedures as creating an anonymous email at an internet phone provider such as Skype. While this site will ask for personal information, it can all be fabricated. Use of Skype to call telephones abroad requires Paypal or credit card payment which is difficult to do anonymously, thus both parties should create Skype accounts and converse this way for free. To remain anonymous during these calls, care should be taken to not say anything to identify yourself to include names and locations. For extra anonymity, Skype accounts can be used once and then discarded.
7. How could you access computer files on an international trip in such a way that they would be safe from discovery? Assume any computer you carry will be copied and that anything in your hotel room, including the hotel safe, will be inspected.The best way to access computer files on an international trip assuming any physical data you carry will be compromised is to follow the steps in tool number five: sharing documents anonymously over the internet.
