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Satoshi is the only very high profile person I’m aware of to remain completely (pseud)onymous. Many others have tried and failed (though they often broke the law, so that might be the main distinguishing factor)
Ah yes... I'm Skimmington Harborough, Esq., I come from a family that made its fortune in philanthropy generations ago. This seems like a pretty straightforward mechanism for covert operatives, to generate a believable (and memorizable) cover that pulls attention away and maintains coherence. That said, as someone who prizes ethical behavior, it's not possible to practice this and remain wholly honest without some so…
Pretexting as a social engineering method is basically same thing:
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What about signing in to apps which often uses a phone # and email? Also, betting on Tor is like betting there there are no 0-day exploits in browsers or Tor's network. Not a bet I would make.
You can set up a VOIP phone number that accepts SMS for about $2/mo + $0.01/minute.
e.g. https://www.twilio.com/docs/lookup/v2-api/line-type-intellig...
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https://stylometry.net/user?username=O__________O
Yep, like I said, I have very healthy expectations of how to maintain anonymity. Fortunately GPT will largely fix the issue of statistical analysis of variations in writing style between one writer and another. Stylometry been around a long time, as with all security, you have to know you threat model, and adjust accordingly. To my knowledge stylometry never made me less anonymous.
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I'm not convinced that a plausible pseudonym is more privacy preserving than something that's obviously just made up. But it's not bad advice in general to post personal stuff on social media and blogs under a pseudonym if you want to be controversial.
Everything I post online, controversial or not, is using a persona. I have several, each for certain areas. I've been doing this for decades.
Ah yes... I'm Skimmington Harborough, Esq., I come from a family that made its fortune in philanthropy generations ago. This seems like a pretty straightforward mechanism for covert operatives, to generate a believable (and memorizable) cover that pulls attention away and maintains coherence. That said, as someone who prizes ethical behavior, it's not possible to practice this and remain wholly honest without some so…
All of what you say is true. But it's even worse than that. A persona won't even confer anonymity these days. So now you're dishonest and attributable.
Similarly, very few people are unaware that XFinity is the pseudonym for Comcast.
This approach will need a plan for dealing with Zoom. It has normalized, in a very short time, the video component of what used to be strictly audio - the phone call. If you don't display your face, people get mad.
Liked the write-up was a fun read. But I really don't get the point of being anonymous on social media.
This is also a lot harder than it seems, once you start lying it's easy to slip up or provide details that are aren't self consistent. As long as you rely on people just accepting the answer and being immediately satisfied with that it'll work.
Inb4 "oh hey I'm also from , remember that one thing?".
We live in such an insane, reactionary world these days and I find it very refreshing to hear from people who've clearly thought hard about what they're about to say/write.
Sometimes, I even wish HN worked this way. I wish the front page was about 10x as slow, and that we could discuss things for a week or two instead of a day or two. It'd be messier, but I think the fruits, separated from the weeds, would be juicier.