• 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?

If I seriously wanted to get out of dodge and stay hidden, the first thing I would do is delete facebook and any other social networking site that I am a part of.

I would then get rid of my phone and get a cash only phone as well as load up some visa/mastercard.

The single thing the guy didn't do (in that article) was risk doing something illegal.

I would contact shady characters until I found someone who could get me some fake papers and begin my life over.

Granted the only thing that would cause me to change my identity would be a death threat, not much else can push someone that far *shrug*
 
Stuntman said:
So, how is disrupting a service that I and many people I know use going to benefit me and make me want to support them?
Click to expand...


So how do you want to be marketed to? Do you want your kids to have to endure targeted marketing 24/7? Do you want all your life, including medical records out where every marketer can see them? (Pharmacies apparently can sell some data) Medical and driving records available to all might affect your insurance.

Do you want your phone screaming advertising every time you walk by a store or vending machine? (Probably pay for the service, too)

I don't think disrupting the services you like just for disruption is any good, but if you are concerned about any other form of privacy, the disruption might be a wakeup call. Especially to those people who are prone to collect stalkers. A single female might be a good target, and so might a senior citizen.

Advertising is paying for more and more stuff you use. You might wish to pay higher prices and opt out.
 
_mw_ said:
My absolute favorite saying, overheard years ago and as such I cannot attribute the original source:

The internet! Where all the men are manly men, and so are most of the women.
Click to expand...

I suppose that's where the infamous "pics or it didn't happen" line came from. :D
 
zuben el genub said:
So how do you want to be marketed to? Do you want your kids to have to endure targeted marketing 24/7? Do you want all your life, including medical records out where every marketer can see them? (Pharmacies apparently can sell some data) Medical and driving records available to all might affect your insurance.

Do you want your phone screaming advertising every time you walk by a store or vending machine? (Probably pay for the service, too)

I don't think disrupting the services you like just for disruption is any good, but if you are concerned about any other form of privacy, the disruption might be a wakeup call. Especially to those people who are prone to collect stalkers. A single female might be a good target, and so might a senior citizen.

Advertising is paying for more and more stuff you use. You might wish to pay higher prices and opt out.
Click to expand...

If we flipped a switch today and turned off FB completely and permanently, none of that stuff would change.
 
Vehtemas said:
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 ;)
Click to expand...

Employers do use the net to find out about prospective employees. There are some people on some forums I would never hire because of their silly ideas, their unreasonable hatred for Android over Apple, and their jack of e-judgment. Some are conservative and liberal employers might not want you if you are conservative and Vicey Versey.

I might notice that you Tweet or FB during the day, and often. I might assume you would also spend the time I am paying you for, to do stuff I do not want to pay you for. Lots of potential problems when your real name is tied to the email address you give me.

If I were hiring an editor or a writer, I might take sloppy posts that were not fact checked as a sign that you are not what we need. To be fair, some of the worse writing I read comes from forums populated by writers. That said, it does not matter because first impressions are what often count and if you canbt speel ckech your writering on a formula how can you written stuff for me, dawg.

I worked for a long time with a company filled with Masons, next door to a novelty shop owned by a Mason, and we knew many people that were Masons and we had many Masons as clients and retail customers. You could not swing a dead cat without hitting at least two Masons and a DeMolay member. Might not have been hired if I displayed my hatred for Masons on some list, had the net or the PC been with us way back in 1973 or so.

There are those that speak out of school about their boss or their company and this might prevent you from being hired. Some employees are production line fools that like to talk about what they do at work and some of the info they discuss could be proprietary.

I remember when we started building the first Palm Pilot with a color screen. Dealers had hundreds of thousands of units they might not be able to sell if the public knew a color version was on the horizon. And some people like to blab and my guess is, if there were Facebook or twitter available, people would talk. And this would get them fired.

So in some cases, you might shoot yourself for your behavior on a forum because of how you act on the forum. This is why I use a unique email address just for work related work.

Spam is a reason I use a toss away email address. I have one account with something like 70,000 messages. I have another address that only receives about 30 messages per month and no spam.

