'Anonymous' doesn't mean nobody knows who you are

Google has always been an easy target for privacy infractions, but it's been a doozy of a month even for them.

First, they announced their new behavioral targeting model -- and got immediately ripped into by privacy advocates.

Next, they rewarded the SEO prowess of some dodgy characters by linking to details of 19,000 stolen credit cards. Yes, I know Google isn't trafficking in stolen credit cards. But it's still not a good look.

And now folks on both sides of the Atlantic are pointing out the obvious: given enough ancillary details, anonymity don't mean squat.

Those two articles -- one detailing the concerns of European commissioner Meglena Kuneva, the other describing a study proving that anonymity is no safeguard -- reinforce a concept that has never been a secret:

Anonymity is not the same thing as privacy.

From the article about the study:

...two researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have authored a paper attempting to debunk once and for all the concept that "anonymous" means private. In the report, "De-anonymizing Social Networks," the authors say they were able to use "anonymous" information to unmask one in three Twitter users' identities who also had accounts on Flickr.

When you go to Alcoholics Anonymous, you don't reveal your full name, your phone number, or your social security. But anybody there who knew who you were would know who you were.

If I describe a person's daily movements, from getting in the car to stopping at the Starbucks on Martin Luther King Dr to visiting the gym to going to the office to having a drink after work, don't you think that eventually you'd be able to figure out who I was talking about?

Personally, I've long ago reconciled myself to the loss of my privacy online. This may prove to be a dramatically short-sighted stance to be taking -- I'll let you know if it all goes horribly wrong. But I want access and I want it bad, so bad that I don't really care who knows what about me.

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog. But visit Hot Huskies often enough, and people will begin to suspect.

Are you worried about your privacy online?

• data privacy
• Google
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