An increasing amount of your data is being stored digitally, encompassing notes, journals, and various documents. While cloud storage services offer a convenient way to access your data from anywhere, they also raise privacy concerns. How can you be sure your sensitive notes aren’t being accessed or read by others? Whether you’re keeping a private diary, storing confidential work documents, or simply want to ensure your musings remain truly private, there are steps you take to anonymously create and securely store digital notes.
Use encrypted note-taking app
With end-to-end encryption, your notes are scrambled into unreadable ciphertext on your device before being uploaded to the cloud. Not even the company running the service decrypt and read your notes. Most apps are free or have a free tier available, and they allow you to create, edit, and store encrypted notes either locally on your device or in the cloud. Just be sure to create a very strong password or encryption key that only you know.
Leverage self-destructing message services
If you want to ensure notes can’t be permanently accessed after being read, you may want to consider self-destructing or “burner” message services. These services allow you to send encrypted text, files, or notes that are accessible for a limited period before being automatically deleted permanently from the servers.
What is a safenote? Services like Private Note enables you to share sensitive notes anonymously via a link. With these services, notes are secured with end-to-end encryption both in transit and at rest. After being viewed, the messages are deleted forever without leaving any trace. These types of services are useful for sharing notes that contain sensitive info you only want someone to access temporarily. Just keep in mind that these services don’t offer permanent storage.
Use a secure anonymous note sharing service
If you want to create digital notes and randomly share them with strangers without any details being tied to your identity, you could use a service like Global Graffiti. Global Graffiti allows you to write notes of up to 2000 characters and anonymously post them publicly for others to view. All notes shared on the site are encrypted during transit and at rest using AES-256 encryption. Additionally, the service blocks all tracking scripts and doesn’t collect personally identifiable data. Privacy features include TOR relays, blind message forwarding, and anonymous credentials. While notes posted via this service are publicly viewable, your identity is completely detached and masked. This is an interesting way to anonymously share thoughts, musings, vents, or rants with the world while maintaining absolute privacy.
Maintaining anonymity is key
Regardless of which method you choose, the key to keeping digital notes truly private is maintaining anonymity. That means avoiding anything that could link the notes to your real identity, such as login IDs, payment info, IP addresses, usernames, etc. Use anonymous email accounts, encrypted connection tools like VPNs or Tor, pseudonyms, burner phone numbers, and privacy-centric services and apps when creating and sharing sensitive digital notes. Being meticulous about anonymity is crucial for protecting your privacy.