You all assume my name is Bob Maxey. Who would make up a fake name like that? Fact is, Bob started out as Bobbins because as a wee lad, I bobbed about as though I was listening to music.

Bobbins eventually became Bob until the Megahertz days. Then it was changed to Bobbo.

After that, it became
 
I know it won't change, but it might just wake some idiots up about what they post! And where they post it! And read what you are signing up for!

There were a whole lot of complaints about a Smurf game that allowed the player to purchase berries or some such. It did not say that it was an actual purchase, and a child playing the game might not understand. So the phone owners would find themselves with a charge for this game. If all the info was not available or needed to be approved by the adult, this would not have happened.

Did all of you read the requirements for Angry Birds or whatever the newest fad is?
How about a FB game?

Why make it easier for the buggers to get the info?

Law enforcement agencies are also patrolling social sites. RIAA/MPAA probably are, too.

The only email I've ever had with my right name was one for work.
 
I have skimmed most of the posts. Here is the problem. I, in real life, walk up to a person and introduce myself as "julie jones". There is zero chance that the person I talk to will ask me to prove my name. If I walk up to another person and say "janet moores." Once again, I could tell an officer of the law the fake name and at least in my state, and there is zero law against it. Furthermore, I can drive past a idiot in the slow lane, and scream "you are an idiot", and in most cases, there is zero chances of that person ever knowing your real name.

I can create a new personae, use the name on everything I ever use, and be 100% legal. There is zero problem in real life with not providing your real name as long as you don't break the law, you are 100% legal.

In fact, just for example. The song writer Will.I.Am, could have credit cards, driver licenses, own houses, and even a passport under the name Will.I.Am, there are a few legal requirements.


Lastly, trolls are going to troll, if you require their real name, they will just create a few alias and troll anyway.

As for google plus, I could care less, I value my privacy and I understand that creating a google plus I will hand over everything to hackers at some point in time.
 
RiverOfIce said:
I have skimmed most of the posts. Here is the problem. I, in real life, walk up to a person and introduce myself as "julie jones". There is zero chance that the person I talk to will ask me to prove my name. If I walk up to another person and say "janet moores." Once again, I could tell an officer of the law the fake name and at least in my state, and there is zero law against it. Furthermore, I can drive past a idiot in the slow lane, and scream "you are an idiot", and in most cases, there is zero chances of that person ever knowing your real name.
Click to expand...

Are you so sure? I bet lying to the police is a crime. And if you are taken into custody, I bet they will not tolerate being told your name is fake. Just a guess, prove me wrong.

And I'll guess if you do not know your name, or give several and not one of them correct, they might be able to hold you until a witch doctor drills a hole in your brain and lets out the confused spirits.

Smiley
 
RiverOfIce said:
Once again, I could tell an officer of the law the fake name and at least in my state, and there is zero law against it.
Click to expand...

It's illegal in every last state, and it's called 'obstruction of justice'. Not trying to negate anything else you have said, just pointing out that this particular statement is factually incorrect.
 
_mw_ said:
It's illegal in every last state, and it's called 'obstruction of justice'. Not trying to negate anything else you have said, just pointing out that this particular statement is factually incorrect.
Click to expand...

A class C misdemeanor here in Utah. Up to 90 days in jail and a $750.00 fine.

Quote:

If a Utah cop wants to ask you questions, remember that you can always refuse to answer questions. If you do choose to talk to a cop, or the cop says that you have to speak with him because you are detained, there are a two things you cannot do.

You cannot lie to the cop about yourself. It is a Class C misdemeanor if you give the police officer a false name, false birthdate, or false address. If the cop asks about any of those, you should truthfully answer to protect yourself from being charged with giving false information to a peace officer. It is a Class A misdemeanor if you represent yourself as another person to a police officer when he asks about your identity. If you give the cop someone else
 
I like a lot of the points that people have made.

Ultimately, my father taught me one thing when I was a kid "If you don't want what you say to eventually be told to your grandmother, keep it in your head.".

I have kept to that rule for my entire life.
 
