Anonymous Communication On The Internet

Ever feel like you are being watched? How about having the feeling like some one is following you home from school? Well that is what it will be like if users do not have the privacy on the Internet they deserve. EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center), a advocacy group that has been fighting the Clinton Administration for tougher online consumer protection laws, and other privacy protection agencies have formed to protect the rights and privileges of the Internet user. With the U.S. Government, EPIC has had to step in and help small companies and Internet users with their own privacy problems, hackers getting into their systems and ruining the networks, and crackers stealing and decrypting private

In the essay Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt, by Julie Zhou, her thesis is “But the law by itself cannot do enough to disarm the internet’s trolls. Content providers, social network platforms and community sites must also do their part by rethinking the systems they have in place, for user commentary so as to discourage- or disallow- anonymity.” Zhou’s thesis is located in the first two sentences of paragraph nine, on page 89. 2. The issue Zhou addresses in this essay is trolling on the internet.

In today’s world, Privacy and Security comes hand in hand with internet. Technology allows us free speech and freedom of information over the internet, by imposing strict laws and policies regulating the privacy and security of our information. According to Richard Clarke, free expression over the internet and its privacy are two sides of the same coin (Privacy and security(n.d.)). Writing blogs, uploading posts, comments or pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, networking or sharing links on Linkedin are all considered as our free expression and its security is our right. Individual right to

In the twenty first century, everyone is gluing their eyes to bright screens, and keeping their minds and mouths shut. The public mindlessly releasing information through dangerous domains, like the Internet, poses a great issue. Citizens do not realize where their information can be used and why it is used. This unfortunate circumstance is seen in Peter Singer’s “Visible Man: Ethics in a World Without Secrets.” Although there is a sensation of isolation for the public in this century, there should still be a great amount of openness when it comes to social and political events that involve information, and the ways that data is collected for these purposes.

The human identity is worn as a mask with shapeshifting capabilities and espionage. In the real world, this mask appears simplistic; however, the internet is an abstract space of node connections that streams a wild flurry of ideas, people, and identities. One’s mask does not need a definition to stand firmly in this chaos but merely need to express what is hidden beneath the mask: humanity. That is what it means to have the right to anonymity, the freedom of expression and the right to be protected from outside entities who will stop at nothing to forcefully seize the mask along with physical data. One discourse community dedicated to protecting the rights to anonymity is the Tor Project, a worldwide group that helps create an anonymous browser to hide identity details and participates in establishing it in journalism, academia, activism, and normal users. The exploration of the rights of anonymity will be examined through the discourse community characteristics of Tor by reviewing Porters and Swales works in discourse communities, by using methods of primary investigation through interviewing Tor members, and discussing how Tor fits into Swales six characteristics of a discourse community.

Many social media users, for example, have felt the blow of a very hurtful comment from strangers or friends hidden behind a false identity. For example, Twitter has become a venue where anyone from famous politicians, Hollywood elite, to one’s immediate family may spew out inflammatory and bombastic comments that they would never utter in a face to face encounter. This kind of startling exchange is just a sample of how toxic the Internet can be when the users are not accountable and can hide behind the screen of the internet. Due to the loss of face-to-face contact while online, some people obviously feel free to say whatever they want, and with the lack of initial personal reaction from the recipient of these remarks, the online troll feels no remorse. In the article, "Hiding Behind the Screen," Roger Scruton states, "In human relations, risk avoidance means the avoidance of accountability, the refusal to stand judged in another’s eyes, the refusal to come face to face with another person…to run the risk of rejection. Accountability is not something should avoid; it is something we need to learn.” (59). This statement makes one wonder if the cultural shift to online communication and the inevitable lack of

The sharing of information may well be the most advanced activity of the twenty-first century occurring across ages and backgrounds with relative ease. Nevertheless, the use of information that is aired through the internet raises several genuine concerns regarding nature, intent, source, and destination as well as the consequences of the content. This is particularly true when the information has to do with people 's identities and other activities that may touch on critical aspects of national security and unauthorized business. As such, there is a mix of reactions among individuals regarding the extent of privacy they would like regarding information that they share or retrieve on the internet. While some may have genuine concerns such as protecting their identity, others are on malicious tracks to cover their person and conduct unwarranted business on the web. The mix of concerns led to the rise of the Dark Web on darknets. A darknet is an overlay network that utilizes the public Internet but requires authorization or special software to access mainly to protect the user’s identity and location from network surveillance and traffic analysis (Sui, Caverlee & Rudesill 2003). Such trends on the internet raise the question; is the Dark Web an important and necessary tool to offset pervasive online surveillance in contemporary society or is the moral panic surrounding the Dark Web in global news media justified? The aim of this research is to answer the raised question

