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I have successfully done this, so you probably can too. Some things are hard to get rid of, and someone who already knows my identity could probably at least fi

I have successfully done this, so you probably can too. Some things are hard to get rid of, and someone who already knows my identity could probably at least find my github. But nobody is going to be able to link my full name to any of my current accounts without a fair bit of biographical information. On the main sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) it's very easy to make all your data private, or to just share with friends. Nowadays I try to follow the practice I have on this site of using an entirely meaningless username. Like passwords, I don't reuse, and so the links between sites become even more tenuous. Now, someone might still be able to link this account to my real identity if they had a lot of writing samples of mine, but at some point you have to consider the threat model. I'm no one important. There isn't a foreseeable circumstance where someone would want to link my accounts on various social media sites, and even if they did, in the worst case scenario it would be mildly embarrassing. So, for example, I haven't yet deleted my github, even though you could probably find it if you knew my name or email address. Now, I'm most interested in hiding my identity from natural people. But it sounds like you have different concerns. I think it's almost impossible to hide your identity from corporations, supposing they are motivated to link you to your economic identity. The credit card companies, phone companies, and retail companies are all building dossiers. And your economic identity is basically impossible to unlink from your private identity, unlike non-economic website accounts. Google should be the least of your worries on that front.

voisin 7y ago
Name checks out.
rewq4321 7y ago
Might be worth using a more "normal" username. There's probably more information in a name like the one you've chosen since most people don't choose usernames like that. Probably an over-optimisation for the average person but it sounds like you're trying to decorrelate your accounts.
- vorticalbox 7y ago
  Correlating accounts is fine so long as they cant link that to a person. Personally I limit what information I post but indent try to completely hide myself. It hide you need to look like everyone else.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  You're right, as far as it goes. To be optimal, it might be good to pick from a certain class of common username (different on each site) and use that. For example, maybe I could be "cardinals59" on one site and "I|1II||1II" on another site. However, that would offer limited anonymity benefit. With the full firehose of Reddit and HN data, you could probably correlate my accounts on each site to a moderate degree of confidence just by when I post. But, I'm not too worried about that, as long as a third party can't easily link that to my real life identity. And you can see by my post history that even in that case, I'm not trying to make it impossible. Just difficult for the casual harasser. With access to the biographical information I've posted on this account, you could probably guess my employer. With access to that entity's internal databases, you could probably narrow me down to one of about 5k people. With access to other information I've posted and public records, you could probably narrow down to one of hundreds of people. Maybe if you had a lot of skill you could do more. But, why? It's all about risk management. As long as it's hard enough to do that it's lower than other risks I face, I'm fine. If I were higher profile (e.g. if I were an SVP at my employer, or were likely to become one someday), I might be even more discreet. It would be most sensible not to post at all in that case. But I'll probably never be that important, and that's how I like it. As it is, the risk of my online identity being used to hurt me is (I estimate) lower than the risk of being killed in a traffic accident. I don't worry too much about the latter risk, so I really shouldn't worry much about the former. For me, it's good enough that if you Google for my full name, you don't see me. Even if you google my name + employer, or my name + hometown or current location, you can't find any information on me. That's the extent of the threat model I'm trying to actively defend.
mirimir 7y ago
> I think it's almost impossible to hide your identity from corporations, supposing they are motivated to link you to your economic identity. I agree that it's very difficult to hide meatspace personas that use corporate services. Basically because corporations are not at all friendly to ~anonymity. I mean KYC, for example. You have a chance if you pose as someone with a horrible credit record. Who buys doesn't have bank accounts etc, and uses cash for everything. But even then, there are so many ways to get linked. Online, however, it's possible to be as anonymous as you like, and not at all linked to anything in meatspace.
lobotryas 7y ago
Have you checked how much info can be found by just googling your first and last name in quotes? For many people their home address will show up thanks to whitePages.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  Hrmph. I had done this search before and nothing came up, but when you know what city I live in you can find my address. That is annoying. Next time I buy a house I'm using a trust.

voisin 7y ago

Name checks out.

rewq4321 7y ago

Might be worth using a more "normal" username. There's probably more information in a name like the one you've chosen since most people don't choose usernames like that. Probably an over-optimisation for the average person but it sounds like you're trying to decorrelate your accounts.

vorticalbox 7y ago
Correlating accounts is fine so long as they cant link that to a person. Personally I limit what information I post but indent try to completely hide myself. It hide you need to look like everyone else.
asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
You're right, as far as it goes. To be optimal, it might be good to pick from a certain class of common username (different on each site) and use that. For example, maybe I could be "cardinals59" on one site and "I|1II||1II" on another site. However, that would offer limited anonymity benefit. With the full firehose of Reddit and HN data, you could probably correlate my accounts on each site to a moderate degree of confidence just by when I post. But, I'm not too worried about that, as long as a third party can't easily link that to my real life identity. And you can see by my post history that even in that case, I'm not trying to make it impossible. Just difficult for the casual harasser. With access to the biographical information I've posted on this account, you could probably guess my employer. With access to that entity's internal databases, you could probably narrow me down to one of about 5k people. With access to other information I've posted and public records, you could probably narrow down to one of hundreds of people. Maybe if you had a lot of skill you could do more. But, why? It's all about risk management. As long as it's hard enough to do that it's lower than other risks I face, I'm fine. If I were higher profile (e.g. if I were an SVP at my employer, or were likely to become one someday), I might be even more discreet. It would be most sensible not to post at all in that case. But I'll probably never be that important, and that's how I like it. As it is, the risk of my online identity being used to hurt me is (I estimate) lower than the risk of being killed in a traffic accident. I don't worry too much about the latter risk, so I really shouldn't worry much about the former. For me, it's good enough that if you Google for my full name, you don't see me. Even if you google my name + employer, or my name + hometown or current location, you can't find any information on me. That's the extent of the threat model I'm trying to actively defend.

mirimir 7y ago

> I think it's almost impossible to hide your identity from corporations, supposing they are motivated to link you to your economic identity. I agree that it's very difficult to hide meatspace personas that use corporate services. Basically because corporations are not at all friendly to ~anonymity. I mean KYC, for example. You have a chance if you pose as someone with a horrible credit record. Who buys doesn't have bank accounts etc, and uses cash for everything. But even then, there are so many ways to get linked. Online, however, it's possible to be as anonymous as you like, and not at all linked to anything in meatspace.

lobotryas 7y ago

Have you checked how much info can be found by just googling your first and last name in quotes? For many people their home address will show up thanks to whitePages.

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
Hrmph. I had done this search before and nothing came up, but when you know what city I live in you can find my address. That is annoying. Next time I buy a house I'm using a trust.