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Commit	Line	Data
	1	Title: User and project cloaks
	2	---
	3
	4	There are two types of cloak which can be set on accounts on freenode; both
	5	replace the hostname/IP displayed when you are connected (but only when you're
	6	identified to NickServ—see below).
	7
	8	There are also gateway cloaks, which are automatically applied if you're
	9	connecting from certain providers, gateways or web IRC clients, whether or not
	10	you are identified to NickServ, and which override unaffiliated cloaks.
	11
	12
	13	Project cloaks
	14	==============
	15
	16	Project cloaks typically take the form `project/role/user`, for instance
	17	`freenode/staff/bigpresh` (though some take other forms). They are designed to
	18	demonstrate that the user is connected to a project in some way. Different
	19	projects use cloaks for various roles—some only use them for their core
	20	team, some will assign user cloaks as well.
	21
	22	Project cloaks can only be requested by a registered group contact of an
	23	already [registered group](pages/groupreg)—they should contact a member of
	24	freenode staff to request that a user be given a project cloak.
	25
	26
	27	Unaffiliated cloaks
	28	===================
	29
	30	Unaffiliated cloaks for users take the form `unaffiliated/accountname`. They
	31	indicate that you are not affiliated with any specific project on freenode.
	32	They can also help obscure your IP from casual observers to a certain
	33	degree—but see the weaknesses section below.
	34
	35	Bots can also be cloaked to indicate their owner—unaffiliated bot cloaks
	36	take the form `unaffiliated/owneraccountname/bot/botaccountname`.
	37
	38
	39	Gateway cloaks
	40	==============
	41
	42	If you are connected via a gateway which sets a gateway cloak (for instance, our
	43	webchat, or KiwiIRC, or some bouncer/shell providers) you will receive an
	44	automatic gateway cloak—for instance `gateway/web/freenode/ip.1.2.3.4`—these
	45	gateway cloaks override unaffiliated cloaks, but do not override project cloaks.
	46
	47	There are also gateway cloaks which may denote that the host the user is coming
	48	from is recognised as a large-scale NAT gateway (where the public IP is being
	49	shared by many individual customers behind it) or conferences, where many users
	50	are at one location temporarily.
	51
	52
	53	Cloaks do not effectively hide your IP
	54	======================================
	55
	56	Cloaks can help obscure your IP address/hostname from casual observers, but
	57	should not be relied upon for that purpose, as they are not reliable:
	58
	59	- Connecting before identifying to NickServ (or whilst services are
	60	unavailable due to a netsplit or maintenance) will show your uncloaked
	61	IP/hostname. Authenticating with SASL avoids this if configured to abort the
	62	connection on authentication failure.
	63	- Connecting via a gateway (for instance, the webchat) will override
	64	unaffiliated cloaks (see the "gateway cloaks" section above)
	65	- Due to the nature of IRC services, there are some tricks which can cause
	66	services to reveal a cloaked user's IP/hostname.
	67	- Accepting a DCC chat/file transfer session, or clicking a link someone sends
	68	you could reveal your IP to them
	69
	70	For these reasons, we advise you to consider cloaks as only very basic
	71	protection from casual observers, and a way to stop your IP/hostname being
	72	passively logged in most cases, but caution that they cannot be relied upon to
	73	hide your IP/hostname robustly—if you want that, you should consider an [IRC
	74	bouncer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC_bouncer),
	75	[VPN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network) or
	76	[Tor](https://www.torproject.org/) (see our blog post on [connecting to
	77	freenode via Tor](https://freenode.net/news/tor-online)).
	78
	79	Do consider, however, just how much you need to hide your IP address; it's
	80	disclosed routinely during normal Internet usage—for instance, every website
	81	you visit will necessarily see your IP address, unless you are using a VPN or
	82	Tor. Many, many users happily use IRC for decades, never hiding their IP
	83	address, and do not have any problems.
	84
	85	To reiterate, the primary purpose of cloaks is to show your project
	86	affiliation, or lack thereof. Hiding your IP is not their primary purpose, and
	87	they cannot be fully relied upon to do that.
	88
	89	Also, even when you are cloaked, you will see your own IP if you /whois
	90	yourself.
	91
	92
	93	Requesting a cloak
	94	==================
	95
	96	Once you've read and understood the above, if you would like an unaffiliated
	97	cloak, please drop in to #freenode or speak to a member of the staff team and
	98	we'll be happy to set one up for you.
	99
	100	For project cloaks, a registered GC for the project needs to contact staff to
	101	request the cloak be added to the desired user.