Maintaining digital anonymity

San Francisco/East Bay Intergroup seeks to assist in maintaining accessible meetings for its membership during the COVID-19 quarantine.  As meetings shift to online and phone platforms, maintaining anonymity per traditions 11 and 12 becomes a challenge.

Here are some ways for meeting hosts and attendees to maintain anonymity in the digital and phone meeting realm.  Please keep in mind that no method is foolproof and the best way to maintain your anonymity in any phone or video meeting is to call in from your phone, using a hidden caller ID (see below).

MEETING HOSTS:  How to make your meetings more anonymous and safe.

Please follow the link below for information on how to manage meeting participants as a Zoom host: https://aasfmarin.org/managing-meeting-participants*

Please follow this link for information on how to set up your meeting to maintain anonymity for its participants:  https://aasfmarin.org/zoom-meetings-protecting-anonymity-default-settings*

Privacy and recording meetings:  While secretaries/meeting hosts are able to limit participant recording in the Zoom app itself, 3rd party software might still be used to record meetings.  Legally all participants must consent to being recorded per California state Penal code 632.   Secretaries may want to add language to their scripts:  “participants do not have consent to record the meeting, and any recording without consent is in violation of the law and punishable as a misdemeanor or felony.”

MEETING PARTICIPANTS:  

Please follow this link for information on how to protect your anonymity in a Zoom meeting or call:

https://aasfmarin.org/maintain-anonymity-online-zoom-meeting*

*Please note that San Francisco/East Bay Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous Intergroup is not connected with and does not in any way endorse Alcoholics Anonymous, and is only providing these links as a service to its members.

Managing anonymity when using conference calls

Q.  Why hide my number? 

  1.  For freeconferencecall.com phone conference calls, the meeting host gets a report at the end of the call with a list of all callers with names (as listed in your phone’s caller ID settings) and phone numbers. If you turn off caller ID or use *82, your name and number will appear as “anonymous” on that list.
  1. How do I hide my caller ID/phone number?

Hide your caller ID for all calls–Android–hides both name and phone number

  1. Open the Voice app .
  2. At the top left, tap Menu. Settings.
  3. Under Calls, turn Anonymous Caller ID On . If you want people to see your phone number when you call them, turn Anonymous Caller ID Off .

Hide your caller ID for all calls–all types of phones

  1. Dial *82.
  2. Then enter the full phone number, for example: *822175554433.

Hiding caller ID for all calls: Iphone–hides both name and phone number

  1.  Open settings
  2. Go to and open phone
  3. Go to show my caller id
  4. toggle/switch off “show my caller ID”