the myth of anonymity

I love how the most recent Bill Maher overtime perpetuates the myth of anonymity online.

Sure, there are degrees of anonymity available online. But anywhere with anything approaching a forum or a community, the anonymity is forfeit in direct proportion to any benefit reaped.

As we wring content and purpose from the online experience, aside from the distanced, methodical view of the researcher, we give up our anonymity to get anything, to get anywhere.

I resent the ongoing perception of the uninformed that participation in anything online is by default anonymous. More and more that is not the case, as anyone with an inkling of interest in digital forensics and networking can attest.

In times of declining anonymity, it's more important than ever that those of us with the conviction to defend our tools and our rights express the truth.

And that is, simply put, that the myth of anonymity is being perpetuated by the uninformed or willfully ignorant, and toward dubious ends, at best.

Being invisible, or even somewhat anonymous, necessitates an ever-increasing and vigilant effort. Has anybody sent you a link to the new "internet phone book" that attempts to link your address, name, social networking websites, and email addresses?

Is the myth of anonymity being perpetuated to lure the young and dumb into actions online that allow them to be singled out for reprogramming or eventual imprisonment? I know I sound a tad more Art Bell than Alex Jones here, but bear me out.

In practical terms, anonymity is dead. Every packet sent on the net has to know where its effing going, and that means your ip address, probably your individual device's mac address, and info on what browser or app you're connecting with, is part of that process.

The lengths one would need to go to in order to remain truly untraceably anonymous for any amount of time would require resources out of the grasp of most common folk. That is to say nothing of the logistics involved or the skills needed to perform most tasks one might desire to perform under such circumstances.

Most of the cyber attacks and viruses people gasp over at the water cooler are script kiddies and exploits. I think anybody who knows enough about this world and how the various parts of it really work, knows how difficult it can be to do anything big or important, even when working with the right people who could conceivably achieve a given goal.

Many of the best tools available for attempting true anonymity online are plagued with bugs and nefarious individuals who consider themselves "white hats" sabotaging the networks in the name of their unicorn gods.

I may have run my yap and babbled my coffee-addled brains out here, but I daresay I'm onto something. You can pick a username to hide behind, a sock puppet, a throwaway account, but everything's traceable someway somehow. Only fools dare imagine that the real world is gonna treat them otherwise for long.