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Editing Wikipedia:Personal security practices

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It may be either difficult or easy for a motivated individual to connect your network IP address with your real-life identity. Therefore, if you are concerned about [[privacy]], it is ''highly recommended'' that you use an account with a username that is under a [[pseudonym]]. If you are using your [[Personal name|real name]] as your user name and wish to change this, the best way to do so is to stop using that account, create a new account with a pseudonymous username, and use that account for all future edits moving forward. While you can [[WP:CHU|request the username of your current account be changed]], it will not stop other users from searching through your edit history and discovering your former username in old edits where you [[WP:SIG|signed a comment, message, or response]] with that former username.
It may be either difficult or easy for a motivated individual to connect your network IP address with your real-life identity. Therefore, if you are concerned about [[privacy]], it is ''highly recommended'' that you use an account with a username that is under a [[pseudonym]]. If you are using your [[Personal name|real name]] as your user name and wish to change this, the best way to do so is to stop using that account, create a new account with a pseudonymous username, and use that account for all future edits moving forward. While you can [[WP:CHU|request the username of your current account be changed]], it will not stop other users from searching through your edit history and discovering your former username in old edits where you [[WP:SIG|signed a comment, message, or response]] with that former username.


Most Wikipedians edit under pseudonyms because they wish to remain [[Anonymity|anonymous]]. Still, some users registered under pseudonyms make no other attempt to disguise their real identities (for example, by placing their real names, photographs of themselves, or other identifiable information on their user page). True anonymity is only achieved if there is absolutely no ability for anyone to link the user's actual identity from any information that is posted under the pseudonym.<ref>Post, David G. (1996). [http://www.cli.org/DPost/paper8.htm Pooling Intellectual Capital: Thoughts on Anonymity, Pseudoanonymity, and Limited Liability in Cyberspace]. ''University of Chicago Legal Forum.''</ref> However, true anonymity on Wikipedia is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve due to the fact that Wikipedia's server logs still enable system administrators to determine the IP address, and perhaps even the true name, of any registered user (see {{srlink|Wikipedia:Privacy Policy}} for a list of the conditions under which such a linkage would be attempted); this is not done unless there is a compelling reason (for example, significant [[WP:vandalism|vandalism]] or a law enforcement [[subpoena]]).
Most Wikipedians edit under pseudonyms because they wish to remain [[anonymous]]. Still, some users registered under pseudonyms make no other attempt to disguise their real identities (for example, by placing their real names, photographs of themselves, or other identifiable information on their user page). True anonymity is only achieved if there is absolutely no ability for anyone to link the user's actual identity from any information that is posted under the pseudonym.<ref>Post, David G. (1996). [http://www.cli.org/DPost/paper8.htm Pooling Intellectual Capital: Thoughts on Anonymity, Pseudoanonymity, and Limited Liability in Cyberspace]. ''University of Chicago Legal Forum.''</ref> However, true anonymity on Wikipedia is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve due to the fact that Wikipedia's server logs still enable system administrators to determine the IP address, and perhaps even the true name, of any registered user (see {{srlink|Wikipedia:Privacy Policy}} for a list of the conditions under which such a linkage would be attempted); this is not done unless there is a compelling reason (for example, significant [[WP:vandalism|vandalism]] or a law enforcement [[subpoena]]).
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'''Because a user's interest areas, writing style, and argumentative positions may establish an identifiable pattern, true pseudonymity may not be realistically achievable.'''<ref>Rao, J.R., and P. Rohatgi (2000). [http://www.freehaven.net/anonbib/cache/rao-pseudonymity.pdf "Can Pseudonyms Really Guarantee Privacy?"] Proceedings of the 9th USENIX Security Symposium (Denver, Colorado, Aug. 14–17, 2000).</ref>
'''Because a user's interest areas, writing style, and argumentative positions may establish an identifiable pattern, true pseudonymity may not be realistically achievable.'''<ref>Rao, J.R., and P. Rohatgi (2000). [http://www.freehaven.net/anonbib/cache/rao-pseudonymity.pdf "Can Pseudonyms Really Guarantee Privacy?"] Proceedings of the 9th USENIX Security Symposium (Denver, Colorado, Aug. 14–17, 2000).</ref>
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