Fake Names are the Solution

One of the main tools in Digital Selfdefense is using pseudonyms to protect your original identity. You can make up your own fake identities or use fakenamegenerator.com

Hi, my name is Pernille Tranberg. That is my real name. My original identity. The one on my birth certificate. The one I use for all my professional stuff online. But I have two more identities. Another name, birthday, sexual orientation, civil status etc. I use these identities when I am on networks that are asking me to be private, such as Facebook and Pinterest. And I use them when a website or an app ask me for personal data, which I won’t give them. It could be an app I use for my running. I don’t think they should monitor my health and sell my data to others.

I have created my two fake identites on my own. One of them I have had on Facebook for 7 years. Another one is pretty new, as the old one more and ore is becoming me and harder to dispose off. I never know when Facebook closes my account. Facebook has a this horrible policy called real-name-policy, where it tells everybody to use their real identity – otherwise you are a bad person, they say. Well, they probably make more money on the real me than the fake me. I am saying to people who think the idea of pseudonyms is dishonest: Do you think that Facebook is honest to you about how they use your personal data? And what is most important, that Facebook can make money on your identity or that you can protect it so you are much better off in the long run? Once you lose your privacy, it is very hard to get it back.

Anyway, I just found this brilliant website (thanks to @annataws) called fakenamegenerator.com. It generates names and related personal data in the country of your choice (33 languages and 25 countries) such as address, your maiden name, your blood type, weight and even VISA card number. I love this.