In 1993, when the internet was still in its infancy, the New Yorker released a cartoon that summed up the anonymity that the online medium granted.
Succinctly, it was captioned:
On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.
The times were different. The internet was deregulated, a place where nobody knew who was in charge of it. And if you made an online persona, there was very little to connect it with who you were In Real Life (IRL).
As of 2017, the cartoon still stands. You can make an online persona in numerous places, from Reddit to online role-playing games – and other users would be none the wiser as to your real identity. But, your identity is by no means a secret.
The websites you visit, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), online advertisers, cloud services and surveillance agencies can all use your digital footprint to make a highly accurate portrait of you – from your age, gender and nationality to your income, political views and sexual orientation.
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