Anonymity Is Over-Rated
Photo: Jeff Koromi, Flickr
Recently finished reading Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget. At the very least it’s an interesting read. Though I don’t agree entirely on all of Lanier’s points on web 2.0 culture, or agree for the same reasons, there is one thing that I agree on: That anonymity hurts the online culture.
You’re probably scoffing. Anonymity, to this point in the internet’s development, is ingrained into online culture. However, Lanier points out (correctly) that this also has undesirable effects. Lanier calls it trolling, but I prefer ‘ass-hatery;’ as to me trolling is something I consider more of a comment or forum specific type of ass hat. Ass-hatery goes well beyond just forums or blogs. Just plug into XBOX Live or any other multiplayer game to see this. I’ve heard some of the most offensive and horrid bullshit said to people in games of Halo, and is one of the major reasons I don’t play console games anymore. Go on Wikipedia and you’ll see edit wars going on, if you look close enough. And famous are the antics of the b-tards, well known and – some would say – respected of the internet griefers.
Anonymity just enables people to make drive by comments, without or with little fear of repercussion. There are some systems that help alleviate this. Gawker’s comment system as seen onLifehacker.com and Gizmodo.com is one example where only comments upgraded can be seen by non-members (a comment is upgraded by a member or by an administrator). Another is Facebook connect, linking your real identity to comments or accounts on sites.
But even if you attempt to be anonymous online, unless you are truly skilled at it, someone will find you anyway. Anyone with enough basic web know-how will be able to find things out about you. Hell, on my portfolio site I essentially lay out exactly where I can be found. To me, attempting to be anonymous is a fool’s errand. Also, I feel by choosing to not be anonymous, I am keeping myself honest. I know I won’t go trolling or become a giant internet ass-hat looking for attention; the same as social barriers in life stop me from running someone who can’t drive off the road (and believe me, driving in NJ makes that a very tempting thought). In an age where the crowd is more valued than the individual, I think that it adds a bit of individual back into the mix.
Am I saying that everyone should follow these ideas? No. There are cases (in hideous regimes like Iran and China) where one would fear for their liberty and life out in the open. Some women (even men) have ex’s and stalkers that might wish physical harm on them. However, these cases are rare and generally don’t apply to the rest of us.
So, next time you make an alias on Twitter or Flickr or any of the various sets of redundant social media out there, consider whether you want to impart a random voice or your own or just meld into the faceless horde of the hive mind.
[First Published 2.25.2010 on Jeff's Sketchbook. Modified as published here.]