How To Blog Anonymously
March 25th, 2009 — Chris Van BurenFor readers and netizens living under an iron curtain of internet and political repression (fighting river crabs), anonymous blogging is an important free speech enabler. Like 18th century phampleteers (or even the writers of the Federalist papers), anonymous bloggers are empowered by their aliases to challenge taboos, censors and government power.
This updated guide (edited by Global Voices/Berkman guru Ethan Zuckerman) lays out the best practices of protecting your identity without silencing your voice, including the Tor anonymizer with WordPress and email tricks. The internet is the last bulwark against totalitarian control because of its fluid and democratic character. That is why anonymous blogging is so important. Difficult to trace or gag, it is the kind of speech most likely to impact an increasingly interconnected and web-dependent world.
Of course, be extremely careful. Use these tools at your discretion. Reporters Without Borders has a comprehensive list of jailed cyber-dissidents. This past week, an Iranian blogger died in prison custody, while the Iranian parliament considered passing a chilling law, turning seditious and anti-clerical blogging into a capital offense. And this in a country with millions of internet users and thousands of blogs…
Click Here
March 25th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
This might reveal my near-sightedness, but I had always thought of “Anonymous” postings as a way for people to be passive aggressive, mean spirited, and sometimes rude without having to deal with the consequences of such behavior. Thank you for making me re-think my judgments and thank you for the resources!
March 27th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
[…] Center’s Internet and Deomcracy blog has a recent post on “How to blog anonymously“, and explains why anonymous speech is important: Like 18th century phampleteers (or even the […]
April 1st, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I’m a beginner with computers.
Can you help me so I can start blogging?
April 9th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
It’s so easy to take freedom of speech for granted, it’s important to remember that some people do not enjoy this liberty.
Thank you for reminding me of this!
April 13th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Great post, good insight, and thanks for the link to the updated guide. Very useful info… Agreed, anonymous blogging is so important.
June 18th, 2009 at 2:43 am
In both ways the BLogger should be responsible for what he writes.. But the government should also allow and practice respect the freedom expressions of these bloggers..
September 6th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Blogging thoughts and experiences are easy now because anyone can do it. But because not all are educated about writing ethics and standards, the term freedom of expression is wrongly used and abused IMO. Bloggers should be responsible then on whatever they post, even if they are an anonymous blogger.
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 am
Just goes to show how much we in the west take free speech for granted. That said here in the UK censorship is alive and well, I think we’re more tolerant of it than our American sons and daughters.
Although us Brits have shown you can push us so far, but cross the line and up roll the sleeves and we’ll pile in for a fight!