No Prerequisite

As of late I’ve found myself thinking about my personal ‘internet presense’. I have websites, email addresses, IM screen names, etc. These identities–or pieces of my online identity–came together haphazardly at first, but for at least the past year I’ve been trying to instill some order. Anonymity and privacy have played a role in that from the beginning.

In the end, I think I’m trying to do two main things:

• to create a space where I can write what I want without worrying about who reads it (this site)
• to create a space where I can post information I want to be made public (my online CV)

Basically, I don’t want somebody to find this site based on a search for my full name. However, I’ve failed to realize that I can have that and still link to my CV, or link to things I’ve written elsewhere under my full name. My goal isn’t that people here not find out who I am, but rather that people who know me only find this site if I want them to. Once somebody is here they can find out who I am one way or another.

Of course, this isn’t foolproof. Somebody could stumble upon this site and then realize they know me, or any of a thousand other things could happen. And you’ll notice that I haven’t linked to my CV or what-have-you. I’m just saying that it’s not ruled out anymore.

Why the need for privacy? I don’t think it’s neccessarily a need. I don’t plan on writing things here that will get me in trouble if they are found out. Or things that would embarass me. I just like knowing that, for the most part, the average citizen of the internet looking for information about me won’t find this site unless they do a bit of digging.

This balance of anonymity (which I don’t really have on websites) and privacy is changing the way I use IM and email. Whereas before my screen names pretty clearly gave away my identity, now they don’t. Nor do they tie me to any of my websites. Somebody I know in real life can’t chat with me online unless I want them to be able to, and somebody I chat with can’t figure out who I am unless I want them to be able to. Again, not foolproof, but better. With unlimited mailboxes at various domains come similar options for email.

So, for those of you that know my new screen names, or know of other sites I have but don’t link between, now you understand a bit of the reasoning behind all of it.