If you want fine control over privacy, check the "Profile & privacy" options in the G+ settings, especially "Public profile information". Access to just about everything can be restricted to a single user-defined Circle, if that's what you want.
-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Thoughts on anonymity on the Internet?
- Thread starter A.Nonymous
- Start date
chimphappyhour
Android Enthusiast
Yeah, I think their "grow it slowly" system isn't doing them any favors. I don't know anyone who is actually on it.
Actually, your internet behavior is taken more and more into account in the hiring process. Internet behavior has also come back to bite people and companies in the rear enough that individuals and companies are taking note.
I read with interest the views here on social networking and connecting with real people vs internet personae. That's going to take quite a while for me to wrap my head around.
Meanwhile this is what I had to say about it on Google+
Meanwhile this is what I had to say about it on Google+
There is no 'right' to privacy, sure you can join a service that is okay with you putting a pseudonym down, sure you could use a fake name (I do actually have a 'spy' name that my closest of friends know about, it is just a real name that isn't linked to mine hahaha).
Ultimately if you want privacy, don't join the website that requires you to give up your real name.
I don't really care to much if people know my real name, I have long ago learned that it is better to be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not (not sure who wrote that quote).
Everyone I know personally knows who I am, and that will not change regardless of what name shows up next to my posts.
My high school CCNA teacher taught me one thing that he said was the most important thing ever: Never, never, NEVER post anything on the internet that you do not want attributed to your name forever, because it just might be.
Hell, even now someone sufficiently connected could trace your IP and theoretically either steal/bribe/hack his way into finding out your private info (or at least the name of the person with your internet bill).
~ Josh
Ultimately if you want privacy, don't join the website that requires you to give up your real name.
I don't really care to much if people know my real name, I have long ago learned that it is better to be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not (not sure who wrote that quote).
Everyone I know personally knows who I am, and that will not change regardless of what name shows up next to my posts.
My high school CCNA teacher taught me one thing that he said was the most important thing ever: Never, never, NEVER post anything on the internet that you do not want attributed to your name forever, because it just might be.
Hell, even now someone sufficiently connected could trace your IP and theoretically either steal/bribe/hack his way into finding out your private info (or at least the name of the person with your internet bill).
~ Josh
Frisco
=Luceat Lux Vestra=
EarlyMon said (apparently in more than one place 
):
"Poor Richard (Ben Franklin), Mark Twain, Nat King Cole, Cher, Eric Clapton, Danny DeVito, Miles Davis, and Wolfman Jack would likely join EarlyMon The PearlyMon in pointing out the obvious flaw here, namely the idea that any public company ought not be able define who you are and how you are called in life, replacing your own definition."
"It's their venue, their rules, they can do as they please, I am a guest."
"But I simply won't give up my right. If my right disagrees with their requirement, then it will have been good to have been here while I was able."
I remember an old movie about a returning soldier to a small town.. he came home and there was a celebration and things were going along fine, but we all knew something was wrong because you can't have a happy ending at the beginning of a movie.
Anyway, it turns out there was growing suspicion, beginning with the smallest of little "clues," that this person was, in fact, not the boy who the village had sent off to war.
Is this internet identity stuff about masquerading vs being "real?" If the list of famous people who used pseudonyms were only actors and writers, maybe we'd feel differently about using them ourselves.
Maybe not, but I know one thing, when we enter a text field world, such as here at Android Forums, we're assuming an identity. At Facebook it's a bit different, isn't it. There we're known, almost as intimately as in the real world; darn close to that as a matter of fact.
Both of those text field worlds are voluntary: here at AF (or any other forum or virtual world, "Second Life," etc) as well as Facebook. We have to "join" and then we get to assume an identity and then we get to make choices as to how we want to "appear" here.
I don't see much of a struggle with the Google+ issue of secretly knowing who and where you are: just don't join.
):"Poor Richard (Ben Franklin), Mark Twain, Nat King Cole, Cher, Eric Clapton, Danny DeVito, Miles Davis, and Wolfman Jack would likely join EarlyMon The PearlyMon in pointing out the obvious flaw here, namely the idea that any public company ought not be able define who you are and how you are called in life, replacing your own definition."
