Anonymous web hosting

October 26, 2005 3:21 PM

Anonymous web hosting: I left a cult which I was raised in about a year ago. I would like to set up a page with information as well as a forum for ex-members to locate each other and heal. I would like to do this anonymously because I have family, friends and coworkers who are still inside and I would like to keep my identity private.

I will be writing jsp's for the forums, so the hosting company will need to support that. It will be a tld, so I will need to somehow register the site anonymously. I'm not planning on doing anything illegal, so I shouldn't have to worry about being subpoenaed or anything like that.

If you have any ideas which you would not like to post on askMe, feel free to send me an e-mail at [e-mail]. Thanks!

posted by anonymous to computers & internet (8 comments total)

There was a large document released recently called something like "anonymous blogging for journalists" that should be googleable.
posted by craniac at 3:42 PM on October 26, 2005

The EFF has a guide: How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else) (I think this is what craniac was talking about)
posted by jpf at 3:47 PM on October 26, 2005

godaddy (and, i'm sure, a mulititude of other webhosts) can do private regs for an additional $18 or so a year. they DO store your information, but supposedly it must be subpeonaed or the like to be acquired. After that, hosting should be largely anonymous, as your hosting company shouldn't disclose any of your information to anyone.

If you have a problem having someone write you a contract that swears they won't release your information, feel free to contact me via email. The company I works for does the occasional webhosting, and we can probably work something out for you, but as we don't do webhosting fulltime, we charge a little more than market-rate, so I'd advise looking at companies who specialize in webhosting first.
posted by fishfucker at 3:49 PM on October 26, 2005

Anonymity is relative. There's casual anonymity - random people will find it difficult to know who is behind the site. There's more serious anonymity - a private investigator will find it difficult to know who is behind the site. And there's serious anonymity - a law enforcement agency will find it difficult to determine who is behind the site. Think about what level of protection you need.

Probably the easiest is just to find a cutout. A friend to register the site in their name, and do all business related to it. Rich people do this in all sorts of areas by having their lawyers do things on paper, and the rich person directs the lawyer as needed. If the cutout won't talk beyond "I maintain the site for another party who doesn't wish to be identified", that's it, you've achieved level 2 anonymity above. (A law enforcement agency will put the thumbscrews on your friend though.)
posted by jellicle at 3:54 PM on October 26, 2005

Another option is to go out of the country. A friend of mine is a publisher and he has the hardest time even beginning to track down people who are publishing his books online on overseas sites.

I researched this once, and found that a good country for this kind of thing at the time seemed to be Israel. Nice fast connections, and outside of casual US law.
posted by Invoke at 5:09 PM on October 26, 2005

The name "noitulove" is identical to the name of the Guinness beer commercial that made the rounds the other day.

This strikes me as suspicious, especially when hot on its heels is another anonymous "woe my religion" posting.

Coinkydinks, rather.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:28 PM on October 26, 2005

If you want basic anonyminity, use domainsbyproxy for the registration (or just bogus Whois data, although that's a no-no) and find a webhost that accepts paypal. When you apply for the hosting account just give them the address of your nearest walmart or something and an assumed name. Since they'll be getting paypal they really could care less, in contrast to paying them with a CC. If you prepay for 6mo or a year they will probably care even less.

If you want real anonyminity this won't hold up to tough scrutiny, but from what you said that's not really necessary.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:48 AM on October 27, 2005

Godaddy's private domain registration service (domains by proxy) will give up your identity at the drop of a hat, no sopena necessary. (The founder also has some odious views on torture, but that's a different subject).
posted by Good Brain at 9:45 PM on October 28, 2005