I know politics is generally off-topic on HN, but I see this as an exploration at attempts to remain anonymous given the reality of modern society. I think thre

I know politics is generally off-topic on HN, but I see this as an exploration at attempts to remain anonymous given the reality of modern society. I think three great examples of this over time are actually representative of the times. Mark Salter (2011) seems mostly to have been revealed by social connections - for example, the publisher's rep on O was the same person as for Salter's other, ghost-written works - and by a 24-hour news system that has space to publicise campaign staff, and even follow them up post-campaign to their writing den in Maine. This is by no means as impressive an exposition as the discovery that Joe Klein (1990s) wrote Primary Colours - that was achieved through textual analysis and computing power - to a degree that wouldn't have been possible by a university team on an unfunded project even ten years earlier. And of course there's the greatest tale of Washington anonymity - Deep Throat, aka Mark Felt (1970s). He got away with it for more than thirty years, until his family convinced him and Woodward / Bernstein to open up just before Felt's death. The only clues were from All The Presidents Men and the information revealed (though mostly it was double-checked) in newspaper articles, and even then the book included some red herrings. Given today's newspaper is no longer tomorrow's fish-wrap (at least, the electronic version), I doubt it would be that easy today.