Project Anonymizes Your Writing Style To Hide Your Identity 103
mikejuk writes "An open source project to combat 'stylometry,' the study of attributing authorship to documents based only on the linguistic style they exhibit, is proving that it is possible to change writing style to evade detection. Artificial Intelligence techniques are routinely used to detect plagiarism and recently were employed to reveal that Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling is indeed the author of The Cuckoo's Calling, which was published under the byline of Robert Galbraith. Now software is tackling the opposite problem — anonymizing writing style to protect the identity of the originator. The JStylo-Anonymouth (JSAN) framework is a work in progress at the Privacy, Security and Automation Lab (PSAL) at Drexel University. It analyzes a written text and detects features which could be used to identify the author. It then suggests changes that need to be made to avoid the author's stylistic fingerprint appearing in the work."
Stephen King (Score:5, Insightful)
Stephen King seems to agree with you.
In his book "On Writing [amazon.com]", he explains (among many other good points) that one hallmark of good writing is finding the right combination of words for imagery.
He uses examples like "I lit a cigarette, tasted like a plumber's handkerchief'" from Raymond Chandler and "'It was darker than a carload of assholes' by George V Higgins.
The Odyssey (IIRC) has the phrase "it was a wine dark sea", so this has been around for a very long time.
For casual writing the project may be useful, but I wonder how much imagery will be lost in translation.
Many of the works of revolutionaries, radicals, and dissenters are memorable for their specific imagery. Simon Sinek analyzed "I have a dream [wikipedia.org]", and noted the difference between "I have a dream" and "I have a plan". The two are very different, and have different effects on people. (Viz. TED talk "How Great Leaders Inspire Action" [ted.com])
I'm doubtful that AI has progressed to the point where the mood and emotional content will be preserved in such a translation.
To be effective, defiant writing will still require courage.