Anonymous Launches Uncensored Alternative To Pastebin

AnonPaste created in reaction to Pastebin’s alleged divulgence of IP addresses to authorities

Anonymous and the People’s Liberation Front have launched a “totally secure and safe alternative” to Pastebin, the site used by the hacktivist collective to dump data recovered from hacks.

Based on the open source ZeroBin software, AnonPaste is touted by its creators as a way for people to post politically sensitive material without fear of censorship or being caught by authorities.

AnonPaste rises

A press release from the site explained that the platform was developed due to certain actions from Pastebin’s operators.

“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 emails 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 emails also revealed a distinct animosity towards Anonymous.”

Jeroen Vader, the owner of Pastebin, recently said he would hire more staff to tackle the problem of sensitive content appearing on the site. It appears that this move, in addition to Anonymous’ allegation of divulged IP addresses, has upset a sizeable portion of the hacktivist group into action.

The AnonPaste press release lists a series of improvements to Pastebin that will likely suit Anonymous’ members. These include no connection logs, browser-based 256 bit AES encryption and no advertising (the site will be supported through donations). Most importantly for the collective, the platform will be without moderation and censorship. The site’s owners will not police the service and supposedly will not have the ability to delete any posts.

Although the site only launched on Wednesday in its Alpha version, it has already gained some traction within the community. The Formula One website reportedly went down on Friday after a paste on Thursday told hacktivists to target the organisation for its decision to go ahead with the weekend’s race in Bahrain.

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