Overview of services that support anonymity

There are many services and tools for increasing anonymity.

Tor. VPNs. Proxies. Browsers for anonymous use. Anonymity-focused operating systems such as Tails and Whonix. Metadata checking tools such as ExifTool. Information sharing tools such as SecureDrop and OnionShare.

If you look only at the names, all of them may look like "anonymity tools." However, their roles are quite different.

This article broadly classifies services that support anonymity and organizes what each one protects and what it does not protect.

Separate anonymity services by role

Anonymity services become easier to understand when you separate them by purpose.

The important point is that one service does not protect everything.

Changing the connection path does not remove the author name from a file. Removing metadata does not preserve anonymity if you log in to a real-name account. Even if you use an anonymity-focused OS, candidates can narrow if your post content reveals your usual places.

Services that change the connection path

The main examples of services that change the connection path are Tor, VPNs, and proxies.

Tor sends communication through multiple relay nodes, making it harder to directly connect the source and destination. VPNs send communication through a VPN server and change the IP address visible to the destination to the VPN server. Proxies send specific communication through a relay server.

Tor Project is the official project that provides Tor Browser and the Tor network. Tor is a representative mechanism for making it harder to directly connect the source and destination, so its official information is essential when learning anonymous communication. URL : https://www.torproject.org/

For practical VPN candidates, comparing Proton VPN and Mullvad VPN makes it easier to learn how to look at trust models.

Proton VPN is a VPN from Proton, which operates privacy-related services including Proton Mail. In the official information, you can check no-log policy audits, open source apps, and transparency reports. When judging reliability, use this kind of public information as material. URL : https://protonvpn.com/

Mullvad VPN is a VPN designed to use numbered accounts without requiring an email address or password. On the official site, you can check its policy of not storing activity logs and its payment methods. It is an important example for learning registration design that emphasizes anonymity. URL : https://mullvad.net/

Services that change the connection path are important. However, they do not automatically erase cookies, login state, post content, writing style, images, or file metadata.

Services that prepare the browser environment

When thinking about anonymity on the web, the browser is extremely important.

Websites can see not only IP addresses, but also cookies, login state, User-Agent, screen size, language settings, time zone, fonts, and Canvas or WebGL behavior.

Tor Browser does not only use the Tor network. It is also designed to make users' browser environments as uniform as possible.

However, if you add extensions to Tor Browser, change settings substantially, or log in to a real-name account, anonymity becomes weaker.

The browser environment is a separate issue from the connection path. Even if you use a VPN, cookies and login state remain if you keep using your real-name browser as it is.

The purpose of preparing the browser is to reduce "an environment that stands out as yours alone."

Installing many unique extensions. Syncing real-name bookmarks and saved passwords. Using the same screen size and language settings as your real-name use.

In these states, even if you change the connection path, the same environmental character remains. For anonymity, think about the balance between making the browser convenient and keeping the environment less distinctive.

Services that separate the OS or working environment

In anonymous activity, it is important not to mix the real-name environment and the anonymous environment.

For this purpose, anonymity-focused operating systems and virtual environments are used.

Tails is a privacy-focused OS that can be booted from media such as a USB drive. It is designed to use Tor and aims for use that leaves fewer traces on the device after use. URL : https://tails.net/

Whonix is an OS environment focused on separating communication through Tor. It uses the idea of separating the working environment and the communication gateway. URL : https://www.whonix.org/

Qubes OS is an OS focused on separating work into multiple isolated environments. It is not dedicated only to anonymity, but it is important for learning the idea of risk separation because it emphasizes compartmentalization and security. URL : https://www.qubes-os.org/

These are powerful, but they also have learning costs. The higher the risk of the situation, the greater the value of environment separation.

Tools for checking files

For anonymity, files also need to be checked.

Images, videos, PDFs, and Office documents can retain creators, shooting times, location information, edit history, software used, and other information.

ExifTool is a representative local tool that can check and edit file metadata. The reason to introduce it is that it can check a wide range of formats, including images, videos, PDFs, and Office documents, on your own machine, so you do not have to carelessly upload files that require anonymity to an online service. Check supported formats and usage on the official site. URL : https://exiftool.org/

However, even if you remove metadata, the image background and body text remain. When checking files, you need to look at both internal information and visible content.

Metadata checking tools help with pre-publication checks. However, do not judge a file safe just because it passed through a tool. Open the final file you will publish one more time, and check the body text, background, filename, and sharing path as well.

Services that support information sharing

In journalism and whistleblowing contexts, mechanisms for passing information safely are also used.

SecureDrop is an open source whistleblowing platform used by news organizations and others to receive tips and documents. OnionShare is a tool for file sharing and web publishing using Tor.

SecureDrop is an open source foundation for news organizations and others to receive anonymous submissions. The reason to introduce it is that it is not just file transfer. It includes receiving-side operations based on source protection. URL : https://securedrop.org/

OnionShare is a tool for temporary file sharing, receiving, and simple publishing using Tor. It can be a candidate when you want to avoid a real-name cloud service and pass files on a small scale, but the file contents, metadata, and path used to pass the onion address must be checked separately. URL : https://onionshare.org/

These are useful, but you need to think about the threat model before using them. File metadata, the communication environment, the reliability of the submission destination, and behavior before and after sending become issues.

Summary

There are multiple types of services that support anonymity.

Tor, VPNs, and proxies change the connection path. Tor Browser and browsers for anonymous use reduce browser-environment correlation. Tails, Whonix, and Qubes OS relate to working-environment separation. Tools such as ExifTool are used to check file metadata. SecureDrop and OnionShare are mechanisms that support information sharing.

The important point is not to feel safe because of a service name. You need to separate which service protects what, from whom, and within what scope.

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