From his telegram
I will be releasing a torrent file that should be spread to as many people as possible. Please only use torrent if you absolutely know what you are doing. It is possible to dox yourself with torrents if you don’t correctly setup your security.
edit: Don’t stay up late waiting for this torrent, it is still being prepared and needs hours to complete.
If one person holds an important file, that person is an easy target. If a million people hold an important file, the file becomes an impenetrable shield for all.
MAC address can typically only be seen by the hotspot location
If you turn it on at home and it tries to connect to your wi-fi when you do I can pretty much guarantee that your wifi hardware has at some point been associated with your identity and that this will associate that new device with that wifi, using it afterwards on a public/open wifi is likely to make the same association available(to whomever may be in a position to see/find/use such things).
Also MAC address isn't the only hardware identifier in any given device, just the one publicly advertised/known...
If it is easy to hedge ones bets, why wouldn't one do that when one doesn't know with absolute certainty that one can stay anonymous, all it takes is 1 time and then it's too late...
Keep the device in a faraday bag until you're away from home.
Avatar checks out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rAHrHd2lcw ;)
Unless it's a cellphone keeping it powered down and never turning it on is likely to be sufficient for a laptop and probably for a wifi only tablet as well
If I were the original uploader of something that could get me killed I would do this and also use a YAGi antenna to connect to the public wifi at a greater range and guaranteed to be outside of ANY cameras even close to the hotspot and I would use TOR as well, that would be proportionate to the risk and action, but overkill for being one of many downloading something.
Feds own all TOR exit nodes though, no?
Well put!
I'm not disagreeing there. Better safe than sorry.
Or just unplug/disconnect from the wifi at home. If you have another laptop or computer around that you're not using and they're not connected to your home network, then use that computer.
Do not ever connect that computer to the network if you are browsing the files and if you need to use that computer on the network after you're done, format the HDD that's hosting the OS really good, maybe 7 times if you're using a HDD, but once if you are using a SSD (SSD doesn't retain file information after deletion) or just take the HDD out and replace it with a new HDD/SSD.