Starting a youtube channel - OPSEC considerations for security and reducing probability of being doxxed?
Howdy all. New to this subreddit, but I've always been interested in the dynamics of OPSEC and personal information security. I have read the rules.
I've been thinking of starting a youtube channel for a while, with the hopes of providing some educational resources, reviewing some stuff, and hopefully building a small community if the interest is there.
The content I'm interested in making is 100% legal in my country, but the angle I want to approach it from has the very real potential to attract individual bad actors who may not agree and sometimes have a tendency to lash out against those they view as the opposition. Doxxing, threats, physical attacks, you get the idea.
In terms of threat modeling I'm not overly concerned about state actors; like I said the nature of the content is totally legal, and if they decide one day that it's not, there isn't much I could realistically do against a national security infrastructure.
Mostly I'm trying to protect myself against private individuals or small groups who might not appreciate certain content and wish to do me harm in one form or another. As such my intent is to stay as anonymous as reasonably possible so I don't have some fash podcast listener showing up on my front door or place of work.
I feel reasonably competent in regards to the digital privacy side of things; using appropriately secure and private email services to create the account and such, not linking personal information to it, etc etc. Though I'm always happy for any advice that you all could offer in that realm.
Mostly I'm curious to hear what you all might recommend in terms of OPSEC considerations for producing the videos themselves. They're going to be almost entirely shot outdoors, but in an area without any easily identifiable locating signatures (it would be out in the middle of BFE nowhere, basically.)
Here's some potential ideas I had to muddy the waters:
- Obscuring/masking as much of my face as possible.
- Stripping all EXIF data from the video files obviously.
- Purposefully filming in locations that make it as difficult as possible to geolocate. No obvious landmarks, road signs, distinctive features, etc.
- Possibly digitally altering my voice to some extent, though I'm not certain if that's a reasonable step to take.
- Removing, blurring, or otherwise obscuring any personal identifiers or things that could be easily traced across platforms.
I've done online content before and have some limited experience in playing by the OPSEC rules, but this would be my first foray into actually appearing on camera so I'm trying to limit potential dangers as much as possible.
I would love to hear any advice that you all might have, and I'm happy to answer any questions if it helps. Thanks!