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Comment by mirimir | Hacker News Reader

> So tell me. Why are you opposed to IPv6?

I'm very concerned about implications for anonymity. If every device has a unique IPv6 address, then just one leak can compromise all other anonymized connections.

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No version of IP provides anonymity reliably. If you want anonymity, use something designed for that purpose, like Tor, use it from a coffee shop, and pay cash.

> I'm very concerned about implications for anonymity. If every device has a unique IPv6 address, then just one leak can compromise all other anonymized connections.

IPv4 did not offer any anonymity. The closest you get to that, is an external entity being unable to differentiate the traffic you make vs the one your family makes.

Check out RFC 4941, "Privacy Extensions". It's probably already implemented on the computer you're using right now.

You can still track the prefix though. In a standard /64 deployment only the suffix will change so there is still some information leaking if you have a static prefix (obviously, as in static IPv4). However, my ISP defaults to dynamic /64 prefix unless you opt in for static prefix. I believe most ISPs should probably do the same.

If you have a dynamic prefix then you can't (easily) run servers; you'd need some sort of dynamic DNS as well. And if you have dynamic DNS and dynamic reverse-resolution…there goes anonymity anyway.

IP isn't anonymous; it wasn't designed to be, and probably (given the problems it's trying to solve) shouldn't be. Anonymity should be an overlay.

If you run a server you pretty much need to expose your IP one way or another anyway, even in IPv4. Well, I suppose you can use something like dynamic dns but still...

I totally agree, though, anonymity is not part of IP. I was not implying that, just that there are still ways for home users to somehow shuffle their IPs within the IPv6 framework.

If I need to run a server, I anonymously lease hosted VPS or whatever, and SSH via Tor. My concern is keeping my personal Internet connectivity anonymous. I use nested VPN chains, generally using pfSense VMs as VPN clients, and Tor.

I get that the Tor Project is working on IPv6. But I also want IPv6 NAT, in pfSense or whatever. That's to keep my local device IPv6 addresses (hosts and VMs) private, even from Tor entry guards. I guess that it's time to learn how to ensure that.

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