"It's their venue, their rules, they can do as they please, I am a guest."
"But I simply won't give up my right. If my right disagrees with their requirement, then it will have been good to have been here while I was able."
I remember an old movie about a returning soldier to a small town.. he came home and there was a celebration and things were going along fine, but we all knew something was wrong because you can't have a happy ending at the beginning of a movie.
Anyway, it turns out there was growing suspicion, beginning with the smallest of little "clues," that this person was, in fact, not the boy who the village had sent off to war.
Is this internet identity stuff about masquerading vs being "real?" If the list of famous people who used pseudonyms were only actors and writers, maybe we'd feel differently about using them ourselves.
Maybe not, but I know one thing, when we enter a text field world, such as here at Android Forums, we're assuming an identity. At Facebook it's a bit different, isn't it. There we're known, almost as intimately as in the real world; darn close to that as a matter of fact.
Both of those text field worlds are voluntary: here at AF (or any other forum or virtual world, "Second Life," etc) as well as Facebook. We have to "join" and then we get to assume an identity and then we get to make choices as to how we want to "appear" here.
I don't see much of a struggle with the Google+ issue of secretly knowing who and where you are: just don't join.
RubiconDude
Well-Known Member
I think it's all a bit pointless really tbh. Anyone wishing to hide their identity will find a way to do so. Sadly. I'm for it in theory if it would actually work as advertised.
RubiconDude
Well-Known Member
And then of course there are young kids swearing and hating all over the place that care not a jot if anyone knows their name. 
Watchinufrap
Newbie
Facebook also requires you provide your real name as well, but they don't have the manpower to check ALL usernames to make sure they match up to a real record.
I am guessing Google asks for ID like Birth cert passport drivers license Social Security numbers etc?
Trolling will allways exist, get used to it, they may not be able to troll on google plus with a profile there, but they can still attack and write nasty things about you or anyone else on other websites, Encyclopedia Dramatica is a fact on this, it's still around but under .ch not .com
In my opinion, providing your real details for public use and view just hands trolls weapons to make their attacks on you sting even more,you are also exposing yourself to thousands who will remain anonymous.
We are not all friends, Anonymity in regards to actual real life personal details is important and must stand for that reason, why did they keep telling us kids not to trust people we meet online and never tell them who we are?
If you want to expose yourself and wear your heart on your sleeve and be fair game for attack if your opinions enrage or cause 'lulz' for 4channers SA Ebaums and Encyclopedia D then go ahead, you have been warned and those are the risks you will have to accept.
I am guessing Google asks for ID like Birth cert passport drivers license Social Security numbers etc?
Trolling will allways exist, get used to it, they may not be able to troll on google plus with a profile there, but they can still attack and write nasty things about you or anyone else on other websites, Encyclopedia Dramatica is a fact on this, it's still around but under .ch not .com
In my opinion, providing your real details for public use and view just hands trolls weapons to make their attacks on you sting even more,you are also exposing yourself to thousands who will remain anonymous.
We are not all friends, Anonymity in regards to actual real life personal details is important and must stand for that reason, why did they keep telling us kids not to trust people we meet online and never tell them who we are?
If you want to expose yourself and wear your heart on your sleeve and be fair game for attack if your opinions enrage or cause 'lulz' for 4channers SA Ebaums and Encyclopedia D then go ahead, you have been warned and those are the risks you will have to accept.
Frisco
=Luceat Lux Vestra=
This isn't the first time Google has been challenged on privacy issues. Back when Google Earth was coming along, and the Street View thing gained momentum, there were whole towns coming out saying they didn't want the little Google cars coming there and taking pictures of house addresses, people on the streets in the area, etc.
I didn't like it because the pic of my house had one of our older cars in the driveway, which we'd replaced with a nice shiney new one. The whole world now thinks I still have that old car. Well, the whole world of people who don't know me.
