Attention Operators - Don't let your emails give you away!

[ChrisSmolinski]

If you're using an email service like hotmail or yahoo, you might want to consider changing services. Many such services include your IP address in the message headers. So if you send an email to a listener, the IP address of your computer will be shown in the headers. That IP address can be used to determine your location, often down to the city. 

GMail seems to be safe, it does not (to my knowledge) include your IP address in the headers. There may be other secure email services as well.

[uhclem]

The *only* thing stopping the government from knocking on your door is their lack of interest. Your IP is *always* logged and can *always* be tracked the street address from which it was used.

[Swede P]

Wouldn't using a proxy server solve nip this problem in the bud?

[John Poet]

Gmail is secure, as long as you do your emailing from the Gmail website, and not using pop access or SMTP with Gmail.

[Jolly Roger]

What's sad is that we would even NEED to use a proxy server. It shouldn't matter who we are or where we are; we shouldn't have to protect ourselves from fellow enthusiasts. But here's my storey for the day:
When Radio Yellowknife first started up, the Rodent Revulsion crew traced a server address to someplace in the NWT. (Northern Canada) Since I was at that time the only visible NWT pirate enthusiast it appeared to them that I must be radio YK. Heaven forbid there could be more then one enthusiast per province or state. I guess that means that there most only be one enthusiast in, say, Virginia.  Now in the great scheme of things it shouldn't matter, but since they were hoping to dominate the pirate radio relay service with a 10 watt transmitter from the East Coast I as Radio YK was perceived as a threat. They researched me through Googling my name and callsign and gleefully acted as if they had found the Holy Grail. Remember the posting for Arctic Arab Radio last year? It didn't exist, never happened. What DID happen was they found my eBay ID was Arctic Arab, posted that as a way to intimidate me with the supposed huge quantity of personal info they had on me, then sent me harrassing emails gloating about it. Same thing with references about playing bass in High School. They found I was in a radio club and emailed THEM to shut me down. I didn't know what was going on until Radio YK contacted me to inform me that they had been receiving emails addressed to me. That was when it sank in that there was a case of mistaken identity going on. It took a fair bit to get them to leave me alone, but then again, I shouldn't HAVE to get them to fook off. We're supposed to be in this together.
So there; be warned. There are lunatics on the internet with no life but lots of time and lots of sock puppet I.D.'s  and nothing to do but bother other people. All the while bravely hiding behind proxy servers and reinventing history by writing on another site about how THEY had been done wrong. The great pirate war of 2011? Bite me.

[UNID QRP]

Gmail is secure, as long as you do your emailing from the Gmail website, and not using pop access or SMTP with Gmail.

True, but there's an easy way to fix this: use IMAP, not POP (and disable POP on Gmail's side).  Thunderbird integrates really nicely with Gmail, by the way.  The only real downside to it is that message filtering is best done on Gmail's end if you're using IMAP, but as a free mail client it's pretty decent.

[Swede P]

Jolly Roger: You are quite correct that it is sad that one needs to use a proxy server, and the story you told us just reinforces the point. Still, just as in an ideal world we shouldn't have to lock our doors, or hide our PIN numbers (or even have them), we have become used to them by now nevertheless. If we get all moralistic about idiots who do us wrong we wil become old fast. I think of such people as mosquitoes: Really annoying, but I don't get personally offended by their behaviour. You just take the necessary steps to protect yourself. I am simply wondering is a proxy server would be enough of a propellant.

[Pigmeat]

What's sad is that we would even NEED to use a proxy server. It shouldn't matter who we are or where we are; we shouldn't have to protect ourselves from fellow enthusiasts. But here's my storey for the day:
When Radio Yellowknife first started up, the Rodent Revulsion crew traced a server address to someplace in the NWT. (Northern Canada) Since I was at that time the only visible NWT pirate enthusiast it appeared to them that I must be radio YK. Heaven forbid there could be more then one enthusiast per province or state. I guess that means that there most only be one enthusiast in, say, Virginia.  Now in the great scheme of things it shouldn't matter, but since they were hoping to dominate the pirate radio relay service with a 10 watt transmitter from the East Coast I as Radio YK was perceived as a threat. They researched me through Googling my name and callsign and gleefully acted as if they had found the Holy Grail. Remember the posting for Arctic Arab Radio last year? It didn't exist, never happened. What DID happen was they found my eBay ID was Arctic Arab, posted that as a way to intimidate me with the supposed huge quantity of personal info they had on me, then sent me harrassing emails gloating about it. Same thing with references about playing bass in High School. They found I was in a radio club and emailed THEM to shut me down. I didn't know what was going on until Radio YK contacted me to inform me that they had been receiving emails addressed to me. That was when it sank in that there was a case of mistaken identity going on. It took a fair bit to get them to leave me alone, but then again, I shouldn't HAVE to get them to fook off. We're supposed to be in this together.
So there; be warned. There are lunatics on the internet with no life but lots of time and lots of sock puppet I.D.'s  and nothing to do but bother other people. All the while bravely hiding behind proxy servers and reinventing history by writing on another site about how THEY had been done wrong. The great pirate war of 2011? Bite me.

That's standard Bunny operating procedure. Use an online info/PI service to gather info on "enemies" then twist it and use it. He's been doing it for years. Somewhere around here I've got a hardcopy of a report he sent me on Radio Bob a decade ago.

If you've ever butted heads with the guy,dollars to donuts he's done the same thing to you.

[corq]

What's sad is that we would even NEED to use a proxy server. It shouldn't matter who we are or where we are; we shouldn't have to protect ourselves from fellow enthusiasts.

Jolly, you may have hit the nail on the head there: The person doing this hasn't been "enthusiastic" about anything, for years.

Its obvious from the bitter mocking tones of his own shows over the last few years. The "fun" he claims to have put back in Pirate Radio, is his own fun at tearing it apart, op by op, dxer by dxer. They say this fellow has political experience - it shows: he's deployed "divide and conquer" tactics.

An angry fella with an angry agenda, I would hesitate to consider this person an enthusiast anymore, alas. What might once have been, is no more.

I think fellow enthusiasts just wouldn't do these things.

Be safe fellas - and thanks for all your good work and positive attitudes.

[ff]

That's standard Bunny operating procedure. Use an online info/PI service to gather info on "enemies" then twist it and use it. He's been doing it for years. Somewhere around here I've got a hardcopy of a report he sent me on Radio Bob a decade ago.

If you've ever butted heads with the guy,dollars to donuts he's done the same thing to you.

Yep, for years.  Fearless Fred dissappeared into the woodwork back in 2001 also.  Its impossible to defend yourself from someone who at the time was considered "Mr. Wonderful" and who was just given the keys to the kingdom.  Please everyone, be careful.  Exile is more painful than you can imagine, especially for a true enthusiast...