How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
security.stackexchange.com
How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
1–10 of 60 posts
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#2Overheard in conversation at a security conference a few years ago: for many people, it's probably likely that the fingerprint you leave just by the top ten websites you visit is quite distinguishing.
Given that - on top of all of the 'obvious' linkages that are out there (friends, email contacts, identity cards/numbers, payment methods), it's imaginable that for a 'suitably advanced' adversary, you have to be extremely vigilant if you want to detach your new identity.
The reality for many people (including in modern witness protection, I'd imagine) is that it simply isn't humanly feasible to be that perfect - so you have to trust your benefactors to a certain extent (and assume that no-one will get access to any correlation information they might build).
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#3Reminds me of this video, from The Onion: "Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village" http://www.theonion.com/video/google-opt-out-feature-lets-us...
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#4It all really comes down to how far you want to take anonymity.
I think the first thing to do is dox yourself, and methodically go through the websites and both change all info to random unrelated information, and then delete or deactivate, whatever is possible.
The next step without taking drastic measures such as new identity, is to simply stop using the internet.
And remember to not be included in digital pictures.
The abstinence from the internet is what I think is the hardest part, especially if the internet has become an integral part of your life.
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#5The interesting thing about the answers given there, is that they seem to assume you can only have one identity at a time. Why not simply have multiple identities?
Anonymising yourself then simply becomes a matter of picking a new name for yourself and never telling anyone what it is and never doing anything under that name. It's a pretty useless form of anonymity of course, but it does suggest that anonymity itself isn't really particularly useful.
Perhaps anonymous acts are what are really desired? The question of how to act anonymously might provide different answers.
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#6You know the answer might be to, you know, not worry about it? I mean it's a two part process (1) are people coming after you with the internet? If no, then (2) pay some attention to your local politics, be wary of advocating for discriminatory policies when it suits you, and remember no man is ever an island.
If yes, well, you kind of did the wrong thing posting on StackExchange about it.
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#7Of course the answer is: you can't.
You could ten years ago. You could give it a good shot now. But in another ten years it's impossible.
We are living in the last age of anonymity.
We're also living in the last age of personalized history. When I tell a story from my teenage years, in the 1980s, I get to tell the story any way I like. After all, it's my memories. Each of us are able to own our version of reality, which was very human and very comforting.
For kids going through their teenage years in the 2020s? Their entire life is just a big dataset: where they went, who they talked to, what they said, how their opinions evolved. Not only can they never leave their old life because of hueristics and fingerprints, they can't even enjoy their own version of how their life went. That's a major change in the nature of what it means to be human.
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#8It's probably easier to change your offline identity. Bureaucracy can be dealt with, plastic surgery results are in continuous improvement... And you can even start a new family, damnit.
But The Internet never forgets.
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#9I've become increasingly concerned with this topic. Looking back I feel incredibly stupid.
When I was 16, I was 'paranoid' about computer security. I used gpg, would never dream of giving my real name to any website. I distrusted every website.
Now I'm 31, and you can easily find 5 years of reddit comment history linked to my almost unique real name. Facebook has algorithms that can link my face to my real identity. I carry a location tracking device and microphone in my pocket. I sit in front of a camera all day. Google has all my search history. My ISP knows which sites I visit.
It's just incredible how comfortable I became with sharing this data about myself online. I don't know how it happened. My 16 year old self imagined that I'd have had some awesome technological setup that made me immune to tracking. But the truth is I just got used to the possibility of being tracked, and then forgot about it altogether.
But these NSA revelations have woken me up and I'm now back in that paranoid state and actively seeking ways of protecting myself.
I think many people have had the same experience.
For all the talk about the generations of the future being tracked and recorded from birth, I have to wonder if we're the dinosaurs and our kids will be saying:
"Shit Dad, why did you share all this stuff about yourself, are you stupid or something?"
Re: How can someone go off-web and anonymize themselves after a life online?
#10I've being trying to make this a HN hit for a long time now, and I will try again as it is related to the topic.
The "name-your-price" web comic The Private Eye: http://panelsyndicate.com/ is a great story on a future world where online anonymity became impossible, then people went for real world anonymity, all of us wearing masks and pseudonyms. It is really interesting and entertaining to follow.
I have no connection of any kind with the authors, just a fan of their work. And I really thought HN crowd would love it. But I submitted it a few times and not a single upvote. Ever. Hope to find them some love now.