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Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#141

Post by RonMarken »

bigiain wrote: post #21
spoonjim wrote: post #7

There are three levels of anonymity: anonymity to the general public, to Apple, and to a state-level actor. Anonymity to the general public is very easy, incorporate a company behind some of the shell corporation mumbo jumbo that any corporate lawyer can prep for you, it will cost $ but it will be easy. Anonymity from Apple could probably be pulled off by incorporating in a country with fairly weak transparency and h…

> Anonymity from a state level actor would be pretty hard. I'd say "totally impractical/impossible for regular individuals". As James Mickens so eloquently put it: If your adversary is the Mossad, YOU’RE GONNA DIE AND THERE’S NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. The Mossad is not intimidated by the fact that you employ https:// . If the Mossad wants your data, they’re going to use a drone to replace your cellphone with…

One cannot remain private or anonymous from a state-level adversary indefinitely but throwing your hands up and dismissing it as impossible is also a fallacy. Details are sporadic for easy reasons but quite a few whistle-blowers and other controversial figures have managed to keep themselves anonymous and disappear in a controlled-exit without any obvious retribution. Probably the best case outcome.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#143

Post by tough »

4ggr0 wrote: post #87
kzrdude wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If HN was anonymous, then we couldn't see that two posts were made by the same account or not. But HN has pseudonyms with (unlimited?) pseudonyms per person, and Bitcoin is a bit like that, except that it's commonplace to have many pseudonyms (wallet).

HN is also similar to a blockchain in another regard - You can't really delete your account and its content, which really annoys me to be honest. I like to purge online accounts from time to time, but that's not possible with HN.

Or do you?

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#144

Post by cik »

honkdaddy wrote: post #120
cik wrote: post #72

So.. I'd suggest a project of mine. Full disclosure, you require more than one burner device. Ultimately you'll want a VPN you can trust. Also - it depends how much your anonymity is worth to you, and your relative cost. Similarly - to whom do you want to be anonymous? I wanted to create a fully digital individual. My goal was to go from end to end. I bought (in cash) a prepaid credit card. I used said prepaid credit…

> Use the above to set up a corporation with nominee shareholders How are you anonymous in this case? It doesn't seem like the VPNs are gonna make any difference if the government still knows exactly who you are when the tax man comes knocking.

This isn't a tax avoidance scheme at all. There are countless, easier ways to do this frankly. VPNs help obfuscate the ability to trace the individual - nothing more. My ultimate goal is to have a passport issued to this individual. It's possible.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#145

Post by viraptor »

tatertots1234 wrote: post #96
viraptor wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't use any modern services - we mainly know of an old, idle account. If they were actually active today and we knew which transactions to look at, there would be some trail to follow. So, that isn't a counterexample you're after.

All of their transactions are visible in the ledger, not hard to find. The same tools they used still exist today, except with additional privacy enhancements like some chains using zk-SNARKs. The only weak points are exchanges. The OP can decide how anonymous they want to be - complete anonymity would imply not exchanging to fiat at all.

The weak points are literally anything beyond transfers between clean accounts. Want to buy anything? It needs to be picked up. Want to transfer money to someone? They can be asked about you. Want to pay for services? You need to access them in a safe way. Even submitting new transactions, you could be traced by enough nodes if someone actually cared.

I don't disagree that most of them are not practical for a rando developer who wants to be anonymous, but I'm still annoyed at "the only weak point is...".

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#146

Post by digisign »

ghaff wrote: post #136
digisign wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could take credit in the interview, field questions, and if there is still some doubt, log in to whatever it is you'd like to show. In other words, show privately, not publicly.

For me at least, it's pretty much nothing to do with interviews. Articles, conference presentations, just being "me" at events, social media, etc. is all part of the package.

Sounds like work is a major part of your identity. Personally prefer to keep them separate-ish.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#147

Post by ghaff »

digisign wrote: post #146
ghaff wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me at least, it's pretty much nothing to do with interviews. Articles, conference presentations, just being "me" at events, social media, etc. is all part of the package.

Sounds like work is a major part of your identity. Personally prefer to keep them separate-ish.

It's more that I'm paid to have a fairly public role which pretty much has to be under my own name.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#148

Post by tossl568 »

formerkrogemp wrote: post #139
tossl568 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been a hedge against inflation for me for nine years thanks. I'm not pulling a cent out. Those people are selling a scarce asset to me, and thousands like me, and they can only sell to us once. Most miners are running on stranded, excess renewable energy that can't be used for anything else. A ponzi scheme implies an exit. We're never swapping back to dollars that can be printed out of thin air.

> It's been a hedge against inflation for me for nine years thanks. For a period of record low inflation excluding 2021 and the current year? Sure. During 2021 and 2022? Only price falls for Bitcoin. > Most miners are running on stranded, excess renewable energy that can't be used for anything else. Bullshit. There is opportunity cost to this electricity use, and it keeps fossil fuel power plants open longer than the…

We'll revisit that in a few years shall we? After continued inflation caused by endless QE.

Sounds like you have a problem with fossil fuels and the subsidies that exist for them. I suggest you direct your anger there instead of trying to police what calculations people choose to do.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#149

Post by tatertots1234 »

viraptor wrote: post #145
tatertots1234 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of their transactions are visible in the ledger, not hard to find. The same tools they used still exist today, except with additional privacy enhancements like some chains using zk-SNARKs. The only weak points are exchanges. The OP can decide how anonymous they want to be - complete anonymity would imply not exchanging to fiat at all.

The weak points are literally anything beyond transfers between clean accounts. Want to buy anything? It needs to be picked up. Want to transfer money to someone? They can be asked about you. Want to pay for services? You need to access them in a safe way. Even submitting new transactions, you could be traced by enough nodes if someone actually cared. I don't disagree that most of them are not practical for a rando d…

If you are an anon dev and you share your real identity with a counterparty, you aren’t doing a great job at staying anonymous.

Anybody can start a new crypto wallet and receive funds into it, and then make transactions and keep that value on-chain to remain anonymous. There are a number of anon devs in the Ethereum ecosystem doing just this.

With enough effort your IP might be traceable if you do something like mint a token from a compromised website. But advanced methods also exist to break anonymity in systems like Tor, VPNs and cash which we often consider to have strong properties of privacy and anonymity, and to this nobody would refute as “bullshit.”

Re: Ask HN: Is it still conceivable to remain an anonymous developer nowadays?

#150

Post by [deleted] »

Dracophoenix wrote: post #126
pc86 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should still be fine, especially for LLCs which presumably exist at least conceptually in order to make money. The government has a well-defined, broadly accepted (outside the fringes) interest in knowing who is doing commerce and making money. Making money completely anonymously, without reporting this to the IRS and state tax authorities, at least in the US as a US citizen, is and should be illegal. But still…

> Making money completely anonymously, without reporting this to the IRS and state tax authorities, at least in the US as a US citizen, is and should be illegal. But still seems pretty straightforward to stay anonymous on the front end. All for-profit companies doing business in the United States have always been required to report to the IRS and state tax authorities. There's never been a way to make money anonymous…

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