Computer privacy

From ADISC Answers Wiki

This article is intended for teens and young AB/DL/etc people who still live with their parents or other family, and don't want those people to find out about certain things. It is intended to give practical advice for ensuring that what you do on the computer stays private.

Browsers

• Use Firefox: Use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.
  • There are many reasons to use a browser other than Internet Explorer, the foremost being its security problems. If you are not comfortable with Firefox, give Opera, Safari, or Google Chrome a try.
• Clear Private Data on Exit: Under Firefox's 'Options' page, in the 'Privacy' section, look for the "Always clear my private data when I close Firefox" setting. Activating this can help clear up things like cookies, saved passwords, browsing history, etc, and is very useful if you are using a shared computer.
• Check Private Data: If you have Firefox set to clear private data on exit, and are using a shared computer, remember to check regularly to ensure that these settings have not been altered.
• Safari Tip: If you use Safari on a Mac, then you can use the "Private Browsing" option. When private browsing is turned on, web pages are not added to the history, items are automatically removed from the Downloads window, information isn't saved for AutoFill (including names and passwords), and searches are not added to the pop-up menu in the Google search box. Until you close the window, you can still click the Back and Forward buttons to return to web pages you have opened.
• Firefox Profiles: Take advantage of Firefox profiles. Open the Run dialog (Windows key + R, or Start → Run) and type "firefox -profilemanager". If you don't enable the profile option at start up, nobody will know that that profile exists. Just make sure that you change back to the default profile when you are finished. This trick works under Linux too - just use Alt+F2 to open the Run Application window, or type "firefox -profilemanager" at a terminal.
• TrueCrypt Container: If you're really paranoid, you could download VMWare's Browser Appliance and run it in an encrypted container.
• Google Chrome: Download Google Chrome, and if one chooses to use Google Chrome, click on the "page icon" on the top-right corner of the browser and select "New incognito window." This brings one into incognito mode (a mode that won't save browser history, search history, or cookies on one's computer). It's recommended one views non-AB/DL pages in the regular mode. This will not be suspicious to computer-savvy parents, who might wonder why there is no history, if the Firefox method is used.
• CCleaner: If you like to feel extra secure then you can download CCleaner and set it to shred your browser cache and other history with a Guttman (35 passes) Algorithm, which shreds it 35 times, extremely secure as even the DOD (Department of Defence) can only recover a file that has been shredded 7 times or less.

Email

• Make it yours: Get your own email account.
• We suggest Gmail: GMail is known to work well, and doesn't send your IP address along with your outgoing mail.
• Don't use Yahoo: It cannot get mail from ADISC, and quite a few other sites. You will miss legitimate mail if you use Yahoo.
• Don't put any real information in when you sign up for your email account. In particular, never give out your real name.
• Keep a record: When signing up for a service using false information, keep a record of what information you entered, so that you can use it to reset your password, should you need to in future.
• If your parents must know your email address, create a separate email account for TB/DL stuff so you can keep it private.
• Use SneakEmail.com. It has many advantages! When used correctly (each person you know only has a single, distinct @sneakemail.com address for you), it protects you from spam, enables you to identify people who give out your email without your permission, prevents people from googling your email address to track you down, and more.

IM

• Create a different IM account for each set of people you know. One for family, one for friends, etc. Use a program like Pidgin (Windows and Linux) to manage them all.
• Each account should be associated with a different address (preferably a sneakemail address).
• You can use your GMail/Yahoo/non-Hotmail account with Windows Live (MSN Messenger), but be aware that doing this ties the two together.
• You can use web-based IM clients like meebo if you don't want to leave traces of the IM software on your local computer.
• Look into running IM applications off a TrueCrypt-protected area of a flash drive. Specifically, you may want to take a portion of a 1GB USB flash drive, make a TrueCrypt container, and then install some Portable Applications (like Miranda or Pidgin) on it. This will keep log files off the local machine.

