{"id":655,"date":"2015-02-18T20:12:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T20:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amerares.com\/blogs\/?p=147"},"modified":"2023-10-11T04:20:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T09:20:53","slug":"confcommblog-147","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amerares.com\/blogs\/confcommblog-147\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Identity and Metadata"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0The fight to stay anonymous<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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People by nature want to keep certain aspects of their life private, anonymous; others because their jobs require to stay anonymous and others because what they are doing could lead to repercussions in their professional and personal lives. The funny thing is that most people think that just because they are seated in front of a computer, it automatically grants them anonymity, and that is far from the truth. In this article I will try to explain some issues that any person using the Internet should be aware in order to look for mechanisms to help maintain his\/her anonymity.<\/h4>\n

Digital identity<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The first issue is our digital identity; this is formed by our usernames, email addresses, and accounts across
the Internet. Given the impressive power of search engines such as Google one should pay more attention of our digital identity and how we use it.<\/h4>\n

When was the last time you posted\/sent\/signed in with your email account? All those logins, accounts, etc usually are linked to an email and they become a trail pointing back in your direction and if you add to all this the use of social networks, well, let me tell you that the person behind the keyboard is no longer anonymous as he\/she once thought. In fact a skillful adversary with enough resources will be able to identify a user including a nice photo from his last birthday party that was posted on Facebook.<\/h4>\n

If you are planning to achieve certain degree of anonymity, the first step is to create a second virtual id<\/b>, one that is going to be used only for those activities that will require anonymity<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 [Editor\u2019s note: a virtual ID is one form of alias<\/b> or pseudonym<\/b>. We will have a separate post on the history of aliases, pen names, handles, and similar concepts.]<\/h4>\n

It is important not to mix both identities. Sounds simple but human beings are lazy so you need to think like a
super hero, you have two IDs, one that is being used for your everyday activities and the other one that for that activity that requires you to maintain anonymity.<\/h4>\n

Now having two IDs is not enough to maintain anonymity<\/b>, but is the first step; in reality to maintain anonymity you will require several technical and procedural measures in order to avoid being tracked or at least make it very difficult for a potential adversary.\u00a0 Some of the measures that you will need to maintain anonymity are:<\/h4>\n