In 2009 the social network Chatroulette gained notoriety for its ability to anonymously pair two random people over video chat. Seeing and talking to a stranger without revealing your identity was a novel and exciting prospect then.

The novelty quickly wore off, however. Anyone who tried the site at the time will probably remember that in practice the “roulette” gamble was risky: while you might meet an interesting stranger, there was also a high chance of confronting a man mid-masturbation.

Now, in 2014, social media anonymity is pertinent once again but, rather than webcam gimmicks, this time it’s the result of a growing underlying concern about online privacy. Our many years of social media usage have amassed vast digital footprints of “likes”, photos and updates; now we’re wondering what’s happened to all that data. A study in Canada by non-profit agency MediaSmarts found that almost no students thought companies should have any access to people’s social media information. On top of all this, there’s also the more worrying climate created by government security agencies snooping into our data.