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The Intimacy of Anonymity: the recent comeback of online anonymity (nytimes.com)
2 points by e15ctr0n on June 16, 2014 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment



I think the reason that, as the article puts it, "anonymity soured" is less that the 'net was full of dickheads than that suddenly large companies found ways of encouraging people to give up their privacy in exchange for shiny trinkets. Facebook and LinkedIn both operate off the premise that "Hey, share with us all your intimate business and you'll get something out of it", and a lot of people fell for that.

By and by, though, the mainstream is perhaps (and I'm being cautiously optimistic here) realizing what all of us back in the days of chatrooms and BBSs and whatnot in the 90s already knew: you should be very careful about what you tell people you don't aren't meeting face-to-face.




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