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I think it’s potentially even worse than this. We seem to have to re-learn this lesson periodically: seemingly anonymous data about groups of people does confer

I think it’s potentially even worse than this. We seem to have to re-learn this lesson periodically: seemingly anonymous data about groups of people does confer the ability to identify individuals: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/anonymous-data-might-not-be-so-anonymous-study-shows.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/anonymous-data-might-not-be-...

EGreg 6y ago
Basically, take it to its logical conclusion Privacy is dead. Once they have ubiquitous cameras everywhere, and connect the databases, the AI can correlate everything you do, and infer who is meeting whom and for what etc. Similarly online. You are going to get deanonymized unless you go to great lengths to change everything about what you do, including not doing anything in real time. More info: https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=169?p=169 https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=169?p=169 JK Rowling: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-did-computers-uncover-jk-rowlings-pseudonym-180949824/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-did-comput... And the mac daddy: https://news.bitcoin.com/a-look-at-stylometry-can-we-uncover-satoshi-through-literary-quirks/ https://news.bitcoin.com/a-look-at-stylometry-can-we-uncover...
- Retric 6y ago
  It’s still possible to be anonymous online, most people simply are unwilling to make any tradeoffs for privacy.
  - adamiscool8 6y ago
    Is it possible to be anonymous online and still engage in the "online world" as most non-tech folks see it? Increasingly I think the answer is no, without substantial tradeoffs.
    - Retric 6y ago
      It comes down to what you want in terms of anonymity. You can’t anonymously order food from an app and have it sent to your house while posting your wedding photos on Facebook. But, if you want to anonymously browse the web and talk to people on HN then that’s still possible.
      - EGreg 6y ago
        So you think. A state level actor can easily dox u
        foobiter 6y ago
        sure but they have less incentive to do so than google
        Retric 6y ago
        People have evaded state level actors for years. Perhaps most famously Obama Bin Laden. Which means true anonymity is still possible. Sure, not fucking up for years, using the same identity, and communicating with people while being hunted ups the difficulty, but still doesn’t make it impossible.
heavyset_go 6y ago
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_leak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_leak: > In 2006, the internet company AOL released a large amount of user search requests to the public. AOL did not identify users in the report, but personally identifiable information was present in many of the queries. This allowed some users to be identified by their search queries, prominently a woman named Thelma Arnold.

EGreg 6y ago

Basically, take it to its logical conclusion Privacy is dead. Once they have ubiquitous cameras everywhere, and connect the databases, the AI can correlate everything you do, and infer who is meeting whom and for what etc. Similarly online. You are going to get deanonymized unless you go to great lengths to change everything about what you do, including not doing anything in real time. More info: https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=169?p=169 https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=169?p=169 JK Rowling: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-did-computers-uncover-jk-rowlings-pseudonym-180949824/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-did-comput... And the mac daddy: https://news.bitcoin.com/a-look-at-stylometry-can-we-uncover-satoshi-through-literary-quirks/ https://news.bitcoin.com/a-look-at-stylometry-can-we-uncover...

Retric 6y ago
It’s still possible to be anonymous online, most people simply are unwilling to make any tradeoffs for privacy.
- adamiscool8 6y ago
  Is it possible to be anonymous online and still engage in the "online world" as most non-tech folks see it? Increasingly I think the answer is no, without substantial tradeoffs.
  - Retric 6y ago
    It comes down to what you want in terms of anonymity. You can’t anonymously order food from an app and have it sent to your house while posting your wedding photos on Facebook. But, if you want to anonymously browse the web and talk to people on HN then that’s still possible.
    - EGreg 6y ago
      So you think. A state level actor can easily dox u
      - foobiter 6y ago
        sure but they have less incentive to do so than google
      - Retric 6y ago
        People have evaded state level actors for years. Perhaps most famously Obama Bin Laden. Which means true anonymity is still possible. Sure, not fucking up for years, using the same identity, and communicating with people while being hunted ups the difficulty, but still doesn’t make it impossible.

heavyset_go 6y ago

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_leak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_leak: > In 2006, the internet company AOL released a large amount of user search requests to the public. AOL did not identify users in the report, but personally identifiable information was present in many of the queries. This allowed some users to be identified by their search queries, prominently a woman named Thelma Arnold.