Accounts

• Make sure you have your own account on the computer that you use for surfing the web. This will greatly help your privacy as it means that your parents won't accidentally stumble on your files and stuff. Make sure this account has a good password.
• Make sure you explore file permissions and 'directory sharing', and make sure that your files are not set so that other people on the same computer can read them!
• If at all possible, make sure only you have the password to the special 'administrator' account on the computer. This account won't show up on the account list, but most windows computers will let anyone who gives 'administrator' as their user name on the user name screen log in and get total access to the computer. Make sure you change the password to this account, and make sure that your account is the only user account on the computer that is marked as an 'administrator'.
• Another trick you could use is setting up an invisible account on your computer - one which you have to know the name of in order to login as it. Then you can use this account whenever you want to do AB/DL/TB things, secure in the knowledge that if anyone happens to look over your shoulder or use your account whilst you are in the bathroom, they won't find your AB/TB/DL stuff. This is only secure if nobody else has administrator access, as with administrator access they can see all accounts, even invisible ones.
• Use a screen saver, one that comes on automatically after leaving the computer untouched for a few minutes (such as 3 minutes) and requires a password to turn off. Doing this will stop people snooping around on your files; i.e. if you leave the room for a few minutes and someone walks in.
• Start your PC up in safe mode and login to the administrator account and password protect it. If someone was to load up the PC under that account in safe mode they can remove your password.
• Remember, if someone has physical access to a machine, you should consider them to have data access as well. This is where encryption comes into play. What you really want is something with plausible deniability (like TrueCrypt) or something that only "comes online" with the insertion of hardware (like a TrueCrypt volume on a USB thumb drive).

Computers

• If at all possible, you should have your own computer, and make sure nobody else can login to it at all. This very, very much increases your privacy.
• If you don't have your own computer, you should at least try and get really good with computers so that the family make you the system administrator of the computer that the family has. Try to get control of the computer - even if it's not yours. By increasing your control, you get a greater chance for privacy.
• If you can control where the computer is, make sure you put it in your room, and if possible, point the screen away from the doors/windows, so if someone walks in, you can see them but they can't see what is on your screen.
• You can set a BIOS password on a computer by pressing a key (typically DEL - delete). Look for the instruction "press DEL to enter setup" displayed while the computer is starting, which gives you access to the BIOS. You will then want to set a BIOS password. Password protecting the BIOS protects your computer from some forms of tampering, and if you set the computer to ask for the BIOS password before each startup, you can stop people booting the computer without your permission. Don't rely on this for heavy security, as anyone can bypass it by activating the reset switch that sits on the computer's motherboard, though they'd have to open the machine to do this.

Operating Systems

• If you're good with computers, try installing Linux. It's much more secure than Windows and since few people know how to use it, you're much less likely to get anyone looking through your stuff.
• If you do install a second OS on your computer (like Linux), then set your machine to dual boot into Windows by default, so the fact you're putting all your private stuff on another system isn't seen.
• Try using a different partition to hide your private data and have it mounted only when you're using it.
• Try using encrypted files, or even an encrypted partition (Linux supports this) to hide your stuff.
• If you wish not to risk any data loss. You can use a Linux LIVE disc. This runs Linux of the CD rather than the Hard drive. However it is unlikely you'll be able to save files on your Windows computer due to poor support of the NTFS file system for Linux.

Password reset disks

In Windows Vista, a password reset disk can be created if the login password is forgotten. However, whenever the storage device is inserted, Windows will automatically log in, so it is not recommended for use with private data. To create a password reset disk:

• Click the orb
• Type "User Accounts" and hit enter
• Click "Create a password reset disk"
• Select the media you want to use as the reset disk (can be a floppy, a CD, flash drive or external hard drive) and click Next
• Type your current password and click Next
• Click Next when prompted and exit the wizard.

