Sensible Anonymity on the Internet Essay

Due to recent events “The Growing Cowardice of Online Anonymity” by Richard Bernstein, strongly resonates with me. 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

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

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

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

When attention is on the message, constructive conversation is able to develop in an online community from what would normally be stigmatizing topics. Coleman points to cases of medical patients, mothers, anonymous activists, and even victims of hate crime who use the internet to speak out on sensitive subjects without backlash in their personal lives. Another point Coleman makes is that anonymous expression has been a foundation of our political culture since it’s inception. Coleman believes, however, that internet companies should use their platforms to curb harassment and that pending systems be developed to limit derogatory content without invading free

Hiding behind the screens as anonymous: Although it is getting harder to shield your identity these days, anonymity has been a key piece of the internet since its early days. It is so amazing to see how people behave when their true identity is masked. But now we have everything from outright trolls to habitual pranksters. This is the kind of behaviour that makes the whole internet, and particularly social media, less productive and enjoyable for all. If you want to say something and are afraid to have anyone know you said it, perhaps you should buck up and use common sense before putting it out there. Being offensive anonymously is not only cowardly, it shows a lack of

(McKenna and Bargh, 2000) compares anonymous online behaviour to communicating to a ‘dark room’ in which a person lacks the fear of being seen and thus being more open and self-revealing of their true thoughts and feelings. The altering and hiding of identity

We live in a society where people are mostly private or conservative, and this makes it risky to make certain statements, or have opinions expressed openly online with one’s real name. A person’s name goes on all his /her personal records, and so having an imprint of it all over cyberspace makes a person vulnerable. Anonymity is vital for debates regarding sexual abuse, abortions, medical or minority issues, harassments, drug use, gun laws, sex lives, and other topics. The benefits of anonymity outweigh its disadvantages; here are a few reasons why. Anonymity helps when people want to report illegal activities without fear of retribution. People in a country with a repressive political regime may use anonymity to avoid persecution for their political opinions. Anonymity is used to protect the privacy of people, and so such should be respected and

Over the past decade the world has gotten much smaller due to the electronic communication the Internet has fostered. While this promotes business and international relations, problems arise regarding the protection of individuals’ personal information. Many countries around the world have developed privacy policies and laws protect an individual's information in the realm of electronic communication. Universal enforcement gets complicated because the Internet is not restricted to one country; it’s worldwide. As a result, concerns arise regarding the compatibility of various countries' privacy policies. This paper will discuss the current legislation in place for various major

Anonymous is a group whose members are geographically scattered around the world but unitedthrough the Internet, consisting largely of multiple imageboards and forums. Originating in 2003 on theimageboard 4chan, the name came from the perceived anonymity of users posting content on theInternet. In its early form, Anonymous was a decentralized online community of people actinganonymously in a coordinated manner, usually towards a loose goal of entertainment. Beginning in 2008,the group became increasingly associated with international hacktivism, often with the goal of promotingInternet liberty and freedom of speech.The name “Anonymous” is inspired by the perceived anonymity under which users post imagesand comments on the

Online communities are no different from communities that you may find elsewhere, but in some cases identities of the users are not revealed. Communities where this is the case it is impossible for individuals to form a meaningful relationship with trust. However, the communities where individuals are not anonymous it is possible for trust to be built between these individuals. This paper is meant to take a Kantian approach with respect to “The Metaphysics of Morals” to identify whether trust within online communities, specifically those that use anonymity such as 4Chan and Reddit, is possible; as well as look at communities where anonymity is not present and how users are able to develop trust, such as Facebook. Through this paper, I will be using Bjorn Myskja’s “The Categorical Imperative and the Ethics of Trust” to look at how anonymity shapes trust in communities. Once I have a developed a firm conclusion on how Kant and Myskja believe trust can be gained, I will analyze the community that does this by not utilizing anonymity, Facebook and Myspace, by observing “Trust and Privacy Concern Within Social Networking Sites: A Comparison of Facebook and MySpace” from the AIS Electronic Library. Once the conclusion has been made as to how an online community develops trust I will look at the Community of 4Chan. This will serve as a starting point for analyzing the communities that utilize anonymity. “4chan and /b/: An

Internet privacy is the security of a user’s personal data that is stored or published on the internet. The internet is an important part of every individual’s daily life. In today’s society, the internet is used by many different people for many reasons. It can be used for research, communication, and purchasing items. Without the internet, many things that are completed during the course of a day would be impossible or take time to complete. As people use the internet, everything is stored in a database that tracks and keeps any personal information that is entered by users. As users continue to use the internet to complete important tasks such as purchasing items and paying bills, their privacy and security become at risk. Although the internet can be seen to have a positive impact on society, it does have a negative impact. Since the internet can be accessed by anybody it can cause a lot of damage. Examples of internet risk include identity thieves, phasing, and scams. Due to things such as online shopping, banking and other e-commerce options, personal information is stored in the internet enabling many cybercrimes to occur. Cybercrimes are very similar to any regular crime; the crime just happens to take place on websites for criminals to hack and steal user’s information for their own personal benefit. Cybercriminals tend to attack users based on their emails, social media accounts, and web history because the most history about an individual is stored in those sites.

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

Internet real-name systems and related regulations, while effective at its core function of identifying internet criminals, also leads to a few problematic situations related to privacy of internet users. For Hong Kong, a city in which freedom and privacy are highly valued, copying these types of regulations from mainland China or South Korea may not be the best way for reducing internet crimes when other methods such as educating the public could be more fitting to our core values and more

Although presence online can seem like a harmless and simple action, it’s actually the opposite. It’s known by plenty of citizens that a surplus of anonymous accounts are on sites. What is not known is that they could obtain heaps of trouble with these kinds of accounts. With the amount of information that a sum of people throw online, those ‘haters’, or anonymously organized groups of ‘trolls’ will have countless amounts of ammunition to send into the public’s direction. They could tease and provoke thousands of people just for the fun of it. Numerous anonymous societies have been shut down by their governments because of their terrorizing acts. Those that were found tended to go after people in any way possible online. For example, “Russia has developed a reputation for the use of "troll farms" -- groups of hundreds of people whose job is to infiltrate message boards and comments sections -- to advance Russian national aims or seed discord and disharmony” (Carnew et. al. ❡3). From leaving fifty random comments on a post, or directly messaging hate, they attack in various ways. Another way can be represented as what the internet calls ‘fandom battles’.