anonymity

Since 2008, Dan Keen has grown his business from a small company serving customers in the Pacific Northwest to a major national player in what’s known as the corporate formation industry. The company and its competitors offer the ability to incorporate a business in the state of a customer’s choosing and receive mail and legal notices.Keen started the company after running a tree trimming and landscaping business. Former employees said Keen worked tirelessly to build the business, often sending emails at all hours of the…

At the end of last month, I published an essay reflecting on how the prospects for anonymity online in China changed drastically last year. Following many smaller decisions that make posting anonymously more difficult, the largest blow came in October when all social media platforms in China demanded that certain users with large followings display their legal names. The government and the platforms argue that the new rule can help prevent online harassment and misinformation. While anonymity can be associated with…

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The worst technology failures of 2023 Welcome to our annual list of the worst technologies. This year, one technology disaster in particular holds lessons for the rest of us: the Titan submersible that imploded in the shadow of the Titanic. Everyone had warned Stockton Rush, the sub’s creator, that it wasn’t safe. But he believed innovation meant tossing…

In reality, it’s already impossible to be fully anonymous online in China. Over the years, to implement a stricter regime of online censorship, the country has built a sophisticated system that requires identity verification to use any online service. In many cases, posting politically sensitive content leads to account removal, calls from the police, or even detention. But that didn’t necessarily mean everyone else knew who you were. In fact, I’ve always felt there were corners of the Chinese internet in which I could…

Security experts were tap-and-go system when it was first announced years ago. Then, in August, revealed riders were right to be concerned. As it turned out, the ability to check trip history could be used by nearly anyone to follow specific riders' location patterns. MTA , but it pointed to a deeper problem that exists across modern public transit systems: they make it harder to opt out of having our sensitive data collected,“You're building a better system, but you're also really stepping into a dangerous…

When it comes to being famous and still having a somewhat private life, voice actors and those generally under heavy makeup have it made. It is why those who star on The Simpsons can still go to a restaurant today and why Zoe Saldaña is able to roam freely even with live-action work. The Marvel and Avatar star says she is sometimes swarmed, but, at other times, is passed by completely. The 45-year-old reveals the complexity of her career in a new report filed by the CBS Sunday Morning television show. While sitting down…

The resounding call from top U.S. regulators for a clampdown on crypto anonymity has sent waves of uncertainty and anticipation through the decentralized exchange (DEX) and decentralized finance (DeFi) realms. As the landscape of crypto regulation undergoes rapid evolution, the potential ramifications on prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Signuptoken.com are the subject of widespread speculation. The urging to remove anonymity raises pertinent questions about the future of privacy in cryptocurrency…

Anonymity is allowing crypto assets to finance illegal activities, a top US regulatory official said on Tuesday, posing national security risks that must be addressed. Christy Goldsmith Romero, a commissioner at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said cryptocurrencies were being used to finance cybercrime with victims including individuals, companies, hospitals and critical infrastructure. "Fraud is a hallmark of digital asset markets, the human toll of which may be overlooked," Romero told a City Week…

The collapse of several cryptocurrency platforms this year is testing the industry’s promise of user privacy as bankruptcy courts weigh if millions of individual customers’ identities should be revealed to the public. Hundreds of thousands of customers of Celsius Network LLC have already lost their anonymity because of its chapter 11 filing after a court ruling in September forced it to disclose its account holders’ names and coin balances. A different bankruptcy court is expected to consider next month…

Mark Bonnar is everywhere, but when the actor gets stopped by fans in the street, they struggle to recall where they know him from. “‘I’m sure we’ve met, is your boy Jimmy?’” they ask, assuming he’s a parent they’ve spotted on the school run. In these circumstances, Bonnar – who’s been nominated for five Scottish Baftas and has won one – doesn’t call himself an actor. “What I usually say is, ‘I’m on the telly sometimes,’” he says. Then comes the “Aha!’ moment, and he watches the pieces fall into place, with one (or many)…