I met Cole Stryker at a secret party last summer, just before his first book came out, called Epic Win for Anonymous. Cole described Epic Win as a cultural study of trolling, 4chan, memes and the hacker darlings known as Anonymous. Invitees were asked not to bring a guest, not to tweet, not to take pictures—just have fun, enjoy the party and forget the world beyond. The idea of disconnecting New Yorkers from their social networks for a few hours seems so extreme as to be almost a social experiment. With this event in the back of my mind I eventually wrote an essay in The Brooklyn Rail called “Alias Anonymous,” in which I explored the ways we use pseudonyms and other means to protect our eroding privacy. In the time it took me to write this essay, Cole Stryker wrote his second book: Hacking the Future: Privacy, Identity and Anonymity on the Web. The publisher describes the book as a “look at how anonymity both on and off the Web influences politics, activism, religion, and art and why the identity issue may be the most important decision we face in the coming decade.” Throughout our discussion, I kept thinking: how do you write so fast? But first I asked him about the book. –Robin Grearson

THE BELIEVER: Okay, anonymity. About a blogger, you write, “her desire for anonymity boils down to the need for self-expression without consequence.” Why shouldn’t self-expression have consequences?

COLE STRYKER: It’s important for people to have a choice and decide for themselves whether or not to be anonymous or to use their given name to back up a certain idea. I don’t think anonymity is a Platonic ideal. But the choice is.

BLVR: You write about the ways people abuse privacy. With all the technology we have, why can’t we disarm just the bad guys?

CS: As optimistic as I am about the world of technology, I have a cynical view of human nature, and the ability of people to figure out ways to work around any form of either legislative regulation or technological solutions. Also, any form of regulation that would inhibit the free speech of others would be a net negative, because it wouldn’t get rid of all the bad stuff, it would just make us well-meaning people a little less free in the process.

BLVR: So there is no way to de-fang the trolls, then?

CS: I don’t know if there’s a solution to the trolling problem, because assholes will find a way. On the one hand, you have Anonymous pushing for pure chaos and...