content/kb/general/cloaks.md

   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](kb/answer/sasl) avoids this if
  62    configured to abort the 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.