Can you live your life without giving out your personal information? Josh Summers from All Things Secured recently spent a full day doing exactly that, using privacy-first digital identities called Sudos from the MySudo privacy app.
Josh challenged himself to do a bunch of everyday activities without using his own name, email, phone number, or credit card. He wanted to see how far these private aliases or alternative identities called Sudos – each with its own name, email, phone number, and virtual card – could go, and whether they’d “hit a wall.”
Josh tested his Sudo digital identities on:
- Loyalty programs (that ask for your name, email, and phone to give you some kind of discount)
- Ride share (when you need to verify your license)
- Free Wi-Fi (at places like Starbucks)
- Robotaxi ride (including paying without giving away a personal credit card)
- Rental car (matching the name on your license but still protecting the rest of your personal information).
Across every single activity, Josh proved that just because a service asks for your personal information, doesn’t mean you have to hand it over.
A Sudo can be in your own name and still protect your identity
Josh’s biggest realization was that using a Sudo doesn’t mean you have to use a fake name. You can create a Sudo in your own name but control everything else about your personal identity by pairing your name with a Sudo email, phone, and virtual card – or only some of those fields if you choose.
Josh says one of the biggest benefits of Sudos is compartmentalizing all the different “identities” you use online and in real life. Since every Sudo keeps its own inbox, when an email comes in from your robotaxi account, for example, it lands in that Sudo’s inbox and isn’t mixed in with your personal or work email. Your identities stay siloed instead of collapsing into one exposed pile of personal data that is at risk from data brokers and data breaches.
Take the Sudo challenge!
Are you up for the Sudo challenge? For the next week, every time you’re asked for your personal information, whether online or in person, stop and think whether they really need it or whether a Sudo will do.
Shopping is the simplest place to start. Set up a shopping Sudo for buying online, deals and discounts, and returns and exchanges. After that, think about these uses for your Sudos:
- Buying an e-sim
- Joining a gym
- Going on dating apps
- Using AI chat bots
- Buying a new house or car
- Buying a car battery
- Taking a rideshare
- Going on a restaurant table waitlist
- Using a QR code menu
- Leaving a review
- Signing up for streaming services
- Getting food and groceries delivered
- Signing up for free trials.
As Josh says, unless it’s a bank or a government entity – places where your actual data is required – you can usually use an alternative identity.
Put that to the test today. Set up your Sudos.
Ask why, what, how, to protect your data
If you’re still concerned about whether you should share your personal information or not, ask these three questions:
- Why does this company or person need it?
- What will they do with it?
- How long will they use it or keep it?
If you can’t get good answers, take it as a sign to protect yourself.