I didn't like it because the pic of my house had one of our older cars in the driveway, which we'd replaced with a nice shiney new one. The whole world now thinks I still have that old car. Well, the whole world of people who don't know me.
chimphappyhour
Android Enthusiast
This isn't the first time Google has been challenged on privacy issues. Back when Google Earth was coming along, and the Street View thing gained momentum, there were whole towns coming out saying they didn't want the little Google cars coming there and taking pictures of house addresses, people on the streets in the area, etc.
I didn't like it because the pic of my house had one of our older cars in the driveway, which we'd replaced with a nice shiney new one. The whole world now thinks I still have that old car. Well, the whole world of people who don't know me.
Please remain calm. The Fashion Police are on their way.
Watchinufrap
Newbie
When Google Earth came out, it was all old satellite photographs pretty much, and the pics were old and were not updated, so it's not like it was a live feed like something from Resident Evil's umbrella corporation.
And things looked pretty undetailed such as houses and streets, plus a birds eye view looks rather different to standing there yourself.
I didn't like streetview, but they should have done things such as blur people so they cannot be identified even by someone who knows them locally.
Google should focus more on the old fashioned way they made money, selling premium adspace to people who want their site on the top searches, and using search keywords ONLY for identifying what you prefer, and keeping the Anonymous data for only so long before deleting it permanently if the searcher does not use google for a period of time.
This is the key issue here.
When I use Google services, no matter which one I use, I want them to be linked to a single account.
I use Blogger, Google+, Gmail, Picasa, Google Docs, Youtube, and a couple more I can't think of at this moment.
I would not create a new separate account JUST for one service so they make it convenient to go with what you have already made.
Maybe not, but I know one thing, when we enter a text field world, such as here at Android Forums, we're assuming an identity. At Facebook it's a bit different, isn't it. There we're known, almost as intimately as in the real world; darn close to that as a matter of fact.
Both of those text field worlds are voluntary: here at AF (or any other forum or virtual world, "Second Life," etc) as well as Facebook. We have to "join" and then we get to assume an identity and then we get to make choices as to how we want to "appear" here.
I don't see much of a struggle with the Google+ issue of secretly knowing who and where you are: just don't join.
It's only as different at Facebook as people choose to make it.
We have members here using their real names.
Somehow, on a forum, it's considered cool to have a handle.
On Facebook, it's considered cool to have your real name. (Important note - the EarlyMon on Facebook is not me.)
Other than that, the reality of Facebook disappears the instant you turn off your PC.
Show of hands - how many people here use their full legal name as their email address as opposed to a convenient abbreviation, or for tracking purposes, an alias?
And yet for the years before Facebook came along, before Google+ came along, whenever I'd witness two people sharing their email addresses, I never once heard: Say, you're a liar, this isn't your name!
Instead, I've only heard: Cool, let me read this back to make sure I've gotten it right...
The whole real name thing on Facebook or Google+ is pure fiction and is there for the site holders only. It makes it easier for me to "connect" with people I haven't talked to in years. But only after failing constantly because people whom I've not connected with in years have an odd tendency to be possessed of name spellings other than that in agreement with my memory.
But - that just drives up traffic.
Benefit of real names to Facebook and Google+: Beyond measure
Benefit of real names to the users: Zero
Perceived benefit of real names to the users: Really high
All you need to share is a link to your page or profile or whatever. All that takes to share is an email saying saying, Hey, I'm over here.
First pseudonym I ever learned was Mom - so I don't think the concept is really new or unique to actors or famous people.
Anyway, these are just my opinions.
I'm not on Facebook, I do use my given name as my primary email address, and no one in my family calls me by any of my given names.
PS - If real names are so important on Google+ then why is it that if I want to share with you my profile, the link I send is a long string of numbers?
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
This isn't the first time Google has been challenged on privacy issues. Back when Google Earth was coming along, and the Street View thing gained momentum, there were whole towns coming out saying they didn't want the little Google cars coming there and taking pictures of house addresses, people on the streets in the area, etc.
I didn't like it because the pic of my house had one of our older cars in the driveway, which we'd replaced with a nice shiney new one. The whole world now thinks I still have that old car. Well, the whole world of people who don't know me.
