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."

Comments

A challenge

[aussie_a]

I would challenge people to find out where I live or work. I think anonymity is still alive for those who care.

Re:A challenge

[Anonymous Coward]

Australia ;)

Re:A challenge

[ciderbrew]

Bruce, is that you?

Re:A challenge

[Anonymous Coward]

FULLNAME: MichaelRohanSmith
MARITALSTATUS: Married
DATEOFBIRTH: 8thofOctober,1965
PLACEOFBIRTH: Kew,Victoria,Australia
ADDRESS: 19ClarenceSt,EastBrunswick,Victoria3057
TELEPHONE: 0393834540(home)
MOBILE: 0416062898
EMAIL: resume@netapps.com.au

Re:A challenge

[jeffmeden]

I would challenge people to find out where I live or work. I think anonymity is still alive for those who care.

This. Anonymity is dying because corporations want it to die, and slowly but surely they are getting their way. Anonymity isn't good for the bottom line, and we are being teased and enticed and in some cases (facebook) dragged kicking and screaming out of anonymity. For those that still want to use the Internet anonymously, there aren't too many hurdles to doing so. *IF* you care. Anonymity just isn't the default any more (so few people choose it), but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

Re:A challenge

[poetmatt]

Anonymity is alive in certain scenarios. I hope you realize the internet is not designed for anonymity and basically not part of that, right?

It's designed for public sharing. You can secure things, but to think anything is anonymous online is just sheer idiocy. Whether someone cares to look at your stuff, depends on a: if you want them to and b: if it's interesting.

It's not the internet

[Errol backfiring]

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.

That's not anonymous, this is

[Joe U]

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.