To delete the password

• Point to the media you created the password on and delete the file "userkey.psw"

Virtual Machines

• Another option is something called a Virtual Machine. It is essentially a computer within a computer. You can run Mac, Windows, Linux, and other operating systems while you are running your usual operating system. For more information, you can read the Wikipedia article.
• You can download Ubuntu and VMWare Server. You can do all of your *B/DL activities in side of the Virtual Machine, so that there is almost no chance of getting caught. VMWare Server is free software provided by a leader in virtualization technology. There is also an Ubuntu distribution for VMWare. For more detailed instructions, see Create a Virtual Computer.

Parents

• Parents will unfortunately have the ability to control your computer access much more than is good for you. So, you want them on your side as much as possible.
• Make sure you keep your grades up, because when/if your grades drop then your parents will try and find a reason for this. This goes for computer security as for hiding stuff in general.
• Avoid doing things that you know will irritate/anger them, like putting locks on your drawers.
• The fact that you are keeping things from them should be hidden. For example, a big, locked box in the middle of your room will arouse suspicion, however, an old bag in a corner of your room under a pile of other things won't be as suspicious, even if it is also locked. In both cases, you have a locked storage container for your stuff, but in the first case, because it is obvious that you do have a locked container, parents will be suspicious. If you hide the locked container, they will not know, so they won't be curious.
• The trick is not giving out the message "I don't want you to look at my stuff". If you give your parents that message, they will instantly assume something is wrong with you and they will give you no privacy at all. They may go through all your stuff and try to find out what it is that you are hiding from them. They'll probably assume it's drugs, or alcohol. You want your parents to trust you, to think that you have nothing to hide from them - so that they don't bother looking or checking.
• It really is worth it to try and increase, for example, your school grades. If you do this, you gain leverage with parents. If you do badly, for example at school, parents will be on the lookout for a 'cause', and will investigate your life. If you do well, parents will focus on other things instead of investigating you. Also, if you do well, and are caught with diapers, then you can link the diapers to your success at school. It's much easier to say "Diapers help me relax, which is why I've been doing better at school." if you're actually doing good in school. You can make your use of diapers more acceptable by parents if you link it to things that they want. If you can convince them that diapers help you get better grades, feel better, cope with a bed wetting problem, etc, then they are much more likely to accept your wearing diapers.

A Word On Images

There are simple steps to avoiding anything unpleasant coming from you taking a few pictures to show off.

• One of the popular things to do in the *B/DL community is to take, trade and display pictures, be it art work, photo's of yourself or pictures of friends/someone else. Be aware if you are using an unprotected computer, or even a protected computer that you let other people use, that if these images are saved onto your hard drive they are accessible to all who use your account/the computer.
• Think about this: are the pictures of obvious *B/DL content, or just you in your regular clothes making a baby pose you could simply pass it off as artistic experimentation or a joke. It may be that you're worrying about something that you should be acting cool about. If the photos are of specific infantilist content then you're going to want to hide them well.

Deleting your pictures

There are several ways to get rid of your pictures on your computer while keeping them in your possession.

• You can upload your pictures to a website that you want to display them on, such as ImageShack, or even ADISC. If you ever need them (after deleting them from your computer) right click on the image on the website and go to 'Save As...' on the menu that pops up.
• What many people don't know is that an iPod (or other similar music players) can act as a removable disk drive. With an iPod, go to iTunes with your iPod plugged in, go to "Options", "Advanced Options", and click on "Use as Disc Drive". From then on out, it is possible to save pictures (or anything else) onto your iPod. That way, you can take them wherever you want, without being on your computer.
• And remember this, if you're saving an image using an image editor like Photoshop or even MSpaint, if you load or save the image using any program, the directory of that load/save may be saved for next time, for example: You load a picture of yourself wearing a nappy in Photoshop to crop it, then save as to a super secret directory that only you would know, the next time you go to load any image, it will open the load box in the directory your picture was saved in, leaving whoever is looking at the monitor to see you in a nappy.
• Use the forum galleries to your advantage. If you're not sure how they work, ask around on the forums.
• Keep in mind that all recently viewed files on your computer will be accessible through the Start Menu on Windows-based machines. To clear this, simply right click on the start menu, and choose properties. Then, click on the "Start Menu" tab. Click the "Customize" button. Then, you will see a little label that says "To remove records of recently accessed...(etc)." Click the "Clear" button directly to the right of it. If you have AB/DL related content on your computer, even incredibly well hidden, it can be instantly accessed if you don't remember to clear out your list of recently accessed files.
• You can securely delete your files with no traces by using a file shredder, if you don't have on then there is a very good free one available at www.fileshredder.org. Many anti-viruses include a file shredder so take a look there before downloading another one. The fileshredder available at fileshredder.org has a Guttman (35 passes) Algorithm, which is extremely secure and completely untraceable (to my knowledge).

