The Recurring Raccoon is a newsletter to discuss and explore the practical and spiritual impact, insinuations and advantages of being anonymous, especially in cyberspace.
who is rocky?
Rocky Raccoon might be described as a slinking creature with lots of input on the subject of anonymity, something himself he meanders through in a rodent fashion. He alights to his workstation, fingering unlikely playthings, snacking on the odd conundrum or basking in the rotten smell of a good Y- be videos, tick-tick-ticking away at his keyboard under the thick cover of night.
He is curator with curious taste. He shares his opinions on everything anonymity adjacent.
Your right to anonymity online is not a political topic, nor does it warrant political discourse, nor does Rocky ever deign to discuss such unbecoming nonsense in this place so meticulously crafted:
A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance toward turning himself into a machine
– George Orwell, in "Politics and the English Language"
Privacy and anonymity are human rights, which you can bet will continue to be trampled on in the age of the surveillance state. Forces continually create pressure to "agree" in surrendering personal data just to use services that are marketed as free. In fact, anonymity is often frowned upon, and it is certainly not normalized by most people interacting online.
However, if you live in a modern city, then you probably enjoy anonymity every single day (unless you are a ridiculously famous celebrity) when you enter the supermarket or enjoy a beverage at your favorite pub or cafe. This doesn't mean you leave the house wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, but simply that the local shopkeeper doesn't keep tabs on what brand of underwear you are buying (hopefully), or what you were watching on N- lix last night.
Hopefully you will stick around for a little while and even consider subscribing to read Rocky's recurring ramblings in his weekly newsletter. There you will get his reading, listening suggestions and a review on a particular piece of technology that he has found helpful in his journey along online anonymity.
a note on payment
As a principle, the newsletter will always be free, since most of it will be merely a curation of curiously collected online playthings. However, premium content remains accessible for payments in ₿itcoin via two methods:
- Either a la cart, if you encounter a paywall, which you can unlock by sending the requested amount in bitcoin (lightning or on chain).
- Or, by becoming a paying subscriber, which will give you unfettered access to the members-only part of the site.
warning: there is no stripe account associated with this site, so do not attempt payment using Ghost's native payment processor.
₿itcoin for what?
– Rocky's writing, and to support the cause of bringing awareness to the necessity of preserving the right to anonymity.
reach out
if you have questions or have a tip/just something to share, reach out and you're more than likely to get a response.