The Epidemic Of Fake Accounts

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.

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

Because of public humiliation, Raza lived every day in shame and fear. Furthermore, Facebook is online social media which we can share our pictures, or news with our friends. On the other side, Facebook is considered as a device to attract people. For instance, someone made a fake new to blame a student at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Ore for being sexual offense. Due to the protection of privacy, they don’t use his real name; however, all over Facebook called him “rapist”. Further, we are all human races, if we don’t like to get hurt, why we hurt other with our words. In case we hadn’t posted the video of a South Korean student online who was named “Dog poop girl”, she wouldn’t have dropped out of college. Because of our joke,we can cause irrevocable harm to someone else’s life Likewise, Bennett also noticed, “ For people who use blogs and social-networking sites like diaries, putting their personal imformation out there for the world to see, this presents a serious risk.” (92). Most people agree with her argument because social media is virtual world, and we can’t identify good or bad people. In some case, identity thief steals our personal information and used for different

“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.

Numerous individuals use social media to upload their favorite moments, judgments, or just a night out with friends, but a lot of people do so without truly understanding the problem behind showing too much information online. For instance, everyone has the option to enter in all kinds of information on your profile like name, birth date, and place of living, but according to Mike Hard castle’s article, he wrote that “you should not list your birth date or phone number” (Hardcastle). Social media is an impressive tool that our generation uses each and every day, but like everything else, it comes with a price. The risk of sharing too much information leads to attracting attention from certain online predators. In Mike Hardcastle’s essay, he certainly lists many cons on why someone should not list every detail about themselves online. I indeed agree with what he says in the article because it is true that “predators will always choose a readily available target over one that takes work to find” (Hardcastle).

However, this ability for anonymity within an online community doesn’t necessarily mean privacy. The study Internet social network communities: Risk taking, trust, and privacy concerns by Fogel and Nehmad (2008) talks about how much university students are willing to share on social media. Although the study does strictly look at one set of university students, it gives an example of how much individuals are willing to share personal information such as pictures of oneself, ones’ email address, instant messenger address,

Research Question: “Why are people, particularly college and high school students, so attracted to the idea of constructing an anonymous identity through online social media platforms, like Yik Yak?”

The inauguration of online social spaces has influenced adolescents’ identity formation and development. Surfing on social networks, teens tend to use three main kinds of online identifications; true identity that is the same offline identity, pseudonymity which refers to the use of fake names, and anonymity which means full obscurity. (Donath, 1999) online social networking sites used among adolescents include Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogs, interactive computer games, and chat rooms. Adolescents think that online integration and acceptance in the previously mentioned online setting to be a sign of socialization and well being. (Slagter Van Tryon & Bishop, 2009) In a study conducted by Reich’s (2010) suggests that 25% of high school students and 21% of college students have experienced problems with friendships due to activity on social networking sites. The main

According to psychologist John Suler and his idea of “The Online Disinhibition Effect”, some people, while online, self-disclose or act differently than they would

For the past decade or so there has been a considerable shift in the way we communicate with each other; instead of speaking face-to-face, we prefer to stay in touch by way of a Facebook post or Tweet. Social media dominates our life whether we’re using it, or not. However, not all online dissonance has been healthy and civil. The internet has seen a rise in the number of trolls and predators that lurk the dark corners of the Internet. Threats, and heinous insults flood media networks like Reddit and Snapchat. Online predators who fling insults are enamored by the internet’s alluring anonymity and can’t give it up. Like Christine Rosen says in her article called, “In the Beginning Was the Word,” “technology has introduced new words, changed the meaning of others, and has even introduced new forms of language and communication” (230). The evolutionary trend and prevalence of people intentionally offending others online has led to a

Social media. We have all heard of it. We have all raved about it at some point in our lives. There is no doubt; it plays an imperative part of people’s lives today – users are reliant on social media. It is great that Mark Zuckerberg reminds us to say, “Happy Birthday” to our friends. Yet, we have all seen the dangers it can cause. From identity fraud to cyberbullying - we become exposed to the dangers of the internet. Not only is it hackers and frauds that cause destruction, but social networking posts. Every day, you scroll through Facebook, or Instagram - liking, sharing and commenting on posts. What people don’t see is how words on a ‘status’ or ‘tweet’ can hurt someone. They can’t see that a person’s feelings behind the screens on a computer have been destroyed, because they can’t see what they don’t want to see.

Due to this easy access to a digital platform and worldwide audience, many see this as an opportunity for sharing ideas, thoughts, beliefs and practising freedom of speech. For many this is a great opportunity to reach out and connect with people from across the globe through their online ‘profiles’. Some people find that a digital voice or message has a greater effect than a literal voice thus boosting people’s confidence in sharing things with others online. Although this can be viewed as a positive way of allowing someone to communicate their thoughts with others, some individuals take this opportunity of being hidden behind a screen to spread hateful, rude and disrespectful comments with others on the worldwide web. These individuals, often referred to as ‘trolls’ will often mock, threaten, and sometimes blackmail others using their online profiles. Jonathan Bishop claims that “trolling in general is the posting of messages via a communications network that are intended to be provocative, offensive or menacing”. (Bishop, 2013, p28)

There are dangers of online communication such as social networks where users can lie about who they are [4]“Megan thought she was being abused by 16-year-old Josh Evans, she was actually talking to Lori Drew, the 49-year-old mother of one of her former friends who, it is alleged, had set up a fake profile to taunt Megan.” in social networking sites it is very easy for people to