The internet is a handy tool for dissenters. China's police state has sprung all sorts of leaks trying to keep information under lock and key. And here in the United States, great sites like http://www.cyrptome.org keep the information flowing. The government does not like the free flow of information and has tried to stop it on numerous occasions with technology such as the 'clipper chip'. (http://www.epic.org/crypto/clipper/) They have failed. At this point, our government is a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporations and one thing the corporations need is more avenues to sell their stuff. So you can trust Walmart and Amazon and the other billion-dollar-a-year gorillas to keep the infrastructure in place and keep people browsing. While they're selling junk to the uninformed, you and I can use the internet to keep informed, in touch, and in motion.
But there are a few things that you need to know beforehand.
If you want to use this info for downloading child pornography, or selling illegal copies of The Wedding Crasher then shame on you.
How it works
Each computer that will access the internet is assigned an IP address. This is basically a complex set of numbers that serves as your computer's "name" while on the internet. The IP address will look something like 192.65.1.100 and can be discovered running the simple command "IPCONFIG /ALL" (on a Windows based machine). While this may or may not be the number that is exposed to the internet, depending upon your infrastructure, it's at least the machine's address on the network you are on.
That IP address can be logged any time you click on a website. Often it will even translate to a more readable name for the site administrator, such as bobjones-17.comcast-carolinas.com or wherever you may be from.
But the IP address will always be 4 octets, or 4 parts divided by '.', to make up a complete address. The numbers in each segment must also all be under 255. As you can see, this is somewhat limiting, what with the millions of people wanting to go online. Also, it's not what the two computers systems are using to communicate with. (This is where it gets advanced)
So in addition to an IP address, your computer also has a MAC address. This can be viewed by using the now-familiar command "IPCONFIG /ALL" again. It will look something like:
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-46-13-45-E6
This is the hard address of the network card in your computer. It is attached to the IP address in the information being sent to-and-from the internet so that the information you've requested knows how to make it back to you. It will also make it into the logs of many common web servers.
How does the computer know what your MAC address is? The language used to communicate on the internet today is a standard format used by many different computers and operating systems. It's called TCP/IP, and like all standard formats, it works on the honor system.
Your computer will send its MAC address to whomever it is communicating with. The other computer will implicitly trust that information. It has to. It has no other way to send the data back.
Some network cards will allow you to change your MAC address. This is inherently dishonest and those network cards have the Steal-This-Nation seal of approval. If you find one of these cards, buy two because sooner or later the government will outlaw them.
If you can't change your MAC address, you can always change your network card. In used computer stores, used network cards go for about $20 each and with Plug-and-Play technology, swapping them out and getting back online is a dream.
How to use this info
Wi-fi is all the rage. There are so many unsecured wireless networks out there it is ridiculous. If you are lucky enough to have a laptop with one of those wireless cards that will let you change your MAC address, then you can find one and connect. So long as you don't inadvertently pick a MAC address that's already in use on that specific network, you're good to go. Connect to the unsecured network, read what information you need, send out emails to your underground revolutionary friends, or just check on the status of your latest FOIA request.
Who should know how to do this?
All revolutionaries - because you know you're already on the watch list.
Any religious person - because you never know when the government will ban YOUR particular religion and you'll have to go underground. (Don't laugh. Underground revolutionaries kept the Orthodox church and Catholicism ALIVE in the Soviet Union for decades.)
Journalists - because you never know when you might have something good to report that will get you thrown in jail if the source comes out.
Criminals - because there are more laws on the books now than ever before and more come out every day ... sooner or later we'll all be criminals just for living our normal lives.
Patriots - because you still love your country and can't stand to see what those government bastards are doing to it.
Everyone else - because you don't know when you'll fall into one of the above groups.
What else should I research?
This is not enough information to get you going, but it contains enough of a primer to get you up to speed and start learning on your own. (Hail to the autodidacts among us!) Here are some other keywords to research that will help you:
TCP/IP format
Network technology
Spoofing an IP
War Driving
Unsecured Wi-fi
Internet Anonymizer (http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/howto.htm) <-- a much better guide than this one
Keep up the good fight.