Anonymous posting provides an opportunity for social media users to reveal “honest expression, unencumbered by identity” (Poole). The ability to remain anonymous directly affects users’ online behavior to inevitably portray an extension of their offline persona, yet it also enables the choice to make claims on an identity that differs from reality. When individuals hide behind the mask of electronic anonymity, they can take the role of a cyberbully with the intention to aggravate and distress victims, which demonstrates their moral disengagement toward the feelings of other individuals. Despite the fact that anonymity fosters a “unique sense of community . . . that embraces and encourages freedom of thought [, social media sites such as 4chan have] completely raw and unfiltered discourse” (Poole). The social media site, 4chan, is an online messaging board where anonymous users do not have to submit personal information to be involved in it (Russon). Because it does not replicate real-world social norms by emphasizing the human qualities of conversation such as people’s faces, real names, as well as brief biographies, there is not a baseline of responsibility and thus users are willing to post without inhibition to castigation. The

“Dragnet Nation” author Julia Angwin and Bruce Wayne are surprisingly similar. Both have struggles with keeping private life private, dealing with baddies, and being a bit paranoid. However, unlike Batman, “Dragnet Nation” isn’t groundbreaking. Yet despite stating obvious facts, and doing more to entice paranoia than inform, Angwin does have a solid underlying point: They key to online privacy is pseudonymity. Providing false information in order to protect oneself and others, is quite simple to apply, and can deter social engineering attacks. Be that as it may, pseudonymity can be used for less noble purposes.

The complex relationship between technology and the social sphere of human privacy becomes a major concern in modern society. Privacy is an imprescriptible right, and enjoyable. Even between family members, they all can have some secrets, which helps to build personality and makes them to be more like themselves. Instead, if everything about a person has exposed to public, and the personality might change with public opinion. Peter Singer discusses in his essay “Visible Man: Ethics in a world without secrets” that social networking makes the living circumstance becomes a Panopticon, which is no privacy in daily life and this surveillance technology helps government stifling dissent for a more secure country.

In today’s world the internet has pros and cons. Although I believe online anonymity was initially intended to provide a layer of safety to those engaging in the use of the internet (pros), I believe this layer of safety has morphed into something sinister (cons). It is now a shield for cowards and predators hiding behind their computers, waiting to pray on their next victim. For example, an online classified such as Craigslist is a website that prides itself through the use of anonymity in an effort to protect both the seller and the perspective buyer. However, the price for this anonymity comes with great risk for the seller, and is a breeding ground for lurking

Throughout time, privacy and security have been two heavily debated topics. There has always been a struggle to find middle ground between a private environment and a secure environment, but the dawn of technology and the Internet has made this struggle even more difficult. The Internet has drastically decreased the expectation of privacy of any and all individuals that have ever used it. Technology in general can pose a threat to an individual’s physical and virtual security. The Internet has also brought forth a sense of anonymity to those looking to conceal their true identities, some of which plan to commit horrific crimes. Privacy and security go hand in hand, however security is by far the most important.

The concern about privacy on the Internet is increasingly becoming an issue of international dispute. ?Citizens are becoming concerned that the most intimate details of their daily lives are being monitored, searched and recorded.? (www.britannica.com) 81% of Net users are concerned about threats to their privacy while online. The greatest threat to privacy comes from the construction of e-commerce alone, and not from state agents. E-commerce is structured on the copy and trade of intimate personal information and therefore, a threat to privacy on the Internet.

Privacy concerns on the web have become an undesirable consequence that people face with cyber technology. The ability of computers to gather and store unlimited amount of information from the internet raises privacy issues concerning an individual’s informational privacy. A person’s right to informational privacy is the ability to control the flow of their personal information, including the transfer and exchange of that information. An invasion of informational privacy denies people the right to control who accesses their personal information. Many internet users are unaware that they are more likely to compromise their privacy when using the internet services such as search engines and social networking sites. The internet provides access to an incredible amount of information from all over the world. Some internet users use the internet exclusively as a source of information while other internet users use the internet to create and disseminate information for others to use. However, the vast amount of information floating on the internet would not

In today’s world, we are all in some way connected to or involved with the internet. We all use different services that we feel either enrich our lives or make them more enjoyable every day, from email to FaceBook, MySpace, and e-commerce. We all take a sort of false comfort in the basic anonymity of the internet; however, when we think about it, that could end up being the single biggest risk to our own safety today. When we typically think of crimes committed against us, we could probably name several: mugging, theft, scams, murder, and rape. For these, things we all take as many necessary steps as we can to help lower the chances of them happening to us because they are on the forefront of our minds. However, most of us don’t take the