How Far Can You Take Internet Privacy?

[Nonbeardedman]

I've always been skeptical of growing invasion of privacy by social media platforms and Google. For that reason, I'm still extremely hesitant about providing personally identifiable information on the Internet.

But I can't seem to determine whether I'm just paranoid, naive, or smart..

So far I've met three types of people when talking about remaining anonymous online:

• People who are compliant and aren't bothered about it (Will provide, images, passport photos, IDs, phone no., email, real full name, and share personal anecdotes)
• People who are mostly compliant but still skeptical (Will provide images, phone no., email, Name,)
• People who are not compliant (Will provide fake name, alt email, etc.)

I've been online since the early dawn of the internet where almost everyone of us used a pseudonym to be identified, like "TheShadowDestroyer77136", "Tommygun" etc. on forums and whatnot. There was also a certain "internet etiquette" that ought to be followed - and it seemed like everyone knew that you shouldn't post something personal online, or at least nothing of the like under your real full name.

Now, it's much more difficult remaining anonymous, given that most places NEED your phone no., email, real name etc. to just exist. Also, most people aren't bothered by it, they are saying the most absurd things under their real full name and it kinda baffles me people post such things and assume it won't catch some people's attention they may know IRL.

On top of that, I don't want to totally abandon the internet as I plan to run multiple forms of online ventures and projects.

So, here's my question: How far can I take internet privacy while running a successful business or collaborating with people on various projects on the internet? I'm aware there may be trade-offs like people may not trust me very much since I don't use my real name or image, etc. nor provide a thorough "About Me" section on any of my websites or profiles. But, is there much possibility to be anonymous without it being too inconvenient?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

P.S. till now my only ways of remaining anonymous in places where I don't want to be known is using a pseudonym and a free VPN, along with not posting something too personal under my real name - not sure how well that works tbh.

 

[Ryuzaki]

If you plan on making any serious amount of money, the problem will solve itself. You'll be doing business with people and companies that will require you to submit tax forms with your legit information on it.

I understand the desire for privacy, way more than the average knucklehead out there you've described, also having been online since the dawn of the internet. However, I also know some people that are delusional about their need for internet privacy, as if they have some kind of god-like status where everyone is just waiting for them to slip up.

What you risk to lose by losing a little privacy pales in comparison to what you stand to gain by being able to speak freely (not absurdly), do marketing, build a personal brand, build real relationships, send tax documents, sign contracts, get on phone and video calls.

To the core question: You can take internet privacy very far. You can log off permanently. You can spin up sandbox VPS's every time you boot up. You can hop through 5 proxies and VPN's and delete cookies and randomize your computer and browser's fingerprints. You can have 100 Google accounts, one for each website, never use Sheets, Fonts, Gmail, etc. Bulletproof hosting in China.

I've seen it all from people with an actual need for privacy (Blackhat SEO) and someone non-imaginary and very powerful hunting for them (Google Engineers) and they always lose. Hiding is so much harder than seeking, and security/privacy by obscurity isn't secure/private.

I say just be normal, don't do things online you wouldn't do or say in public IRL (because it is the same thing now), and don't let a paranoia about privacy stop you from conducting business.

At the end of the day, you have to insert yourself (not an anonymous figure) into the stream of money to extract any money. And money only flows between people. And people don't trust anonymous figures. You're only going to hamstring yourself.

 

[Nonbeardedman]

Thanks for your advice

I do think I'm a bit paranoid because I live in a country where there's common corruption. For that reason, I've been exposed to some stories of friends and colleagues being contacted from third parties etc. where they mentioned someone were trying to dox them for a chunk of money or service.

A common scenario is usually if someone is unwilling to give you the remaining amount of money for a service you have provided, they may not pay you the amount and threaten you with a raid if you withhold your services from them.

However, it's not very common for people to actually follow through with their threats, but still there's a lot of crazies out there.

For that reason, amongst others, I'm more comfortable doing business with international clients.

But I did relate to when you said that there are some people that are delusional for how much privacy they actually need. I have fallen in the trap of thinking something terrible is going to happen if someone "exposes" my identity, but at the end of the day I am just some guy.

I guess I could relax a bit. Cuz this only gives me anxiety and acts as an imaginary barrier to my potential success