This may have already been discussed ad nauseum, and if so please direct me to there.
Having recently discovered the world of imageboards, I have been freely surfing across whatever I have found.
After stumbling unwittingly across some blatent CP (such as on halfchan today), which I am totally against, and discovering other boards that are dedicated to lolicon and whatnot, the paranoid spectre of internet privacy has begun to worry me.
I am not interested in this stuff, and do not click on the links to such- and simply cruise mainly 4chan for porn and for laughs, However, I am starting to doubt whether simply scanning past this stuff is actually a defensible position.
I started to ask about proxy IP's, and and got Tor installed.
But I haven't really used it much.
What is the deal with all this. I read somewhere just minutes ago, that everyone surfs 4chan under a proxy...
Is this the case?
What are the legal issues surrounding all this.
Please discuss.
Proxies are not panacea. Even if they are anonymous, they most likely will have logs. Unless you are posting illegal materials, law enforcers are unlikely to query 4chan for your IP address. But if they can seize yor computer and go through it, and find CP in your browser's cache, then your busted. But no proxy will save you from that. And again, they should have reason to get to you in the first place.
Also, Tor is slow and I hate using it. Besides that, so many posters have used Tor to post CP that many IPs you're behind are banned anyway.
You're not going to get in trouble just for seeing CP on an imageboard, though. Also, lolicon isn't necessarily illegal in your area.
If you're really freaking out, just delete your cache entirely and run software that securely erases data from your HDD. I personally prefer not to keep cache, history, etc between browser sessions, even though I don't look at illegal material (intentionally).
Yeah. You're being paranoid, unless you're already under suspicion of being a card-carrying pedophile. If you want to be sure, just clear your browser's cache & history if you come across some.
Cheers, thanks for the answers,
yeah I had noticed how slow and sometimes banned Tor is, which is the main reason I haven't used it very much.
It is good to know I am just being paranoid, but in this day and age with the hysterical reaction and general life fucking that takes place to anyone linked in anyway to CP, intentionally or not, thats probably not a bad thing.
Again, I am not at all interested in DL or UL or seeing CP. Thats not my intention here. I am just trying to ensure that unintentionally surfing past the stuff on imageboards is not going to come back and bite me on the ass later in life.
anyway thanks for the discussion. And please continue it around any of these issues.
Don't worry about it. Almost everyone who gets busted for CP is a frequent uploader to a site that gets shut down. Being an incidental visitor won't amount to anything.
I run a tor node, it's my public service. I'm banned damn near everywhere (wikipedia, most banking sites, etc). I am sure that people use my connection to download CP and commit all sorts of wild crimes, but I don't do it for them. I do it for people who desire anonymity for all those neat philosophical reasons.
Despite all that, I've never been "caught" for any of the acts that people who have used my IP/connection have no doubt committed with it.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's experienced paranoia over that (not that I take pleasure in your suffering, but it's good to know you're not alone). I think I'm a little too sensitive 'cause it totally freaks me out.
I know there's nothing to worry about but I would still feel better with a clean computer, what kind of program does what Eleo talked about? (something mainstream maybe, nothing shady).
>>8
'shred' is already installed on most linux systems. no idea about windows or mac.
> clean computer
Try running a liveCD version of Linux, like Knoppix or Puppy Linux. It runs from the CD or DVD and doesn't touch your hard disk. When you shut down, everything you've done vanishes.
>>3
listen to this man. don't keep a history and wipe it after session. set firefox to empty everything at exit.
You can use Mac OS X's "Erase Free Space.." option in Disk Utility to do a 7 or 35 pass Zero Deletion of "Deleted" Data or entire volumes.
I've run into this concern, too. I was surfing through 4chan and saw some questionable pictures, and immediately got freaked out, cleared my browser cache, and have vowed to never go back to 4chan simply because there MIGHT be a chance I could get in trouble for it.
However, the rational part of my brain says that unless you're doing a lot of uploading and/or downloading of illegal content, get caught clicking a link that turns out to be an FBI sting, or are trying to get 13 year old girls to sleep with you via MSN Messenger, you probably don't have much to worry about. I'm sure the feds have bigger fish to fry than internet geeks who are cruising imageboards.
Also, I think that using a proxy is even MORE suspicious, but I guess some people do use them for valid reasons. I, personally, try my best to stay away from any sites that could have illegal content on them. That way I don't have to be paranoid at the feds bugging me. At least not for looking at inappropriate content. =)
>>21
the fact that people think accidentally seeing something can be illegal is pretty disturbing.
the fact that they don't think there's anything wrong with that being illegal is even more disturbing.
Anyone even browsing CP or a site that contains it should be atleast recorded. There are pleanty of funny sites that are random pic sites. Here is my favorite.
http://fukung.net
idk if this thread is still alive, but I also had this problem...I even clicked on the reply link because I was gonna say something about it being disgusting and illegal and how the heck is this allowed..so will I be in trouble or am I just paranoid? I'm not even a regular visitor to 4chan, a friend just told me to look into the whole Boxxy thing because it was appparently humorous.
Now, this is serious busniess. I'll give you a few tips on how to proceed from here:
You didn't know 4chan is logging everything for FBI, CIA, NSA and Interpol did you?
got trapped by /b/ a couple of days ago somone uploaded a meme pic that gave a website of questionable integrity and a search term to use a sort of "dare" if you will so i went to the site typed in the search term and got some sort of fbi warning message think its a hoax tho as the the message was not punctuated no symbols (fbi badge thingy that you see on dvds before u watch em) just text still a bit worried tho... which is why im here
^ me too
Why did you even browse any links posted on /b/?
>>31
Search lolita on imagefap, I remember that years ago
>>27 dismantle the hard drive and burn in a fire.. or even better get a flash drive with no moving parts and instanta flash the thing.
Thermite bitches.
What did the "type lolita into imagefap" trap do?