Staying anonymous has to be one of the most impossible things people can do in this day and age. Whether you like it or not, your personal details are out there. You might not be on social media, but know that your details will be floating somewhere in the cloud. And so, as long as you have a number registered to your name, a number that you use to contact other people and go about your daily living, then you’re not anonymous.
Because all that is required is for someone to really want to find you, and they will. One of the reasons many people troll and cyberstalk is because they believe that they’re invisible. They think that just because they use a random image as a profile picture and use a fake username, they can say whatever they like online and it would have no repercussions. Thankfully, recent times have shown many of them getting what they deserve.
The other day, we heard the story of a man who had to track down a troll that kept going after his wife, he tracked him down to his very house. A few days ago, we heard yet another story of a scammer who was also traced to his house, and everything about his life and his ill-gotten wealth was exposed on social media.
The truth is that it’s easy to assume that there is anonymity on social media, after all, it’s just taking on a different name and using a meme as your profile picture. The thing is, many people get away with nasty things online simply because most of the time, their victims are not really interested in following up on the case. Some just choose to ignore it and move on with their lives. But every once in a while, they come across a stubborn person who will refuse to accept the disrespect and hunt them down.
So no, there is no true anonymity online. Or should I rephrase, if you want to achieve true anonymity, just provide value. If you’re giving value, you’re not a creep or a troll, people will have no need to dig into your true identity because, in reality, they don’t care. They just want more of what you have to offer. But when you’re a troll, or you’re someone who loves to ragebait or talk on extremely sensitive topics just for the controversies they bring, then you’re very well going to have a problem.
In a nutshell, as long as you’re online and you’re active, know that you’re only anonymous because no one has taken the time to dig into who you are. The day that someone gets motivated enough, they can easily get it. Although that makes it scary because only the authorities should be able to do such things, we’ve seen cases of regular citizens tracking down trolls and revealing them online. We’ve also seen regular people on social media using only a picture to track down a person, down to where they work.
And even worse, more than 90% of the world’s population is on social media (this number is just off the top of my head, though), and for the other 10% that aren’t online, they still are surrounded by people who are active online. From siblings to partners, colleagues, and neighbors, there will always be people around them taking pictures and making videos to post online. And that’s why one day, through no fault of yours, despite having no social media presence, a picture or video of you could end up online. It happens.
Well, at this point, anonymity is a myth.