That's a little bit different though because the front of your house (unless you live in a gated community or something) is about as public as you can get. If you are standing in your front yard and I take a picture of you, there is no violation of privacy. If you are standing in your bed room and I take a picture of you, it's an entirely different story as there is some expectation of privacy there. (Although if your windows are wide open, maybe not.) I never understood why people freaked out at Google taking pictures of the front of their houses. It's something that anyone in the world can see on any given day anyway.
It's kind of like the people who were pissed when Google accidentally sucked up their data off the open wifi networks they were on. They were ticked that Google scooped up their information. I wondered why they had any expectation that data was private in the first place if they're putting it out on an unsecured network.
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
Dang it. My mom was the first woman to fake name me!!
ardchoille
Android Expert
I look at it this way; surfing the internet is like going out in public. Anyone can take a picture of me and there is nothing I can do about it. Anything that I do can be seen by others and/or investigated by the authorities.
Think about privacy in public, is there any? There are companies which hold private information about me (social security, credit companies, etc.). Are these companies immune to break-ins? No. We take chances every time we give out any information about ourselves, why should the internet be any different?
If I don't like the way a company implements their online products then I simply don't use them. No hassle, no worries.. it's as simple as that.
There's a nice saying that fits in well here:
"The toes you step on today might be connected to the backside you have to kiss tomorrow".
Just my $0.02
Think about privacy in public, is there any? There are companies which hold private information about me (social security, credit companies, etc.). Are these companies immune to break-ins? No. We take chances every time we give out any information about ourselves, why should the internet be any different?
If I don't like the way a company implements their online products then I simply don't use them. No hassle, no worries.. it's as simple as that.
There's a nice saying that fits in well here:
"The toes you step on today might be connected to the backside you have to kiss tomorrow".
Just my $0.02
Excellent pionts
I look at it this way; surfing the internet is like going out in public. Anyone can take a picture of me and there is nothing I can do about it. Anything that I do can be seen by others and/or investigated by the authorities.
Think about privacy in public, is there any? There are companies which hold private information about me (social security, credit companies, etc.). Are these companies immune to break-ins? No. We take chances every time we give out any information about ourselves, why should the internet be any different?
If I don't like the way a company implements their online products then I simply don't use them. No hassle, no worries.. it's as simple as that.
There's a nice saying that fits in well here:
"The toes you step on today might be connected to the backside you have to kiss tomorrow".
Just my $0.02
Excellent pionts
I really like that quote!
And yeah I find it humorous that most people have multiple emails, one that is their actual name and one that is their fake/spam email.
I go by many names and have gone by many more in the past.
In fact even in real life I have a nickname by my closest friends that no one knows
P.S. it's Bojangles hahaha
_mw_
Android Enthusiast
I'm curious what it is about the internet that inspires the need for anonymity in the first place. When I go to the grocery store I don't wear a mask, regardless of whether it's one I frequent or a new one I'm just trying out that day. Is there a reason we want anonymity? Is it the freedom to act how we wish we could in so-called 'real life'? I'm asking, not accusing.
I am who I am. My name is Mark Waterous. I shorten it on forums to mw or mwaterous for brevity, nothing more.
I am who I am. My name is Mark Waterous. I shorten it on forums to mw or mwaterous for brevity, nothing more.
(rubs hands together) Ooooooh - I can answer this one.
I used to use my real name.
One day I said that a lot of beliefs about UFOs were silly. I didn't say all, I just said a lot. I didn't get it, it was just a comment.
This resulted in a total psychotic tracking me down, threatening me personally, and then tracking down my employers - the United States Department of Defense and Department of Energy - and insisting that under the freedom of information act that they turn over all information related to - and I quote - "Top Sekrit Black Ops To MindF* Me" using Mr. XXXX (me) as your agent.
After spending days under the forensic scrutiny of FBI both at home and personally, to establish that I never once posted personally from a government resource and that I never once in public specified where I worked, or made any other claims than that whatsoever - I was allowed to return to work and feed my family.
They gave me the option of bringing the full force of the government down on his head, but I'd mentioned that I thought he was nuts, didn't want to be the one to push him over the edge and that I wanted the episode in my life to end.
A few months later, he tried something other at a Social Security office and then was committed until he became an expert on padded rooms.