Encrypting your files

This applies to any *B/DL content, not just images.

• Download and install TrueCrypt.
• Follow Steps 1 to 12 of the tutorial to create an encrypted container.
  • In Step 2, you can choose to create a hidden volume. When you enter the password to your TrueCrypt volume, TrueCrypt will open the normal file, but the hidden file won't appear. If you want to access the hidden file, you need to type in the hidden file's password. Say you are forced by someone to share your *B stuff (i.e. black mail), your hidden file won't show up, but a few sensitive looking files will.
  • In Step 6, you need to choose where to save the container. You can change the file extension, for example, to .avi, and save the container within your movie files. Or you can choose an obscure location.
  • In Step 9, you need to set the size of the container. Make it as big as needed, but not too huge to raise suspicion. Make multiple small containers if needed.
• Follow the remaining steps to mount and use the encrypted container.
• Remember to dismount the drive once you don't need to use it, and don't leave it mounted.

Invisible folders

It is important to know that in windows a very simple invisible folder can be made by:

• Create a new folder
• Right Click the folder and click rename
• Hold down the ALT key and press 0160 on the numeral pad(off to side with only numbers)
• Let go of alt and click somewhere off of the folder. The folder should now have no name.
• To finish the fold right click and this time click Properties
• On the properties window click customize
• At the bottom click change icon. This should bring a window with different pictures.
• Scroll to the right until you see an empty square select this and click ok.
• You should now have an invisible folder and can now move all of your stuff you want hidden in there.

Last resorts - what to do if it all goes wrong

• If your parents won't let you have computer access at all, then you could use the computer at a public library or your school, but make sure that you follow the tips above for making sure that your browser is not keeping a record of what you do, and make sure you only use computers for AB/DL/TB stuff when the computers are placed so that nobody can see what you are doing (say, in a room in the library that nobody uses).
• If your parents won't let you use the computer, then you should ask them why, and try to resolve the issues they have. If they've told you that you can't use it because you are staying out too late, or are rude to them, then you should come home earlier, or be more polite to them, in order to get computer privileges back. Try this for awhile. You'll find that if you just appreciate how much they do for you (putting you through school, doing many of your meals, etc) than being nice to them really isn't that much to give them compared to all they give you. If, after you've tried being nice and rule-abiding for a long time and they still won't let you have what you want, I would advise you to seek it in other places (like libraries), and make it known to them that you consider their treatment of you unfair.
• If there is nowhere that you can go with a secure computer that will let you do AB/DL/TB stuff in private, then you have to weigh the risk of being caught against the loss of ability to use the resources of the internet. It might be better to keep quiet for awhile, even if it is for a year or two, until you can get a secure, private place to use computers. The reason for this is that whilst being without computer access is only temporary, and can be fixed later, if you get caught, especially by your parents, then you can never erase that - it stays with you for life.

So, even if it is very nasty being without computer access, it's better to be without computer access for a while, then it is to have your parents catching you and the guilt associated with being caught taint all future attempts by you to get them to accept your use of diapers.

Websites & Payment

• If registering a website domain name, do so through an *anonymous* hosting company like KatzGlobal - how can they give out your information, if they do not have it?
• Avoid paying by Credit Card of PayPal for any purchase you wish to keep private - as these institutions will keep non-deletable records for years (sometimes decades!) after the purchase. If at all possible, pay by cash in the mail, or money order.

See Also

Create a Virtual Computer