When you do choose to identify, the mechanism is a single method call on an

already-open link. From the Reticulum manual, the entry for Link.identify:

identify(identity)

Identifies the initiator of the link to the remote peer. This can only

happen once the link has been established, and is carried out over the

encrypted link. The identity is only revealed to the remote peer, and

initiator anonymity is thus preserved. This method can be used for

authentication.

Three things in that paragraph matter.

"Once the link has been established" - identification is something that happens

to a link that already exists. It is not part of connecting, and it is not a

property of you. It is a property of that one link.

"Carried out over the encrypted link" - only the node you are talking to learns

your identity. Nothing in between sees it. Your anonymity toward the rest of

the network is untouched.

"Can be used for authentication" - this is the hook that node software builds

permission systems on top of.

The other half of the picture is on the receiving side:

get_remote_identity()

Returns None if the link initiator has not already independently called

the identify(identity) method.

The node cannot ask. It can only look at what you volunteered. If you did not

identify, the answer is None, and there is nothing the operator can do about it

from their side.

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