I apologize if this is not the place for this, but it seemed like the closest fit.

I'm planning a site that'd have quite of bit of property I don't have the rights to on it and was curious as to what the best way to do this would be. Would my best bet be finding a hosting service located in a country with lax intellectual property laws or is there a better way to do it? Any suggestion? Something with a decent amount of bandwidth allowance would be preferable, as ideally people will be downloading off of us.

Also, I was going to purchase the domain name from godaddy. Would my personal info be safe?

Thanks! I'm pretty clueless when it comes to this sort of thing. I've got a friend doing all the coding and web design, I'm just supplying the content.

-F☺rd

If you've got rights to the material, you're fine. Godaddy is great on keeping personal info confidential, it's the web host I use. That's about it.

I wouldn't really say anywhere is safe. 2009 is going to be a shit year for privacy for a variety of reasons. I would suggest using GNUnet or Freenet to share the actual files (GNUnet is faster, but smaller, so you might not be able to download everything, and Freenet is huge, but slow as fuck) and set up a Tor hidden server to share the keys for that. You won't need to pay anyone for the hosting or for the domain name, as a plus. It also can't be taken down.

Godaddy will pull your site at the first DMCA complaint, most likely.

GoDaddy has been known to pull domain registrations for sites whose content they didn't like -- like public discussion of exploits, for example. I wouldn't trust them.

Funny; I made a 'hack this site' site with real exploits, just fuckin around. I actually asked for their help and they never shut it down, I just let it die. But I haven't run anything like that in a while, they seemed to be pretty cool with it at the time.

Good ideas, but that's not really the site I want to have. I want it to be open to everyone. Free books for the people.

Sort of in the vein of: http://www.truly-free.org/

Isn't there a host somewhere that they just can't touch? Servers in Vanuatu or some bullshit? I apologize if I'm being naive.

If you've got rights to the material, you're fine. Godaddy is great on keeping personal info confidential, it's the web host I use. That's about it.

Naw, I definitely don't have the rights.

-F☺rd

Good ideas, but that's not really the site I want to have. I want it to be open to everyone. Free books for the people.

Sort of in the vein of: http://www.truly-free.org/

Isn't there a host somewhere that they just can't touch? Servers in Vanuatu or some bullshit? I apologize if I'm being naive.



Naw, I definitely don't have the rights.

-F☺rd
I thought I read that you had the rights. I wouldn't do it; man, if you get caught you're going to get fucking nailed hard, downloading songs privately people get hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and jail time; that's not distribution, that's just privately downloading. Imagine what distribution so blatantly would get you. I wouldn't do it but I need moar details.

I thought I read that you had the rights. I wouldn't do it; man, if you get caught you're going to get fucking nailed hard, downloading songs privately people get hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and jail time; that's not distribution, that's just privately downloading. Imagine what distribution so blatantly would get you. I wouldn't do it but I need moar details.

I've got a couple hundred gigs of txt and I want to share.

Can't I just pull something like this?

Being located in Panama and Malaysia respectively, neither truly-free.org nor truly-free.info may be deemed in breach of U.S., U.K., British Commonwealth, or European copyrights. Accordingly, communications of a litigious nature should be addressed to the owner(s) and registrant(s) of these domains within the jurisdictions in which they are situated. It should be further noted that the maintainer(s) of these sites reside in none of the countries or regions referred to in this paragraph.

The administration of truly-free.org hereby repudiates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which, being specific only to the United States of America, its satellites, vassal states, and colonies, is inapplicable to these servers. Any communication citing this legislation will be disregarded by these sites' administrator(s), their hosting provider(s), and their upstream hosting provider(s). Any communication or complaint of a litigious nature originating in the following countries or regions will similarly be disregarded by the aforementioned: U.S.A.; U.K.; Canada; Australasia; E.E.C.; future satellites, protectorates, vassal states, and colonies of the U.S.A.

NOTA BENE: An entity is bound only by the laws of the country in which it resides.

-F☺rd

Good ideas, but that's not really the site I want to have. I want it to be open to everyone. Free books for the people.

Sort of in the vein of: http://www.truly-free.org/

Isn't there a host somewhere that they just can't touch? Servers in Vanuatu or some bullshit? I apologize if I'm being naive.


If there actually was somewhere US law couldn't touch, they'd just DoS it. Everyone can install and run Tor, and if you're just sharing text then Tor alone will work fine. Make sure to insert into GNUnet and Freenet anyways for censorship-resistance.

I like Prometheum's suggestion of GNUnet. Freenet is such a pain in the ass to use. Keep it on hand, but I really like GNUnet.

