and the return of anonymity on the web
As our identities become more entrenched on the web, a slew of apps want us to return to an earlier era of anonymity on the internet. But can apps such as Secret which has just launched on Android really keep our identities, well, secret?
Think back to an AOL chatroom.
Wait for the modem to sing its song, click the connect button, find a room and inevitably, the first question you're asked as soon as you log in is "a/s/l?" age/sex/location.
In other words: "Who are you?"
For many people, this was the defining feature of the internet: anonymity. A place where screen names and loose identification protocols made the web, by default, an opaque place.
Today, our digital identities adhere ever more closely to our real lives, with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allowing real time and often permanent imprints of our existence.
While alleviating one concern identification they have created another: is there any way to be open on the internet anymore, without fear of reprisal?
I think we're really well positioned to own anonymityMichael Heyward, Co founder, Whisper
That is why a whole host of firms are arguing that it is time to return to, or at least make space for, anonymity.
The best version "You look at all of these services like Facebook and Instagram, and they're all about let me show you the best version of me," argues Whisper co founder Michael Heyward.
"It's essentially this highlight reel Whisper is about showing people the behind the scenes stuff that we're not always comfortable posting on Facebook."
Whisper allows users to download an app and then post anonymous statements everything from "do you like this outfit?" to "I'm worried I suffer from post traumatic stress disorder". Users can then like statements they identify with or think are funny.
Mr Heyward likens it to the Catholic concept of a confession but a confession that also operates as a business. Whisper has raised over $60m (36m) since being founded two years ago.
"I think we're really well positioned to own anonymity," he says.
Big businessBut Mr Heyward isn't the only one to realise that both the intrusion of social networks into our "real lives" and the Edward Snowden US government spying revelations have led to an increased desire for anonymity on the web.
And, of course, capitalising on that desire for anonymity could be big business.
Whisper's Michael Heyward was recently taken to task by Michael Arringon, co founder of the TechCrunch website, for claiming that Whisper helped make the world more open. Mr Arrington cited a Whisper where an anonymous user claimed Gwyneth Paltrow was having an affair.
"How does outing Gwyneth Paltrow cheating on her husband make this a more caring world?" asked Mr Arrington.
While that question went unanswered, it raised another question: could Whisper be sued for libel?
Not in the US, says law professor James Grimmelman.
"US law section 230 provides that no provider of Nike Air Max Mens a user generated content site is responsible for user generated content," he says.
Secret, founded in October and launched in January by two former Google employees, Chrys Bader Wechseler and David Byttow, has already raised $11.5m. Unlike Whisper, it accesses your phone's contacts and only shows you Secrets from friends or friends of friends.
It was a hit with iPhone users in Silicon Valley, where they posted juicy titbits, including news of which tech start ups had been bought for millions and, most notably, broke news of layoffs at Nike.
And the app has just been made available in all countries both on iOS Nike Air Max 2016 Sale and Android.
Mr Bader Wecheseler says that the duo didn't design the app with the concept of whistle blowing in mind.
But now "we constantly ask ourselves is whistle blowing important, and Nike Air Max 2016 we think so".
Marketing gimmickBut thinking whistle blowing is important and promising anonymity are two very different things.
"The problem with apps on mobile phones is that, well, it's a mobile phone," says Runi Sandvik, a technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
"It's tied to you in some way or another and this identifier is often passed to the makers of these applications.