3 ms·

stop using the internet. then get a fake identity in the same ways that have been possible for hundreds of years now... that big trail of data on the internet

by jheriko 13y ago

stop using the internet. then get a fake identity in the same ways that have been possible for hundreds of years now... that big trail of data on the internet is useless if it points nowhere. what i never understand is why anyone wants to do this unless they want to do something wrong and get away with it. i also think we all collectively need to get over privacy - if its not about being caught out doing wrong things then all you get is embarassment potentially? i'm not sure i really understand... i had to fill out a voter registration form recently, its a legal requirement and there was a big part of me that wanted to not do it on principle. however, weighing up the advantages of being a legal member of society over not quickly changed my mind...

user24 13y ago
> what i never understand is why anyone wants to do this unless they want to do something wrong The definition of "wrong" is subject to change when the next political party come to power.
rpgmaker 13y ago
This brings up an interesting question: who are you on the web anyways? Take my case: I have never signed up for a social networking account on the likes of facebook, myspace, etc. I just don't like to give up that much control about my personal information. To me, just putting it out there, even without the govt snooping on it is giving up WAY too much control over it. Many websites I used to visit have become "social" over the years though but no matter, I don't use my real name there, or real personal email account. On my android phone I purposely created another gmail account, not linked to my real personal one. I have avoided google+ like a plague and I have seen first hand how nuclear they have gone in order to make people enable the goddamn + account. But the question still remains, who am I online? I'm still signing up to sites and email accounts that even if they don't represent the whole picture they still have parts of it. It struck me that it may not matter if those accounts don't particularly link to my real name: it is still me doing all that stuff online. Am I just my name or what I do? (Google probably doesn't care that much about my "name", they're still getting a lot of information from "me". To them all of us are probably just a unique ID on their servers. I'm not a tinfoil hat kind of guy or anything like that. My efforts are still limited by the convenience of the internet once you sign up to the many services available. People somewhat skilled in tracking people online can probably still track the real me: just because I haven't made much effort in actively learning all I would need to do in order to really hide myself online. I still think that I at least have mitigated it a bit so that not any Joe Schmoe can track me. First I couldn't review apps on the play store, now I can't comment on youtube wtf?? but still, you will have to do more than that to get me on, google. I still think that they will end up forcing everyone to g+ in the end, at that point I will seriously consider just leaving google altogether.

by jheriko 13y ago

user24 13y ago

> what i never understand is why anyone wants to do this unless they want to do something wrong The definition of "wrong" is subject to change when the next political party come to power.

rpgmaker 13y ago

This brings up an interesting question: who are you on the web anyways? Take my case: I have never signed up for a social networking account on the likes of facebook, myspace, etc. I just don't like to give up that much control about my personal information. To me, just putting it out there, even without the govt snooping on it is giving up WAY too much control over it. Many websites I used to visit have become "social" over the years though but no matter, I don't use my real name there, or real personal email account. On my android phone I purposely created another gmail account, not linked to my real personal one. I have avoided google+ like a plague and I have seen first hand how nuclear they have gone in order to make people enable the goddamn + account. But the question still remains, who am I online? I'm still signing up to sites and email accounts that even if they don't represent the whole picture they still have parts of it. It struck me that it may not matter if those accounts don't particularly link to my real name: it is still me doing all that stuff online. Am I just my name or what I do? (Google probably doesn't care that much about my "name", they're still getting a lot of information from "me". To them all of us are probably just a unique ID on their servers. I'm not a tinfoil hat kind of guy or anything like that. My efforts are still limited by the convenience of the internet once you sign up to the many services available. People somewhat skilled in tracking people online can probably still track the real me: just because I haven't made much effort in actively learning all I would need to do in order to really hide myself online. I still think that I at least have mitigated it a bit so that not any Joe Schmoe can track me. First I couldn't review apps on the play store, now I can't comment on youtube wtf?? but still, you will have to do more than that to get me on, google. I still think that they will end up forcing everyone to g+ in the end, at that point I will seriously consider just leaving google altogether.