2723 W. Lincoln Ave   Milwaukee, WI 53215     414.389.0249

Q: Is it Possible to Send an Anonymous Message?

A: Yes! It's called a postcard. Kinda slow, but they still work. It's 35 cents but remember not to get your DNA all over it. (don't lick the stamp or get your fingerprints on it) Then go drop it into a remote location that's sans video cameras. The only downside: Delivery time.

On the internet, the answer is a bit more long-winded.

EMAIL

Email is almost never anonymous because most don't have control over their email server. (think Hillary Clinton) If you send an email from a normal account, that can be traced back to you.

Assume that everything you send from a free account like gmail, yahoo or the rest is archived. If you have your own domain and are sending mail from that, it's a maybe. If you are sending to a free account, it's been archived. So bottom line, assume that anything you send from your email is never anonymous and never secure. Somewhere, a copy of your messages exist outside your sent box. (and that includes some else's inbox)

TEXTING

It's all recorded by your phone carrier. You don't have access to it, but every phone service provider keeps a copy -- just in case.

WHATSAPP

They promote their service (which is owned by Facebook) as a secure transmission. That means almost nothing. Assume every message you send, every call you make, is being archived. Is your data archived on Facebook? Same thing here.

SNAPCHAT

Snapchat has 187 million daily active users and most believe that their messages are see once. That's possibly true but this only applies to the intended recipient(s). Rest assured that 100% of all messages are saved for various unpublished reasons.

Also 100% ... you don't have access to them and you don't know who does.

So, can a electronic message be sent and received anonymously?

Yes. But timing is everything.

Here's what you will need to send it

1. The ability to make a JPG
2. Access to your own website
3. Basic knowledge of PHP

Step 1: Make your message

Create your message with any simple paint-type program. We do this because it's more difficult to read an image than text. What you are reading now is text. Here's a secret message to Boris.

While a JPG does not obfuscate the message, it will be nearly impossible to capture in-transit. (as the message moves from the server to your browser)

For our example here, we will name this message boris.jpg, one of the two files needed for this to work. Next we need a way to quickly delete boris.jpg...

Step 2: Wrap the image in PHP

PHP is a programming language. We need this so that once the recipient reads the message, they can delete it.

Similar to FTP if you don't know what PHP is you need someone who does.

It could be explained here, but that would be like trying to understand the science behind the AmpCoil. Sometimes it's better to just accept stuff works and not worry about how.

Now you have your message ready for delivery. One last step is to upload your message to your web server.

Step 3: Upload the message (JPG) to your website

This isn't tough, but you need a method to transfer files. Example: FTP

Make a directory that has a random'ish name. e.g., We used Z1Q

If you don't know what FTP is, you need to contact the person who runs your website. If you would like to learn, head over to YouTube as there are plenty of tutorials there but your time would be better spent watching AmpCoil videos.

Now all that's left: Let the receiver know where to find your message. You could use a USPS postcard for this, but better might just be a text. e.g., Z1Q is ready for pickup (assuming they know your domain name)

With this, I can upload a message and text someone to find it. Within a few seconds, the message can be read and deleted. That timing is important. The longer something is on a server, the bigger chance of it being copied. Hosting companies make backups but they're not realtime. So if your message is important, make sure the recipient(s) access it within the same minute you upload.

Now for the test...

The two files have been uploaded to a directory here called Z1Q.

For our example, we will allow the message to deleted and then recreated. Obviously in a real deployment, this part would not be included.

So, give it a try. Here's the secret note to Boris.

If you have questions or comments, drop us a note