I'm writing a novel about a woman who hides files because she fears that other people may access information she wants to keep secret.
Mary Lou doesn't follow a precise method for hiding files in hard-disks, but she does so with excessive zeal.
So, as ever, I would like to know whether there is an adjective to describe Mary Lou.
After a bit of searching I found that bibliotaph means 'one that hides away or hoards books', but, alas, it seems that one can properly uses this word only in reference to books, not files.
So, I wonder, what do you call someone who hides away files?
Best Answer
Consider that fine word obscurantist (“A practitioner of obscurantism; an obscurant”), where obscurantism has a sense “being deliberately obscure or vague”, and obscurant as an adjective means “Acting or tending to confound, obfuscate, or obscure”, or as a noun, “One who acts to confound or obfuscate; an obscurantist” or “A person who seeks to prevent or hinder enquiry and the advancement of knowledge or wisdom; an agent of endarkenment”. The latter phrase also suggest the term endarkener.
Note, by the way, that “security through obscurity” (a general term for keeping things secret by hiding them) often is denigrated as a security policy.