[dead]
Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
151–160 of 329 posts
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#152Ah 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…
It is not categorically imperative to never lie nor misrepresent. The opposite is true. There are some situations where "standard" ethical principles (don't lie, don't kill) are unethical. If left with no alternative, lethal self-defense is not just acceptable, but is morally necessary. An exception to the exception might exist if your attacker is acting justly, but that takes it to another level of analysis.
The existence of those opposites does not justify a general case though, i.e. those limited exceptions are by definition limited.
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hardly just the art world. That he’s Robert Del Naja (aka 3D from Massive Attack) has been semi-public knowledge for a long time.
Proof? Please
Banksy is represented by the world's top gallerists. You think they don't know who they're doing business with?
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#154I feel so much more comfortable when someone cold calls me with a thick Indian accent and tells me his name is John (or Mike) before trying to sell me an extended car warranty or life insurance!
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#155Earlier 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 Woo, big claim. You're basically saying "best" can be determined entirely in terms of utility with no consideration for morality. A utilitarian world view, which not everybody shares.
> A utilitarian world view, which not everybody shares.
you make it sound like it's not a complete or consistent system, but it's just a worldview where only some people have the attribute of being in the right, unfortunately an attribute not everybody shares.
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#156Earlier 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 Woo, big claim. You're basically saying "best" can be determined entirely in terms of utility with no consideration for morality. A utilitarian world view, which not everybody shares.
I don’t think OP made that claim. “Bad” can be determined holistically with morals and utility and other factors.
For example, I think it’s moral to portray a false persona to avoid invasion of privacy.
Not to mention that most people project some level of falseness just in day to day operations. For example replying “I’m fine, how are you?” Whenever asked.
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can set up a VOIP phone number that accepts SMS for about $2/mo + $0.01/minute.
yes, I am not saying it's impossible. This is what I do. It's just a nuisance and it took me a long time to find a VOIP provider I actually wanted to use. But that said, I've seen SMS verifiers reject VOIP provider networks.
2FA mule:
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#158Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#159Earlier 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.
Of course you can. But you can justify horrible decisions with any axiom. It’s not like this is a worse approach than others.
Is there some rule set you’re aware of that if you follow, horrible decisions cannot be justified?
Re: Want anonymity? Make a persona not a mystery
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://stylometry.net/user?username=O__________O
They need to expand their dataset beyond HN, why would I have two HN accounts? Maybe if I had a public persona that mattered... but I mostly want to be anonymous once to avoid issues with my employer. But if they expanded their dataset to other sites like reddit I would be concerned.
For me, it's that I generally default to public for professionally-related things. But every once in a great while I want to comment on something that is obviously about my present or a past employer if you know who I am. I could certainly just not do that but, given as I did, I didn't want it to be under my regular identity.