Maintaining Anonymity Online

Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee's Commitment

How does ola-is.org maintain the anonymity of those who only search or read the pages on this site?

Unless you have contacted the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee:

  • No e-mail addresses are recorded by the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee site computer.

  • No response is sent to anyone who searches or reads the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee site.

  • No one will receive any advertisements as a result of searching or reading the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee site.

  • No one will receive any surveys as a result of searching or reading the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee site.

  • E-mail addresses will not be forwarded to any organization other than those listed on the ola-is site.

When you contact the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee:

  • When you contact the committee, you are giving permission to the committee to respond to your request. The committee will read and distribute your message only to those people who might be able to respond to your message, including your return e-mail address in order to properly reply to you.

  • Once the message is returned, the body of the question and answer may be recorded, but your return address will then be removed.

When you click on the address of a meeting or the Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters World Service Office site from the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee site:

  • By connecting to a meeting address, you are accepting their method of maintaining anonymity.

  • By connecting to the Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters World Service Office address, you are accepting their method of maintaining anonymity.

Confidentiality On The Internet

General

Others on the Internet only know what you allow them to know about yourself. Internet Service Providers ask that your User ID include your name and other information about yourself. Most e-mail software programs have a set-up process, which includes a place for your full name and/or organization. This results in e-mail messages sent by you that display this information to the receiver.

Maintaining Anonymity for All Messages

To avoid displaying this information to the person who receives your message, and maintaining your anonymity while participating in Online Al-Anon, you have several options. First, you can go into the Mail Preferences or Options of your e-mail software and change or remove the information identifying you by your full name and organization.

Maintaining Anonymity in Your E-Mail Address

If your Internet Service Provider automatically supplies you with an address, this will likely identify or locate you. Most Internet Service Providers will allow you to select your own anonymous name. In selecting an anonymous name, avoid a word or phrase that may allow you to be identified by the name itself. If your Internet Service Provider does not allow you to choose your own anonymous name, you may select another Internet Service Provider.

Maintaining Anonymity Within Your Internet Service Provider

A more secure way to maintain anonymity is to subscribe to a free anonymous e-mail service available on the Internet. Typically, you can make up any User ID you wish, as long as no one else already has it. mail sent to the new anonymous address will be forwarded by the anonymous e-mail service to your actual e-mail address. The results are an e-mail address that will not identify you or even your local Internet Service Provider. Two examples of such services are recover@nowhere.com or odat@anywhere.net. To find any other anonymous e-mail service that will allow you to create one of these anonymous e-mail addresses, use any search engine and search for "free+email."