All of that happened before there was even a company called Google.
If you think I'll make the same mistake again in this day and age - uh - no, thanks.
How's that for one good reason why my name on the internet is no one's business?
~~~~~~
This next part isn't directed to Mark Waterous (if indeed that is your real name) but is just something I'd like to say to the world -
The government, backed by their richest lobbyists, are chipping away at your rights to privacy.
And the most pernicious of all, the most evil of all, and the most innocent sounding of all ideas is the one that you will one day live to regret at our present rate:
Only people that have something to hide care about privacy.
That's so far opposite of why we established rights to privacy in the first place that it doesn't even rise to being wrong.
Frisco
=Luceat Lux Vestra=
I had a guy at threaten me in a thread about Michael Jackson at a huge forum. "I will find you in rl." Then, "I know where you are." Then, "Tomorrow is the day." Then, "Today it all comes down on you."
All I said was I thought he was talented but that he seems to have gotten away with pedophilia, something to that effect.
The day that it was all supposed to "come down" on me I hit the daily double at the track and pocketed over two thousand dollars on a 200 dollar wager.
What does this mean?
All I said was I thought he was talented but that he seems to have gotten away with pedophilia, something to that effect.
The day that it was all supposed to "come down" on me I hit the daily double at the track and pocketed over two thousand dollars on a 200 dollar wager.
What does this mean?
zuben el genub
Extreme Android User
I learned to say "none of your business" in fourth grade and have stuck to it ever since. The important people know how and where to find me, and the rest don't matter.
_mw_
Android Enthusiast
It is, and it's not hard to find proof of that especially for the folks that frequent this kind of forum.
Good answer though, and I'd like to reiterate that I wasn't trying to call anyone out, it was an honest question about a very good topic. I've never had the need, but then I'm also not rich, famous, or working in a position with government or military clearance.... There are some lines I would draw, when it concerns my family, but honestly those are the same kind of lines I would draw in public too.
Last but not least, just because I am not private with my name does not mean I don't believe in privacy. I am sick at some of the actions taken by the US government (my current residence), the Canadian government (my home country), European governments... Australian... okay, anyways, I'm pretty upset with some of the absolute abominations to privacy that are occurring all over the world. Choose to be private or not, I do think we're all entitled to making that choice on our own, without help and without interference.
"if indeed that is your real name" is an old school comedy phrase.
More and more interesting.
All I've suggested is that anonymity is a good thing - except perhaps if you're off to the races.
More and more interesting.
All I've suggested is that anonymity is a good thing - except perhaps if you're off to the races.
A.Nonymous
Extreme Android User
I hide behind anonymity on the Internet because I feel it gives me more freedom to be authentic with people I don't really know all that well TBH. I mentioned earlier that I felt my company was putting profits over doing what is right for the customer. I would never ever express that opinion in real life because I would be fired. Yet I voice it on the 'net because getting something like that off my chest makes me feel better and there is no risk of repercussion because no one knows who I am.
I'm a Libertarian. I enjoy discussing politics. I can't discuss this IRL because my friends are almost all right wing nutjob supporters and extremely uninformed ones at that. I have more than one friend who simply vote straight Republican in every single election even though they have no clue who the candidates actually are and what they stand for. In their mind Republican = good and Democrat = evil and it's as simple as that. If I try to discuss politics with them, it's frustrating beyond belief. If they find out that I'm a Libertarian I am in for an evening of getting bashed non-stop about how I'm "wasting my vote". On the 'net I can espouse my Libertarian views, have intelligent discussions about them and my friends never find out.
I'm a Libertarian. I enjoy discussing politics. I can't discuss this IRL because my friends are almost all right wing nutjob supporters and extremely uninformed ones at that. I have more than one friend who simply vote straight Republican in every single election even though they have no clue who the candidates actually are and what they stand for. In their mind Republican = good and Democrat = evil and it's as simple as that. If I try to discuss politics with them, it's frustrating beyond belief. If they find out that I'm a Libertarian I am in for an evening of getting bashed non-stop about how I'm "wasting my vote". On the 'net I can espouse my Libertarian views, have intelligent discussions about them and my friends never find out.