There's actually a .onion site that does this that I found on gnunet (it was a text file (that never actually downloaded) with a screenshot of the site as a preview pic.

The site is here: http://dg6exbqq42btatnw.onion/ but it might be down now. It was inactive for some time.

If there actually was somewhere US law couldn't touch, they'd just DoS it. Everyone can install and run Tor, and if you're just sharing text then Tor alone will work fine. Make sure to insert into GNUnet and Freenet anyways for censorship-resistance.

Sorry, not sure i understand completely. Are you suggesting a .onion site or something like it? I've never used tor for anything but browsing.

And would only those with tor be able to download?


Thanks.

-F☺rd

Have you considered the torrent route in getting this information to the public?

Agreed, I've read some really shitty things about them, such as this:

MySpace demanded that GoDaddy pull the plug on Seclists.org (http://www.seclists.org/), which hosts some 250,000 pages of mailing list archives and other resources, because a list of thousands of MySpace usernames and passwords was archived on the site. GoDaddy claims its customers own about 18 million domains

http://news.cnet.com/GoDaddy-pulls-security-site-after-MySpace-complaints/2100-1025_3-6153607.html

What the actual website had to say about it:

http://seclists.org/nmap-hackers/2007/0000.html

Sorry, not sure i understand completely. Are you suggesting a .onion site or something like it? I've never used tor for anything but browsing.

And would only those with tor be able to download?


Thanks.

-F☺rd

Yes, and sort of. Those with Tor would be able to find the Freenet/GNUnet keys. Those with Freenet or GNUnet would be able to download them. You should encourage reposting the content to as many places as possible.

Those without Tor could view the keys through tor.theinfo.org (replace .onion with tor.theinfo.org).

Have you considered the torrent route in getting this information to the public?

This will deter censorship of the content from a civil case (i.e. MAFIAA), but not from a government. It also won't hide the originating point.

You sillies.
http://prq.se/ is what you need. If Wikileaks can stay up, you can stay up.
Aside from that, it's much much easier to get "bulletproof" hosting if you go for colocation rather than vps or web hosting. Search, say, "datacenter ukraine". You'll be surprised.

This will deter censorship of the content from a civil case (i.e. MAFIAA), but not from a government. It also won't hide the originating point.

That won't matter if the point of origin isn't related to him.

Thought about it, but considering the tiny size of each book (mb or less) it seems like it'd be a hassle. But maybe it's a necessary hassle.

You sillies.
http://prq.se/ is what you need. If Wikileaks can stay up, you can stay up.
Aside from that, it's much much easier to get "bulletproof" hosting if you go for colocation rather than vps or web hosting. Search, say, "datacenter ukraine". You'll be surprised.

"[...] and PRQ has gone out of its way to host sites that other companies would not touch. It is perhaps the worlds least lawyer-friendly hosting company" -- New York Times

Awesome!

-F☺rd

That won't matter if the point of origin isn't related to him.

I mean initial uploader of the .torrent and initial seeders.

I mean initial uploader of the .torrent and initial seeders.

So did I. Could be hard or it could be easy. It just depends on how much money he wants to spend (if any) or what kind of computers he can get access to.

So did I. Could be hard or it could be easy. It just depends on how much money he wants to spend (if any) or what kind of computers he can get access to.

It's stupid to try to secure something like bittorrent instead of using something that's built for anonymity.

It's stupid to try to secure something like bittorrent instead of using something that's built for anonymity.

I wouldn't say stupid. I was just mentioning an alternative. If he wanted to get this information out to the public quickly it would be an excellent alternative if his current situation allowed it. If he is willing to shell out some money for a server or something or can easily get access to other computers to do his dirty work then it would be a viable option. If he has this card up his sleeve I don't see why he wouldn't. He could still have the website and have a link for the torrent for people wanting to download a lot of content quickly.

I wouldn't say stupid. I was just mentioning an alternative. If he wanted to get this information out to the public quickly it would be an excellent alternative if his current situation allowed it. If he is willing to shell out some money for a server or something or can easily get access to other computers to do his dirty work then it would be a viable option. If he has this card up his sleeve I don't see why he wouldn't. He could still have the website and have a link for the torrent for people wanting to download a lot of content quickly.

Okay. Here are the two options you have:


He pays for a server
He hacks a computer


In the first, the content can easily be traced to him via the money trail. In the second, they can be traced to him via the ISP's logs of bittorrent activity.

Everything you do to anonymize a non-anonymous protocol opens up a few more holes. This is why we use anonymous channels, which have already been tested and proven.

A prepaid debit card eliminates the money trail in the first. The second is situational.

