How to Protect Your Identity from AI, Doxxers, and Scammers
There's still time to prepare for the worst-case scenario
At the height of internet censorship in 2021, I published a popular essay titled ‘Opsec for Noobs.’ It’s extremely in-depth, but much of it is outdated. This is a more practical and up-to-date guide. The full original essay is posted at the end.
Anthropic recently built an AI model called Claude Mythos that is apparently so sophisticated at detecting and exploiting vulnerabilities in browsers, operating systems, and other critical software that they decided it shouldn’t be released. They were so convinced that if it ended up in the wrong hands, it could pose major risks to the economy, public safety, and national security. Its release remains on hold until tech behemoths like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Amazon give Anthropic the green light.
I take dystopian AI narratives with a grain of salt. But given the rapid speed at which AI is progressing — it’s feasible that AI could find security loopholes across multiple websites and social media platforms that ultimately expose everyone’s information. It could even create a public database of everyone who has ever used the internet. If someone were to look up your name in this scenario, they would see everything you’ve ever said online. Yes, everyone would be fucked. But given this risk — people should take the proper precautions to reduce potential damage.
If you post under your real name, then you’re probably willing to muffle your true beliefs to protect your reputation. But if you post anonymously, then you still have to worry about your identity being exposed. Everyone should be concerned about the major security risks posed by AI.
Protecting your identity means more than just using an anonymous name and profile picture. It means completely severing your online life from your personal life. You must also ensure you aren’t leaving “breadcrumbs” — small pieces of information that can connect the two. Plenty of people are great at picking up these breadcrumbs. AI will be even better at it.
There’s a wide range of precautions you can take to protect your identity. The most extreme option is to not use the internet at all or delete all of your social media accounts. But that’s unrealistic. I prefer a more grounded approach while still being hypervigilant. In this post I will talk about the apps, methods, and common sense I use to have tight internet security and remain completely anonymous.
