Tech terms

It's important to understand a lot of the technical terms used by the site. A lot of advice is offered on a lot of subjects that people may be unfamiliar with.

You can link people to each definition by right clicking the yellow word and copying the link address or location.

Please do your own research if you are still unsure of what something means. We will not elaborate on anything other than what is already written here.

B

Browser: Software designed for the purpose of accessing websites on the Internet.

C

Clearnet: The area of the Internet accessible by any ordinary browser.

D

DOX: Finding private information of a person and publishing it on the Internet, usually with intent to cause harm. Past tense: DOXXED.

Darknet: The area of the Internet only accessible via TOR or other specialised tools. Not to be confused with deepweb.

Deepweb: Any web page that you cannot find on a search engine. You do NOT need special tools to access deepweb sites or pages. Examples include sites that require authentication before displaying meaningful content, such as some forums and bulletin boards. Not to be confused with darknet.

E

Encryption: A system used to ensure something can only be interpreted or read by the intended recipients. P2P, or peer-to-peer, encryption is commonly used by various groups to circumvent government surveillance.

I

IP Address: An IP (Internet Protocol) Address is a unique identifier assigned to your device by your router or modem for the purpose of connecting you to a network. IP addresses are required for any Internet connection. An IPv4 address will look like four distinct blocks of digits up to 255, with each block separated by a period. An IPv6 addresses contain no periods, instead separating eight blocks of up to 4 numbers or characters by a colon.

ISP: Internet Service Providers, often shortened to ISP or ISPs (plural), are companies responsible for providing an Internet service to a person or company.

J

JavaScript: A scripting language employed primarily by browsers to perform various tasks on websites or within browser plugins. JavaScript can be beneficial or problematic to the end user depending on its use by the website being visited.

M

Metadata: Pieces of additional information stored with various files, most commonly pictures or videos. Metadata of pictures or videos may include location and/or GPS coordinates, date and time, device make and model, and camera settings on capture. Other values may be written depending on the device or software used to create the file.

T

TOR: An acronym for The Onion Router, an open-source anonymity project that layers encryption onto Internet requests before transmitting them through multiple relays. Each layer of encryption is removed at each relay, and the last relay sends the information to its intended destination. Read more on the Tor Project's website [ext].

V

VPN: An abbreviation for Virtual Private Network. Being actively connected to a VPN means that all your Internet traffic is routed from your device to the VPN, and then to the Internet.