_mw_ said:
It's illegal in every last state, and it's called 'obstruction of justice'. Not trying to negate anything else you have said, just pointing out that this particular statement is factually incorrect.
Click to expand...
Ok, even though that would make every nickname, like bill and bob, illegal, I will take back what I said. You have to give your full name to a police officer, and if you say bill instead of William, you are going to jail. Just so people know.
 
RiverOfIce said:
Ok, even though that would make every nickname, like bill and bob, illegal, I will take back what I said. You have to give your full name to a police officer, and if you say bill instead of William, you are going to jail. Just so people know.
Click to expand...

So my brother Bill who is actually William, tells the coppers his name is Bill, he is locked up? LOL . . . hardly.

Cops will ask him when he says Bill if it is short for William. He would be required to show ID and it says William, no problems there. I am quite amazed that I had to type this, Wow.

Nicknames are legal, not going to change. and not an issue.
 
Bob Maxey said:
So my brother Bill who is actually William, tells the coppers his name is Bill, he is locked up? LOL . . . hardly.

Cops will ask him when he says Bill if it is short for William. He would be required to show ID and it says William, no problems there. I am quite amazed that I had to type this, Wow.

Nicknames are legal, not going to change. and not an issue.
Click to expand...

Kinda like if I tell someone my name is Josh...

They assume it is short for Joshua, or they see from my photo ID it is.
 
Vehtemas said:
Kinda like if I tell someone my name is Josh...

They assume it is short for Joshua, or they see from my photo ID it is.
Click to expand...

Yup. Never a problem. If you are William, many will call you Bill. ID tells the complete story, and no cop is stupid enough to arrest Bill because Bill lied to the cop by not telling him his legal name is William.

So very simple.

I wonder how many cops named William wear a Bill name badge?
 
RiverOfIce said:
Ok, even though that would make every nickname, like bill and bob, illegal, I will take back what I said. You have to give your full name to a police officer, and if you say bill instead of William, you are going to jail. Just so people know.
Click to expand...

No, it would make every nickname like 'Skidder' and 'Roach' illegal, especially when your name is actually William (Bill) or Richard (Dick). The police aren't very often as stupid as they are treated, but it's funny how many people are willing to be condescending to them and then wonder why they're in front of a judge the next morning.
 
I have a rule these days. Never put anything on the internet, unless you're happy for it to go public at sometime in the future. Especially with what goes on with FB, and for cloud computing in general. I trust Google with my contacts and calendar, but only because I've not linked them into any irrelevant third-party things like FB.
 
Good policy, mikedt. My real names are on the internet, and it doesn't bother me that much. Made that point earlier in the thread if anyone wants to scroll back. What I don't understand is why people publicly post their phone numbers on their profiles on FB. Restricted to a few select people, okay. Even then, it's a calculated risk. I keep forgetting to do anything about it, but it bugs the living daylights out of me that my personal cell phone number is published in the student directory at my university. Do you know how many people now have access to my phone number if they want it? According to the wikipedia article, 32956. The directory is published en masse and freely available on campus here and there. I'm surprised I haven't been getting more spam calls. A rule in the directory saying "don't spam people or you'll get in trouble" in legalese means nothing--it's a mental block unless you're dumb enough to get caught.
 
_mw_ said:
My absolute favorite saying, overheard years ago and as such I cannot attribute the original source:

The internet! Where all the men are manly men, and so are most of the women.
Click to expand...

I thought it was "The internet! Where men are men, women are men and children are undercover FBI agents." /shrug

Anonymity on the internet is a bit of a double edged sword to me. Yes, it gives you the ability to be yourself more than you could out in public. I have certain opinions and views that I, as a general rule, will not mention outside of the internet because of the closed minded thinking that is related with the area in which I live. The internet gives me the ability to express my views without dealing with all the drama that would come with expressing them outside of the internet (well, there will probably be drama, but hey, nobody knows who I am).

However, anonymity lets those of an unsavory character use it to their advantage. You can literally be anybody on the internet and you can be talking to anybody. Sure, the person you're talking to claims to be person x, but how can you really know that's who they are? This can be especially dangerous for children and women (men too, but these seem to be the two big targets).

I think there may have been a point amongst all that rambling. It's early and I'm tired so forgive me if there isn't a coherent thought in this post.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom