For as long as I can remember, Anonymous has always used PasteBin for their leaks and press releases. It was a place where anybody could paste text and remain completely anonymous. It was all fine and dandy until the collective began leaking personal information or usernames/passwords on the site. It led to PasteBin cracking down on the kind of material they would allow. There was a need for an alternative and they found one.
Anonymous launched AnonPaste earlier this week with Anonymous already making extensive use of it. It’s most recent use being the main forceinvolved in #OpBahrain using it to post their press release.
The new AnonPaste is a collaboration between Anonymous and the People’s Liberation Front. It uses the open source ZeroBin software to power the Web site. This makes it so that the server has no knowledge of the pasted data.
This is what Anonymous had to say on the launch of AnonPaste:
As many might be aware, PasteBin has been in the news lately for making some rather shady claims as to what they are willing to censor, and when they are willing to give up IP addresses to the authorities. And as a recent leak of private E-Mails show clearly, PasteBin is not only willing to give up IP addresses to governments – but apparently has already given many IPs to at least one private security firm. And these leaked E-Mail’s also revealed a distinct animosity towards Anonymous. And so the PLF and Anonymous have teamed up to offer a paste service truly free of all such nonsense.
To that end, Anonymous has enacted features in the site that make it truly free and open for all to use. It doesn’t keep any connection logs, all pastes are encrypted so authorities can’t seize it, no censorship, no advertisements and a built in URL shortener.
The lack of censorship is a pretty awesome concept, but that could also be abused. As Wired rightly points out, AnonPaste could be used for nefarios purposes like pasting credit card numbers or child porn. That’s why AnonPaste has a clause that states: “the responsibility for the legality or appropriateness of any paste lies solely within the person’s posting.”
Even with the obvious concerns of nefarious no-good deeds, AnonPaste is the perfect alternative for those who wish to share information anonymously. For Anonymous and its potentially dangerous and inflammatory leaks, it’s incredibly important.