Anonymity is almost non-existant. Posting a question or a comment on the internet without mentioning your name does not make you anonymous. In fact, every time you "click" on anything, your fame multiplies in the land of Google, Yahoo! and thousands of other websites who are eager to discover everything about their "nameless" consumers. Believe it or not, but every step you make online is and will be remembered for a long time, if not forever. All the random links you open, add more information to the personal file that the internet has on you. Sounds like I am talking about the police or the FBI, doesn't it? Well, maybe it is like the FBI. Imagine how fast google will track you down if you ever try to harm them... They will know the exact websites you visited at every single point throughout the life of your computer, all the pop-ups you stumbled upon and even the strangers you met on Chatroulette. Through a few clicks, they will probably find out all about your hobbies, tastes and maybe even identify your personality if not your name. Do you want to post an extremely controversial opinion that could cause you problems with the government? Think twice. The reality is that while I was writing this short paragraph 8 different websites have gotten information about me, all through a single source. Is this what democracy is or are we taking a step towards totalitarianism and no freedom? I believe this sort of control is against freedom of speech and if you are not afraid that people will know who you are, say what you think. Will I ever visit or post anything that I might be ashamed of? Probably not. But I will tell the world how I feel and, if for some strange reason I will desire to stay anonymous, I will rather write it to a newspaper where I can use a realistic pseudonym.
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