Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Online Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier

71Anonymous Cowards

range of a WiFi connection, and other hints (such as the type of com-

puter being used or the Internet browser software version) may be

sufficient to identify an attacker when combined with a rough physi-

cal location. Similarly, logging on at a public library may be sufficient

if the library doesn’t reliably check ID (some do, some don’t), or one

can use any other insecure connection like that at a coffee shop.

Other technological means also exist to break the connection be-

tween Internet-visible IP address and identity when using one’s own

Internet connection. These methods are generally regarded as legal

under current U.S. law. This, too, has a root in the history of the In-

ternet: basic “anonymous remailers” date back to the ...