Can you truly be anonymous online?

Can you truly be anonymous online?

By Vishnu K. Mahmud

JAKARTA (JP): Some time ago, an Internet portal received a
complaint about one of it's classified ad features. It seems that
someone had posted an advertisement selling an item for a very
low price. They left contact numbers for the office, home and
personal cellular phone of a third person, who knew nothing about
the ad.

Of course, the surprised party was inundated by telephone
calls from prospective buyers. It was not a pleasant experience.

The joker who planted this fake ad thought that the Internet
provided a clandestine cover for his illegal activities and was
therefore immune to prosecution. There were no laws covering such
forms of harassment in cyberspace, or so he thought.

Unfortunately for him, the online portal was unhappy (to say
the least) about someone using their facilities in an unethical,
if not illegal, manner. The victim felt threatened and harassed
using technology that the company had spent months creating.
They tracked down the offending advertisement, took it off the
net and scoured their server logs.

Not only did they find the time and date of placement of the
offending ad, but also the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the
user who posted it. Since everyone has a unique IP number online,
the suspect was traced to a local Internet Service Provider who
then tracked down the user based on their internal logs.

The victim filed a police report, the portal assisted in
tracking down the suspect and the ISP provided the evidence.
Let's just say that the suspected user is feeling ill at ease
using the Internet right now.

Many people believe that cyberspace is an anonymous medium
perfectly suited to conducting activities they would never dream
of doing in real life. Writing offensive letters, harassing
people anonymously or cracking into web sites and network systems
are just a few activities its users think they can get away with.

A majority of them do not realize that, no matter what they
do, a record exists documenting their actions. Whenever you type
in an Internet address, say www.yahoo.com, your ISP server will
pass on that request to the yahoo server.

You are, after all, logged into your ISP network to connect to
the Internet and therefore subject to their network security
protocols. Thus, a log of your IP number, request, time and date
could be stored somewhere by the ISP.

Then there are the web crackers (not "hackers" as they are
commonly called) who revel in the opportunity to sneak into
someone's system or cause general chaos. With the aid of free
programs readily available online, they can wreak havoc on other
people's computers, networks or servers, based on the victim's
unique IP address that can be easily discovered.

If the victim is dim-witted, the cracker may have even
installed a virus or Trojan horse program giving him total access
to their quarry's network.

But can they be tracked down? With the appropriate software
and know how, it is possible. Every connection leaves a trace,
which is why the first thing a cracker does is erase the server
log. If they can find it. If a Trojan horse program is found, it
can be hacked to find out who wrote it and how it works. From
there, standard detective work and some forensic science can
help.

Should we be concerned? Not really. There are hundreds if not
thousands of people who access the Internet every hour. Each ISP
will only have a finite amount of space to save their server logs
and, so, are more likely to erase records after a set number of
days.

In addition, each ISP has regulations to prevent abuse by its
users and employees. It all comes down to trust. After all, you
trust the waiter at the restaurant when you pay with a credit
card, right?

What about security in Internet shopping? Most online stores
use Secure Sockets Layer software, which encrypts user
information at both ends (our side and the server's) and cannot
be read by any other person or server as it travels over the
Internet.

Again, each shopping site has it's own policies to deal with
user privacy and it is best to read through them. Just make sure
they don't sell your name and address to youmustwantthis.com and
other spammers.

How can you truly be anonymous online? Thinking about using a
cellular phone with a pre-paid phone card? It's expensive and
radio triangulation can track down your physical location.

What about satellite Internet access? You would need an up to
date paid net account. Thinking about using warnet and other
cyber cafes? Witnesses there may remember you and privacy is a
premium in some small shops preventing you from doing your deed.

There are a few ways to become invisible online but you would
need some technical and programming knowledge. And even then,
with the continuous progress of technology, you can never be
truly sure if you are indeed concealed.

It all comes down to a matter of trust. However, I always
follow the wise words of my ex-boss at the Four Seasons: "Trust
is good. Control is better."

The writer is a Web Technology Consultant for a major e-solutions
provider. vmahmud@id.mweb.com