The Negative Effects Of Anonymity

885 Words2 Pages

Introduction A controversial topic that is relevant in today’s world is the issue of anonymity. This is a regularly debated issue with several arguments for each side. Those arguing for anonymity may claim that it helps protect privacy and bring about positive changes in the world. In addition, it can help bring comfort to anyone embarrassed about something they enjoy or a past experience in their life. However, those arguing against it may claim that it allows actions such as harassment and bullying to become easier. Both sides make compelling arguments, but the positive effects of anonymity far outweigh the negative effects.
What is anonymity? Internet anonymity is the ability for a person to interact with others and voice opinions without revealing his or her true identity. This can be accomplished in several ways, including clearing cookies, encrypting e-mails, creating usernames that do not identify any personal information, and even giving false personal information, if possible (Raine et al.). Today, anonymity is used for several purposes for both the benefit and detriment of society. While it is true that anonymity can be used to threaten and harass, is also allows …show more content…

It may be a radical viewpoint on government, support for an unpopular individual, or any number of things. Similarly, almost everyone has something that they would like to keep secret, such as a sexual fetish, medical condition, or history of abuse. However, not everyone wants to remain completely silent about these issues. Humans, despite being social animals, “are discriminating of the things we disclose and to those to whom we share” (Jones). Anonymity allows people to talk more freely about controversial topics without affecting their personal lives (Kang). You can be honest and “show people what you want them to see, and still have your dignity and reputation intact”

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have Nothing To Hide

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    The word “privacy” has a different meaning in our society than it did in previous times. You can put on Privacy settings on Facebook, twitter, or any social media sights, however, nothing is truly personal and without others being able to view your information. You can get to know a person’s personal life simply by typing in their name in google. In the chronicle review, “Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have ‘Nothing to Hide,'" published on May 15th 2011, Professor Daniel J. Solove argues that the issue of privacy affects more than just individuals hiding a wrong. The nothing-to-hide argument pervades discussions about privacy. Solove starts talking about this argument right away in the article and discusses how the nothing-to-hide

    Read More

  • Analysis of Jeffery Rosen's: The Naked Crowd

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rosen portrays our society as completely exposed, giving up all privacy to join, and fit in with the “naked crowd”. Rosen claims that we willing give up all power of privacy in order to fit in with society and be accepted as someone that can be trusted through exposure. He claims that image is the key to establishing trust, not through a relationship or conversation. His thesis presents his views on the subject, “has led us to value exposure over privacy? Why, in short, are we so eager to become members of the Naked Crowd, in which we have the illusion of belonging only when we are exposed?”(Rosen) he states that we value exposure over privacy, and will give away privacy to fit in.

    Read More

  • Essay on Internet Privacy - Carnivore, and the Power Of FBI Surveillance

    1739 Words  | 4 Pages

    There is considerable utilitarian value in extending privacy rights to the Internet. The fear that communication is being monitored by a third party inevitably leads to inefficiency, because individuals feel a need to find loopholes in the surveillance. For instance, if the public does not feel comfortable with communica...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Tom Vanderbilt's 'Shut Up, I Can T Hear You'

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a large college lecture hall, the level of anonymity of students is seemingly in accordance with their physical distance from the professor. The students that sit in the front rows establish their identities as academically driven while those who sit in the last row are seen as unmotivated. By choosing to sit in the back of the class, the students submerge themselves in obscurity; wholly secluding themselves from the classroom community. (line explaining what this means)). In “Shut Up, I Can’t Hear You…,” Tom Vanderbilt delves into a common phenomenon of traffic and explores the influence that anonymity, the condition of being nameless or unidentified, has over identity, the sense of self. Extending his argument to everyday life, anonymity

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Internet Tracking

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy,” Sarah Chalke. When using the web, web users’ information tend to be easily accessible to government officials or hackers. In Nicholas Carr’s “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” Jim Harpers’ “Web Users Get As Much As They Give,” and Lori Andrews “Facebook is Using You” the topic of internet tracking stirred up many mixed views; however, some form of compromise can be reached on this issue, laws that enforces companies to inform the public on what personal information is being taken, creating advisements on social media about how web users can be more cautious to what kind of information they give out online, enabling your privacy settings and programs, eliminating weblining,

    Read More

  • The Anonymity Experiment by Catherine Price

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    Catherine, P. (March 2008). The Anonymity Experiment. Writing in the Writing Disciplines, 11(3), 387 – 396

    Read More

  • Danah Boyd's Influence Of Social Media And Social Identity

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    The prominence of social media and computer mediated interaction has lead to a rise in anonymous communications between individuals. Anonymity, in many online contexts, is seen as a negative attribute of the internet; where people are given the option to be awful and toxic to one another through comment threads or community forums. However, anonymity online offers the possibility for personal exploration and experimentation that is often unavailable in real life. Identity development, considered an essential part of adolescence, is made accessible to many through online spaces where individuals can take risks with reduced chance of physical harm. Similarly, the absence of identity that anonymity affords allows individuals the opportunity

