NSA chief: Being anonymous an anachronism

The concept of total anonymity may be something of an anachronism, the head of the National Security Agency suggested. Adm Michael Rogers said anonymity is being sacrificed for technology, and his agency is caught in the tensions surrouding that shift.

“In the world we’re living in, increasingly by choice and by chance, we are forfeiting privacy at levels that as individuals I don't think we truly understand,” Adm Rogers said. “I’m the first to admit, the idea that you can be totally anonymous in the digital age is increasingly difficult to executive.”

The ability to completely disappear from the crowd may be a thing of the past, he said, given the ability of companies and governments to obtain vast amounts of information about people.

Adm Rogers's comments follow a series of reports detailing the insights companies and government agencies are gaining by watching people’s habits on the Internet and offline.