Slashdot Mirror
How the Web's Relationship With Anonymity Has Changed
A story at the NY Times explores how the internet's involvement with anonymity has evolved over the past two decades. Quoting:
"Not too long ago, theorists fretted that the Internet was a place where anonymity thrived. Now, it seems, it is the place where anonymity dies. ... The collective intelligence of the Internet’s two billion users, and the digital fingerprints that so many users leave on Web sites, combine to make it more and more likely that every embarrassing video, every intimate photo, and every indelicate e-mail is attributed to its source, whether that source wants it to be or not. This intelligence makes the public sphere more public than ever before and sometimes forces personal lives into public view. ... This erosion of anonymity is a product of pervasive social media services, cheap cellphone cameras, free photo and video Web hosts, and perhaps most important of all, a change in people’s views about what ought to be public and what ought to be private."
I would challenge people to find out where I live or work. I think anonymity is still alive for those who care.
It's society. Banks stopped accepting money unless they can trace where it comes from. Even shops want to follow you around. Surveillance cameras pop up in societies that never knew them. Your ISP has to spy on you as well. Governments pass laws to make companies spy on people if those companies do not do so voluntarily.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
Wonder what would happen if one published an anonymous pamphlet like they used to do in the past ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_(pamphlet) ).
slashdot / gmail / bbc / youporn (and the rest) / amazon. My internet history is sad sad sad.
20 years ago, people happily published their names, addresses and phone numbers in public directories. In those days, anyone could be found by anyone. You'd only need to visit about 2 Sarah Connors before you found the one you wanted.
http://mailinator.com/
You're welcome.
Whatever you post online has to be assumed to be there forever. If you at some point posts embarrassing photos with one account, at another time posts something linking that account to another account, then somewhere online posts something linking the second account to your real identity... guess what? Your real identity is now easily linked to those pictures you posted while drunk all those years ago. It's not going to look good on your resume, is it?
It don't even have to be yourself posting something you want to keep hidden... most of us have thoughtless "friends" who uploads stuff that can be linked to you. A former coworker got into lots of trouble because another coworker brought a camera to an office party - stuff that you find funny after ten beers is a lot less funny when you sober up and realize that your boss have found the pictures while browsing Facebook.
The only way to keep your anonymity is to be careful and aware of what you do online at all time, and be paranoid to boot. Or possible be so uninteresting that no one will bother to dig too much to get your information.
Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
Except (for now) with open wifi.
Unless you bought your laptop from a major vendor and the WiFi operator gets your MAC address.
You want to be completely anonymous? Get an old laptop, a live DVD and an old WiFi card, pay cash. Remove the HDD, throw it out. Use the live DVD for your OS. Never connect to the Internet anywhere unless you are on a random open WiFi connection that isn't near a camera, a hiking trail might be a good place. Use anonymous proxies through that connection for all your Internet access.
Then do whatever it is you really need to be anonymous for, throw the WiFi card into a river and shred the DVD.
If you need to repeat, burn a new DVD and buy another WiFi card.
That's as close as you can get to being completely anonymous on the Internet.
I'd argue the opposite. Internet use is always inherently anonymous. Yes anyone can trace your IP to a physical location if they are persistent enough, but nothing on the internet ever really proves who was using the computer or internet connection at any given time. Maybe webcams go some of the way to providing proof, but of course video can be faked. You need independent evidence not related to the internet to remove anonymity.
Korma: Good
ANYBODY in the neighborhood can get on their computer, set their browser to "anonymous" mode (so that no records are kept), and access whatever. The IP address and ISP account don't mean squat.
Until the people with guns show up, lock you up and start scanning MAC addresses, traffic and signal strength. Then they find the computer, lock the other person up and retrieve the data from "anonymous mode" in about 20 minutes.
This of course depends on what they're doing. Transferring music and movies, not going to happen. Trying to do something more serious, is going to happen.
You do mean 'tor' and are not referring to _the_ god-access heavenly network right :-)
20 years ago, people who abused the information in those directories (telemarketers, stalkers, T-100s) where relatively rare. As the abuse increased, so did the desire for anonymity. And even back then, there were some who were willing to pay extra to be "unlisted".
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Or better yet, train their employees to realize that just because someone knows where you work, doesn't mean they're who they claim to be.
Hell, what happened to the rule of thumb that you never give this sort of detail to people who call you, only to people you call?