    Read More

  • Essay on Internet Privacy - Ethical Issues Raised by Privacy Service Providers

    2877 Words  | 6 Pages

    Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the anonymity it offers its users.  As the Internet has grown however, causing capitalists and governments to enter the picture, the old rules are changing fast.  E-commerce firms employ the latest technologies to track minute details on customer behavior.  The FBI's Carnivore email-tracking system is being increasingly used to infringe on the privacy of netizens.  Corporations now monitor their employees' web and email usage.  In addition to these privacy infringements, Internet users are also having their use censored, as governments, corporations, and other institutions block access to certain sites.  However, as technology can be used to wage war on personal freedoms, it can also be employed in the fight against censorship and invasion of privacy.

    Read More

  • Right or Wrong? Invasion of Privacy

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    Garfinkel, Simson. "Internet Privacy Can Be Protected." Privacy. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Privacy Requires Security, Not Abstinence: Protecting an Inalienable Right in the Age of Facebook." Technology Review 112

    Read More

  • Privacy versus Profiling

    1725 Words  | 4 Pages

    If a stranger would approach someone on the street, would one casually offer personal information to him? Would one allow him to follow and record one’s activities? Although it may be obvious in the concrete world that one would not allow it, the behavior of the general population on the Internet is strikingly different. While surfing websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google, many people provide personal details to enhance their online profile? These websites retain vast amounts of personal information from their users. Although this practice benefits the user as well, unrestricted profiling can become an alarming catastrophe. Unless the threat to internet users privacy are shown to exceed the benefits, we should not regulate the internet, rather we should educate the public how to be more responsible about their identities.

    Read More

  • Ray Oldenburg The Great Good Place Analysis

    1508 Words  | 4 Pages

    This anonymity supports Oldenburg's requirement for the characteristic of neutral ground, as within MMOs “...there is a general understanding that meaningful, trusting interaction between members of the community is dependent on anonymity” (Albrechtslund, 2011). The quoted notion stems from an article on the “Real ID battle” at a time when Blizzard, publisher of MMO World of Warcraft, was attempting to de-anonymize their official forums that were a core part of how the game's community communicated. This was at the heart of a discussion on why anonymity is important to the individuals

    Read More

  • The Extinction of Privacy

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    This world has changed, even as 20 years old, I am afraid of where technology is going already everyone is glued to it; as a kid computers were new, but we didn’t care we played outside, and cell phones were for emergencies, not fun. Due to technology privacy almost doesn’t exist in this day of technology anymore, there are secret spy cameras being placed in homes by jealous friends or family; social media sites pushing you to spill your age, looks, feelings, life story, and more, and “Big Brother” and “Little Brother” everywhere. Everyone has to be careful because everywhere there is someone trying to steal someone’s identity whether the reason is for money, for legality in a new country, or even to hide a past troubled life. Privacy in the world has been, is now, and always will be extremely important. Growing up in school after getting my first cell phone I was fascinated with new technology and couldn’t wait for the next cell phone to be released. I was always highly interested in what was next, but that was then when I was a young and obvious little kid, now as a young adult in this day of age I have an entirely different feel for all of it; privacy no longer exists and technology is the primary blame.

    Read More

  • Privacy and the Self: Personhood, Autonomy, and Identity

    1980 Words  | 4 Pages

    Privacy can be experienced in a number of forms. Alan Westin defined four states – or experiences – of privacy: solitude, intimacy, anonymity, and reserve. Solitude is a physical separation from others (31). Intimacy is a “close, relaxed, and frank relationship between two or more individuals” resulting from the “corporate [collective] seclusion” of a small unit (31). Anonymity is the “desire of individuals for times of 'public privacy'” (32). Lastly, reserve is the “creation of a psychological barrier against unwanted intrusion [which] occurs when the individual's need to limit communication about himself is protected by the willing discretion of those surrounding around him” (32). It is this last state of privacy that is the most crucial to the preservation of the self. As Robert Murphy observe...

    Read More

  • Privacy

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    The transfer and preservation of Information is a major part of the digital age. People try to control their flow of information and the amount of information websites,organisations and even the government has on them. And even with the various ways of protecting information, there are still issues of privacy, freedom of information and the conflict between the public and private domains on who really owns or governs these information.

    Read More

  • Internet Privacy and Security

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    When I started this research paper, I argued that there was a difference between Privacy and Security when it comes to the internet. I no...

    Read More

More about The Negative Effects Of Anonymity

Open Document