Nope, the prepaid card can be traced to where he bought it (connections to the server can be traced as well, I forgot that) and then security tapes can be examined.

At some point, somewhere, he needs to use anonymity software. He might as well do it from the beginning.

Nope, the prepaid card can be traced to where he bought it (connections to the server can be traced as well, I forgot that) and then security tapes can be examined.

At some point, somewhere, he needs to use anonymity software. He might as well do it from the beginning.
Yeah, might as well try and be anonymous all around. Yeah, you're right that the card can be tracked to where it was bought BUT you can give false information when you buy prepaid cards; that's the only reason I buy them. They don't check ID or anything like that.

Yeah, might as well try and be anonymous all around. Yeah, you're right that the card can be tracked to where it was bought BUT you can give false information when you buy prepaid cards; that's the only reason I buy them. They don't check ID or anything like that.

They can compare surveillance tapes against facial recognition databases.

They can compare surveillance tapes against facial recognition databases.

Mostly the drivers license database. I've talked to cops about this before.

I actually have a similar problem (finding a hosting site for iffy material). If you have some spare bucks, http://www.anonymousspeech.com supposedly provides very anonymous domain hosting and email. Im still yet to find a free site that will host [illegal] material.

Mostly the drivers license database. I've talked to cops about this before.

Cops are shit. They can't do anything. But the CIA undoubtedly has vast reserves of facial recognition data. As does the FBI to a lesser extent. A god would only know what the NSA has, though...

You can host it for free. Set up a Tor-based hidden service on a computer that routes all data through Tor. Then just run email servers and a web server and expose them to Tor. Make sure to do this on a secure computer.

One of the really fun things about Tor is that it punches through absolutely any NAT in terms of hidden services. So you won't need to worry about that.

You can host it for free. Set up a Tor-based hidden service on a computer that routes all data through Tor. Then just run email servers and a web server and expose them to Tor. Make sure to do this on a secure computer.

One of the really fun things about Tor is that it punches through absolutely any NAT in terms of hidden services. So you won't need to worry about that.

Yeah, ive looked over the Tor site. Problem is, im lacking skill and knowlege in the area of Internet technical stuff. Ive tried the whole proxy thing, but ended up making my internet fail. lol.:(

Yeah, ive looked over the Tor site. Problem is, im lacking skill and knowlege in the area of Internet technical stuff. Ive tried the whole proxy thing, but ended up making my internet fail. lol.:(

You shouldn't even think about running a website until you can understand how to set up Tor properly. It isn't that hard.

Nope, the prepaid card can be traced to where he bought it (connections to the server can be traced as well, I forgot that) and then security tapes can be examined.


Buying a prepaid card is not going to get you busted if you are smart about it. Take a bus across town 1 day if you're paranoid. Try to pick a store without cameras. Wearing a hoodie, head down until you get to counter, big sunglasses, and a beard will keep your face a secret if you can't find a store without cameras. If you wait until the card is about to expire before you use it the tapes will probably be overwritten. Getting the server in a country with little respect for copyright or the US would keep it from getting shutdown for a while.

At some point, somewhere, he needs to use anonymity software. He might as well do it from the beginning.

Very true. If he values privacy and his freedom he needs to keep his personal information out of this. I'm just saying that bittorrent could get this info to the public a lot faster. It might be something he is interested in adding to his project if he is willing to go the extra steps of acquiring a server. Whatever he plans on doing I hope he takes our advice seriously and plays it safe.

You shouldn't even think about running a website until you can understand how to set up Tor properly. It isn't that hard.

It's easy, but I don't think it's very clear. I think they need to make better guides that are clearly linked. (at first I had a hard time finding information on hosting a .onion site) It's easier to host a Freenet site, but the interface is so terrible and it's so god damned slow. It's worth it to learn to use tor.

Whatever he plans on doing I hope he takes our advice seriously and plays it safe.

I can assure you I will/do. Thanks everyone for the invaluable information. Haven't quite decided what route I'm planning on taking yet though, and more thoughts on the topic are obviously welcome.

And I most definitely not in any databases. That may sounds naive, but it's true. I value my privacy very much. :)


-F☺rd

And I most definitely not in any databases. That may sounds naive, but it's true. I value my privacy very much. :)


-F☺rd


You don't have a driver's license or passport?

You don't have a driver's license or passport?

I've got two licenses and three passports.
Like I said, I value my privacy and freedom of movement.

-F☺rd

I've got two licenses and three passports.
Like I said, I value my privacy and freedom of movement.

-F☺rd

Oh the irony.

Oh the irony.

You had some good advice, why be a prick now?

-F☺rd