I just finished reading a fascinating article about computer security, privacy and anonymity, on a church blog. I won't give the link, in the interest of not raising tangential issues. However, in light of some of this board's recent troubles, it was an interesting convergence in my blog-reading.

Apparently, representatives for HWMNBNamed think there is some reason for telling or asking the administration of this board not to delete items. That is baffling, because it's the vendor of the application, not the Webmaster, who maintains a web based application like a message board. Some of you remember that I maintained a board like this one for a while, so let's use me as the example:
One day Boudreaux wakes up and remembers an argument he had with Thibodeaux on my old board. He's pretty sure Thibodeaux called him a name and insulted T-Fred in the process. In the meantime, Boudreaux's been having troubles all over the place. In fact, Mrs. Boudreaux is making him sleep out in the boat shed. The bait shop is tired of running his tab and wants some money. And the cost of chicken to feed T-Fred has gone through the roof. Boudreaux is not happy, and he thinks a lot of this stuff is Thibodeaux's fault. So he goes to see his cousine, Armand Gremillion, who's a lawyer and always helps him out in return for lots of crawfish in the spring (those ones big as little lobsters). Armand says, yah, ami, we can show how that devil Thibodeaux has done you bad, put the gris-gris on you. And Boudreaux says, it all started on LVN's message board when he done insulted me an' T-Fred. Ok, says Armand, I'm gonna tell LVN not to get rid of nothin Thibodeaux said about you. (Boudreaux may have an uncomfortable moment here as he thinks about whatever he might have said about Thibodeaux, but he soldiers on.)
Anyway, one bright day I go out to the mailbox and there's this letter from Armand Gremillion, Esq. of Vacherie, LA. It tells me, Boudreaux is mad at Thibodeaux and Thibodeaux said some bad things on your message board, so I'm telling you not to let that get away from you, hear? And don't go changing anything because Thibodeaux fixed your flat tire and you feel sorry for him either. Pretty much your standard letter that always gets send out in those situations. And I say, What??
Because, if Boudreaux's lawyer wants all that trash they said about each other to be saved, it's no good writing to me about it, cause that board is closed and gone. The people he wants to write that letter to are the guys with the big servers where all the information lives. In Canada.
So on my church blog today, this is what their webmaster says about internet privacy :

"It should go without saying that once an email is sent, the risk of its being sent to even more unintended recipients is multiplied by the number of people on the original recipient list.

Don't think you can outsmart the system by using a fake email address, either. Email "headers" - that packet of information appended to the body of an email - contain plenty of clues (and sometimes dead giveaways) to your identity.

If you must communicate anonymously via email, the best solution is to get a Yahoo or similar free email account. I recommend Yahoo because it's very good, and comes with a lot of great extras. The key is: When you fill out your Yahoo account information, include no information that can be used to identify you. This means using a phony name, a phony email address, a phony telephone number, etc. Using your anonymous Yahoo account will allow you to email anonymously, but note that it will not strip or mask any information contained in documents you attach to email messages - the caveats above concerning documents still apply.

That anonymity does have limits, though. Yahoo knows which I.P. address you're coming from. However, they don't care. They have millions of users, and they're simply not interested in monitoring your communications regarding the imploding Anglican church. However, if they receive a subpoena from a court because you're suspected of using their email service in the commission of a crime, they can consult with your internet service provider and, in most cases, determine your identity."

That's my bold and underline. So here's the bottom line. Boudreaux would need to tell Armand to write to Active Board, not to me. Did I mention that they are in Canada? Thibodeaux might have edited his post, but I won't be able to retrieve his original post, maybe they can, if they keep stuff that long which they probably don't. And yes, his IP address was logged that time he went to Alexandria and got drunk and used the nom "Lafouche Lady" to post that picture of B. in his drawers, which I deleted as soon as I saw it a week later, -- so Armand can write to Active Board to find out who "Lafouche Lady" really was, and ActiveBoard can say "so who got beat up?" and Armand says, "nobody got beat up, this guy was ugly to my client and now my client has to sleep out in the boat shed." And Active Board will probably say, "Get back to us when there's been an arrest. Do you have any idea how many people are sleeping in boat sheds these days?" In the meantime, did y'all know that ActiveBoard is owned by SparkLit, which is located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada? It took me all of a minute to find that out, and I didn't even go to law school.

This whole situation is beyond absurd. I hope it can all be resolved one of these days. Maybe the day is not far off when the normal academic channels of communication will be sufficient and safe, and this board can be retired.






-- Edited by LVN at 19:45, 2007-08-25

-- Edited by LVN at 21:33, 2007-08-25