- Donald E. Hester
Book Review, Darknet: A Beginner's Guide to Staying Anonymous
Darknet: A Beginner's Guide to Staying Anonymous by Lance Henderson [Available on paperback, kindle, and audible.]
This book covers the difference between online privacy and online anonymity. As you will see as you read the book the difference is very important. It is a good book for beginners however there is an assumption of more than basic knowledge of computers and networking. Some of his explanations are a bit grandiose.
He discusses various privacy and anonymity tools and services. Such as:
Tor Onion Browser, tor exit nodes, and tor relays
“Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security.”
VPN or Virtual Private Networks
“What a VPN does is somewhat similar to what the Tor network does. It sends a different IP address to your destination, whether that is a webpage, usenet provider, or webhost.”
Freenet
“Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication and publishing. Browse websites, post on forums, and publish files within Freenet with strong privacy protections.”
I2P or Invisible Internet Project, pros and cons
Darknet
OpenNet
Tails
“Tails is a live operating system, that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity, and helps you to: use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship; all connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network; leave no trace on the computer you are using unless you ask it explicitly; use state-of-the-art cryptographic tools to encrypt your files, emails and instant messaging.”
KeePassX
Cross Platform Password Manager
Password Safe
Simple & Secure Password Management
