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Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

sive.rs

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Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#101

Post by tsumnia »

chaboud wrote: post #19

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…

> That said, as someone who prizes ethical behavior, it's not possible to practice this and remain wholly honest without some sort of ethical loophole like "character work for entertainment only". A persona requires misrepresentation, which is not the same as de facto anonymity.

I don't think the persona needs to be completely falsified. Rather, you consider which topics you engage in on a given account. For example I consider "tsumnia" to be unofficial/official "professional" username - while I don't explicitly say my name, it'd take you looking at my profile to know exactly who I am.

On the other hand, I have my hobby/nerdy username on Reddit for when I want to talk about the latest Last of Us episodes. Same person, but different aspects of my personality are on display. Its not that the other one is a troll or anything, just one name to talk about deliberate practice in CS education in one thread and then another to make jokes about video games.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#103

Post by JackFr »

rt4mn wrote: post #100
chaboud wrote: post #19

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…

> That said, as someone who prizes ethical behavior, it's not possible to practice this and remain wholly honest without some sort of ethical loophole The primary "ethical loophole" here is that there is no viable ethical alternative. Something can not be immoral if it is the best of a series of bad options, and if you want to exsist in the world and protect your privacy, the only real option is to create a persona.…

> Pure anonymity bars you from the following activities: joining a social group, signing up for some longish term business relationship (hiring a contracter, signing up for a service), engaging in the political process, holding a job, and probably more that I cant think of.

Why do you believe that’s your right? You have the right to be left alone, but in all the examples you offer you are explicitly not minding your own business.

Rather there should be an expectation of reciprocity with respect to identity.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#104

Post by [deleted] »

geph2021 wrote: post #66
chaboud wrote: post #19

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…

made its fortune in philanthropy Already sounds dubious to me. Don't you need a fortune before you go into philanthropy? Making a fortune in philanthropy sounds like embezzlement.

[deleted]

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#105

Post by akerl_ »

rt4mn wrote: post #100
chaboud wrote: post #19

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…

> That said, as someone who prizes ethical behavior, it's not possible to practice this and remain wholly honest without some sort of ethical loophole The primary "ethical loophole" here is that there is no viable ethical alternative. Something can not be immoral if it is the best of a series of bad options, and if you want to exsist in the world and protect your privacy, the only real option is to create a persona.…

> Something can not be immoral if it is the best of a series of bad options

You’re presenting this as if it’s a fact, but it doesn’t seem like it is. If for no other reason that it relies on a shared understanding of what’s “best” and what makes options “bad”.

You could justify some pretty horrible decisions if you’re holding that as an axiom.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#106

Post by serial_dev »

mym1990 wrote: post #72
O__________O wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can you give insight into how that top 10 chart demonstrates anonymity?

I guess that the rest of the users in the list aren't him / her, or the user accounts that belong to this person are also anonymous?

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#107

Post by 3pt14159 »

RealityVoid wrote: post #91
3pt14159 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was an NOC Agent for Canada then I got married. There's so much data out there, nothing is easy with creating a false persona. Your eyes, walk, fingerprints, etc. It's possible in the short run, but you're leaking a lot of data doing it. My MO when I really didn't want to end up Googleable was to just give my real first name and leave it at that even if people pressed. Edit: The reason is simple. If someone gives a…

Fascinating. How long were you a NOC for? I guess your spouse did not know of it while she was your GF. Did it impact your life negatively, having to maintain secrecy? You must have been for quite a while, I understand a long time passes before agents are fully functional.

Well, I'm allowed to talk about it publicly but I still would like to default to undersharing. It was a little over five years. Long enough.

My spouse and I got married very quickly after meeting and yes the impact on one's life is real, but so is the upside and I find few online that talk about it. The upside is real. You see the extremes of humanity and it clarifies the importance of ethics in life.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#108

Post by bilegeek »

3pt14159 wrote: post #76
chaboud wrote: post #19

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…

I was an NOC Agent for Canada then I got married. There's so much data out there, nothing is easy with creating a false persona. Your eyes, walk, fingerprints, etc. It's possible in the short run, but you're leaking a lot of data doing it. My MO when I really didn't want to end up Googleable was to just give my real first name and leave it at that even if people pressed. Edit: The reason is simple. If someone gives a…

Don't forget stylometry; though AI actually looks like a promising tool to help with it.

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#109

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

I don't really bother hiding anything.

Anyone who wishes me harm, can figure out who I am, fairly easily. I own a home, and I'm not sure if people know how much that exposes folks.

I want people to know who I am. I don't think that I have much bad about me (although a number of folks think I'm a stuffy old boomer -they're probably right).

It also helps me to behave better. I was not always a stuffy old boomer, and I behaved ... not like an adult ... on the Internet.

I'm big on Responsibility and Accountability. I'd like to see more of it in others (but am frequently disappointed). I find that it's best for me to act like I'd like others to act; whether or not they do, is not my business.

I was told "We teach people how to treat us."

Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery

#110

Post by ianai »

akerl_ wrote: post #105
rt4mn wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That said, as someone who prizes ethical behavior, it's not possible to practice this and remain wholly honest without some sort of ethical loophole The primary "ethical loophole" here is that there is no viable ethical alternative. Something can not be immoral if it is the best of a series of bad options, and if you want to exsist in the world and protect your privacy, the only real option is to create a persona.…

> Something can not be immoral if it is the best of a series of bad options You’re presenting this as if it’s a fact, but it doesn’t seem like it is. If for no other reason that it relies on a shared understanding of what’s “best” and what makes options “bad”. You could justify some pretty horrible decisions if you’re holding that as an axiom.

“The road to hell is (often?) paved with good intentions.”
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