Internet Essay - Online Anonymity and Cyberspace Crime

One in four US teen girls reported that they met strangers off the Internet. One in seven boys admitted they did as well. While most of these "Internet friends" turn out to be another teen or preteen, that 's not always the case. Unfortunately, children are now dying at the hands of their Internet child molesters and, not all sexual exploitation of children occurs offline.

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

The Internet provides a gateway for an individual to speak freely and anonymously without being targeted to what he or she said. With this said, one of the biggest issues concerning the Internet today is freedom of speech. The issue of free speech on the Internet has been a topic of discussion around the world within the past years. It is a unique communication medium and is powerful than the traditional media[2]. Because the Internet can not be compared equally to other mediums

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.

In a twenty-four-hour day, internet users will have communicated online at least once whether it is writing to a classmate on a message board, posting pictures on Instagram, or responding to colleges via email. It is possible that a different username and identity are used for each of these online communications, each username constituting, in effect, a separate “personality.” These online personalities may be a part of one’s authentic self or a separate identity altogether. In The Times article, "Internet 'trolls' ignore social rules: Expert: Online disinhibition effect means many people feel invincible online," the anonymous author states, “This is your brain in cyberspace: while in warp-speed from forum to

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.

Essi Viding, a professor in the psychology and language sciences department of University College London, who was not involved in

‘On the internet nobody knows you’re a dog’ the very popular and probably overused phrased that was captioned on the popular 1993 cartoon in the New Yorker by Peter Steinber depicting two dogs anonymously using a computer. This cartoon still adequately represents some areas of online discourse. Anonymity is still valued in some aspects of online communication as a way to mask a person’s identity allowing them to represent whatever role they choose as they engage (Motahari et al., 2010).

Many users are subject of Security and Privacy on the Internet issue. The term "information" now is more used when defining a special product or article of trade which could be bought, sold, exchanged, etc. Often the price of information is higher many times than the cost of the very computers and technologies where it is functioning. Naturally it raises the need of protecting information from unauthorized access, theft, destruction, and other crimes. However, many users do not realize that they risk their security and privacy online.

Cyber Crime is described as criminal activity committed via use of electronic communications with respect to cyber fraud or identity theft through phishing and spoofing. There are many other forms of cyber-crime also such as harassment, pornography etc. via use of information technology.

Hiding one’s identity Is nothing new. Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay authored The Federalist Papers in 1787 under pseudonym Publius. The ability to communicate anonymously is viewed as part of our basic right to free speech . With the advent of computers and ease of access to the internet, becoming anonymous as never been easier, and is far more reaching than the colonial newspapers of 1787. For some this ease at which we can communicate anonymous is cause for concern. Although we are no longer hiding our identities to promote the ratification of the Constitution, being anonymous still plays a large role in our society. Online anonymity grants anyone with an internet connection an unbiased voice, regardless of gender, race, or wealth. Without this freedom to online anonymity many people would not feel free to express themselves or release sensitive information about themselves or about corruption, in the case of whistleblowing. Anonymity can also be used as a security measure and prevent unauthorized mining of personal information. Although multiple ethical framework will be used and compared, using a consequence based framework will be the main examining point throughout.

Technology is great in so many ways. It has provided us with more communication access, access to knowledge at our finger tips, and so much more. Technology has overall made life easier, but maybe too easy, and has made things a lot less private. This results in us having to be extra careful with security on the internet. Internet security is important to protect our privacy, protect us from fraud, and from viruses that could destroy a piece of our technology. Internet privacy and security may be different but share a responsibility, but it is up to us to take personal responsibility to protect ourselves on the internet. We should pick unique, carful passwords, and never share this sensitive information, and encrypt our data when online.