Workshop Description
It’s often said that if you want to tell people the truth, you’d better make them laugh—or they’ll kill you. Sometimes, humor isn’t a sufficient defense. For these situations, the only remaining defense is to become anonymous. In this deep-dive workshop on anonymous Internet publishing, you’ll learn about a special class of proxy server called a Tor Onion service that makes it possible to publish Web sites or offer network-capable services more or, if you’re really skilled, completely anonymously.
Publishing something truly anonymously on the Internet today is getting more and more difficult. And yet, with “real name” requirements pushed by social media giants like Facebook, law enforcement agents demanding travelers’ online usernames and passwords at border crossings, and global political campaigns to undermine or outright backdoor privacy-preserving encryption technologies, anonymous publishing is also getting more and more important. Whistleblowers need to be able to leak or publish anonymously to stay safe from legal and especially extralegal reprisals, and so too do politically vocal bloggers, investigative journalists, and citizens.
In this specialized workshop, you’ll see how Darknet Web sites like the now-famous Silk Road, as well as less controversial Web sites like the New York Times, actually use the same underlying technology called Tor Onion services to create their respective censorship-resistant publications. You’ll also be exposed to some of the techniques that law enforcement often tries to use to de-anonymize Onion services, and learn how how to defend against them. By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a working knowledge of numerous critical modern technologies including Web servers, network relays, and Tor’s famous onion-routing protocol.
As this is a remote/online-only event, there is no physical class space, but attendance is still limited to 15 students, so purchase your ticket now to reserve your spot.
To participate in our webinars, you will need access to a modern Web browser such as an up-to-date copy of Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. You will also need a reliable Internet connection. We recommend disabling Wi-Fi and plugging your computer in to a hard-wired Ethernet network cable for the duration of the webinar, if possible.
If you would like to share your video screen or appear on camera, you will need to have and activate your own camera, such as the one built-in to many modern laptops. Similarly, to speak with the rest of the webinar participants, you will need a microphone. If you do choose to activate your microphone, we ask that you please plug in headphones/ear buds or use a headset in order to help reduce audio feedback loops that can degrade the webinar experience for other participants.
Please refer to our workshops and webinars FAQ for additional tips and advice before you join the video conference.
As with all Tech Learning Collective events, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, sexism, “brogrammer,” “manarchist,” or any kind of similarly awful behavior will result in immediate removal from class without a refund. Please refer to our lightweight social rules for details on our strictly enforced no-tolerance policy against bigotry of any kind.
- Privacy Defender Webinar Ticket $70
Privacy Defender tickets are the recommended ticket type for those who can afford to help fund the digital security and online privacy advocacy communities with their financial resources, are attending the workshop with the support of their employers or other backers, or have other resources available to them. Purchasing tickets at this level makes it possible for us to offer reduced price tickets to those in need.
- General Admission $35
- Reduced price admission (for queer-identified, femme, and BIPOC people) $25
Reduced price workshop tickets help offset systemic biases prevalent in society and in the technology sector especially.
Prices shown may exclude nominal handling fees.