a question regarding posting on the internet and privacy

[welly]

Hi
I have a question that will help me understand some things about web technology.

It's probably too vague I can get more specific as we go along.

Say that in a few years some hacker sets up to discover posts I was making on a forum like this one. Would that be possible/easy?
In which ways he/she could go about doing this?

[welly]

Some variables I need to be considered:

1) Hacker guesses that I've been using the specific forum.
2) Hacker doesn't have physical access to my computer.
3) Hacker has my IP address.
4) Hacker doesn't have my login name and password for the forum in question.
5) What would be the difference if the forum page had been on HTTPS?

[therube]

Do you mean the posts that welly wrote or welly or welly?


internet and privacy

[dhouwn]

The main focus of HTTPS is to enable end-to-end encryption so even if there is someone in-between (man in the middle) he can't see the contents or modify the communication between you and the site.

[Tom T.]

What therube was saying is that anyone can use a search engine to look for posts by a given username, regardless of guessing whether you've been there. HTTPS connection doesn't alter the fact that if the post is publicly visible, it can be searched. Even if deleted, archived copies often remain -- forever.

"Internet privacy" is pretty much an oxymoron, but I do tend to use different usernames at different places.

There are ways to change your IP address occasionally, depending on the type of connection you use. *Every* site has your IP address (including us, but access is limited to Admin/Moderators only), because they need it to know where to send the page you requested. Also, your ISP has it, along with logs of where you've been. As do those who work along the Internet Pipeline. So if any one of them spills the beans, then everyone could know it.

How, exactly, did this "hacker" (ex-bf or -gf?) get your IP address?

I change mine occasionally, mostly for privacy among the dossier-builders. (advertisers and data-mining agencies) Throw in enough different ones, and let the previous one go to someone much older/younger, different gender, who lives 50 miles away and has different interests... should mess up the collation.

Some people use proxies or TOR, which are not guarantees of anonymity, and may introduce new weaknesses.

Best bet is never to post on the Internet anything that you would not want published in the newspaper or broadcast on TV with your real name on it, although being very careful may help keep name/address info a bit more private.

[Tom T.]

The main focus of HTTPS is to enable end-to-end encryption so even if there is someone in-between (man in the middle) he can't see the contents or modify the communication between you and the site.

HTTPS is vulnerable to MITM if the M gets your browser to accept his security certificate, then relays the communication to the site. Most people don't check certificates, anyway, or could be a stolen or forged cert.