Emma Reel is a French journalist and digital security expert set on exploring the slippery themes of privacy, intimacy and surveillance in a digital age. She does this by playing games with her readers under a host of different pseudonyms.

Amongst growing privacy concerns, younger generations are treating anonymity as something that isn't constant, but can be surrendered for benefits. Messaging app Backchat initially hides your identity, slowly revealing it as you interact with others.

Easy-to-use personal security measures are a welcome antidote to the privacy fears that plague a post-PRISM scandal world. But are encrypted text messages a necessity, or just a fan to the flames of a paranoia epidemic?

With crime widely perceived as on the rise in the UK, authorities are attempting to take action and prevent theft by triggering ‘reputational concerns’ in a bid to tug at our sense of decency.