Though many are tempted to contribute to conversations online, more still hold back due to fear of repercussions. Employers, governments, friends, and fans can all take negative action based on the content you publish, whether it’s a political ideology or your travel writing.
This can create natural issues when it comes to freedom of expression, especially if a person is already oppressed or marginalized. However, while the internet provides numerous ways to track a person, it also gives access to tools to counteract that.
An anonymous WordPress blog can let a person can put their deepest thoughts on paper without any of the embarrassment or worry that comes with it. As a bonus, readers will judge based on content alone, rather than appearance or aspects of the writer’s personal life.
Creating an anonymous blog
Unfortunately, while the advantages of anonymous blogging are easy to consider, setting one up is a little more complex. In this day and age, it takes more than incognito mode and a fake name to keep you safe (though you should still be doing the latter).
Enable WHOIS privacy
Much of the problem lies with traditional web hosts and domain registrars. Many don’t realize that the second they register their domain, it’s added to the WHOIS database. In some cases, this can come with personally-identifying information like name, address, phone number, and email address.
As a result, those looking to start an anonymous WordPress blog should start by making sure the registrar they get their domain from supports WHOIS privacy. While in some cases this means paying a small additional fee, some provide this service free of charge.
Get an anonymous email address
In all likelihood, you’ll also want a way for readers and advertisers to get in contact with you. Naturally, you don’t want to use your personal email address for this, but you may also want to consider more privacy-focused email services.
Protonmail is a free, secure email client that provides built-in, end-to-end encryption to ensure your communications remain private. More importantly in our case, no logs of a user’s IP address are kept. As an IP address can be linked back to your precise physical location by law enforcement, this can prove vital.
Keep identifying information to yourself
When blogging, it can be easy to reveal more about yourself than you intended. Though it’s easy enough not to reveal your name or precise location, there are other ways you can give a determined party clues.
Let’s say you blog about a restaurant chain in your hometown, your day at the beach, and the haul you got from several clothing shops. Suddenly your readers are likely to know your country, general location, and gender. Over time, information like this can build up to give an even more precise picture of your whereabouts, age, places you frequent, and more. While this may not be enough to compromise your identity on its own, it can help to narrow the search down in combination with other factors.
Secure your WordPress site
One of those other factors can be information gathered from your anonymous blog should it be hacked. As well as holding various pieces of personal information, in extreme circumstances, a compromised WordPress install could be use to silently log the IP address of its admin or deliver spyware to their PC.
As a result, it’s a good idea to set up software like Fail2ban to prevent automated attacks or install a security plugin. You should also enable HTTP authentication for your wp-admin page, use SFTP rather than FTP for file transfers, and lock down your wp-includes folder.
Use a VPN
On top of all that, it’s good practice to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to mask your true IP address. When you connect a site, even if it’s your own, your PC sends a request to your ISP which includes your IP address – this allows it to find the server that’s associated with the URL and serve the content to you. However, many ISPs also keep logs that they share with government bodies. Frequent access to your anonymous blog from the same IP address could be used as a clue to identity you.
This is especially true if you use other services while blogging. Email providers, publications, social media networks, and forums may also keep a log of your IP, which can then be shared. In all likelihood, you’ll be doing some research for your posts, and while doing so invasive advert or Facebook trackers can follow you across the web.
While you can get a VPS from one of the many low-cost providers out there, this often comes with its own risks. Though many providers say they don’t log their users, you can never verify that, and they have been caught out in the past and been hacked themselves.
As a result, it’s becoming increasingly popular to create a VPN on an anonymous Virtual Private Server (VPS). Some providers include one-click setups of VPNs and all of them give full control and visibility over your server and its logging, mitigating the risk.
Host your blog on an anonymous VPS
The right VPS provider is also advantageous when it comes to hosting. Traditional web hosts and tend to require and keep a lot of personal information. They need a credit card for payment and often ask for your full name and address, with some even asking for a phone number or ID.
In contrast, anonymous VPS providers like BitLaunch only ask for an email address and accept payments in 50+ currencies. As an added bonus, VPS servers give you full control over your server’s security and access, can be destroyed at a moment’s notice, and have better performance to boot. One-click installs make setting up WordPress just as easy as a traditional shared hosting plan, so there’s little reason not to use one if you care about your privacy.
Conclusion
There’s a lot to think about when creating an anonymous blog. Some basic security and privacy tweaks can take you a long way, but true anonymity from a determined actor requires a move from traditional hosts to anonymous VPS and VPN services.