3 ms·

Anonymity for free expression is the only solution to prevent any of these social 'big data' problems. Tieing real ID to human data is not just bad for people.

• tormeh 10y ago
  De-anonymization is relatively easy. The only real solution is for users to not use online services. It's sad, but it's just how it is now.
  • ue_ 10y ago
    This is why ephemeral identities and vanishing content shines; for example, on 4chan your post is only online for a few weeks maximum (as it's stored in a board's particular archive after it gets pushed off the end of the board). Only 4chan knows what your IP is. Archive websites collect posts from 4chan but can't see your IP. So eventually, if you make a post with the name "Anonymous" on 4chan, the only record of your post will be on an archive website where they don't have your IP (so they can't semi-uniquely identify you) and your name is "Anonymous". That's virtually untraceable except with prior knowledge of posting habits (time of day and what board) and text analysis (which has shown to be quite effective in revealing authors behind pseudonyms). When someone only has the content of your post, where you posted it, and at what time (the minimum amount of information 4chan lets you submit), we can express ourselves but quite effectively avoid employer snooping or otherwise.