DEGREES OF ANONYMITY | |
I mentioned in the previous page something that I really | |
didn't explain. Sorry about that, so here is an update | |
on what I meant by 'degrees of anonymity'. | |
When communications devices and protocols were first | |
created, (the first was probably written word) the | |
concept of being anonymous must have crossed some one's | |
mind out there. What if you wanted to keep something | |
private, or available only to a few people you know? | |
The problem was compounded when telegraph and even | |
later telephone was invented. In the case of telephones, | |
how could you really be sure that the person you were | |
speaking to was the right person? Well, obviously now a | |
days, such questions are for the most part moot. | |
Today, we rely on the fact that telephone has seemlessly | |
integrated itself with our lives (and a nifty invention | |
called caller id), and for the most part we all have the | |
confidence that the person on the other side of the line | |
is the person we expect. And, again for the most part, if | |
they are not the person we expect, that person would kindly | |
say so and say that you have the wrong number. This will | |
usually pass, unless of course, you were one of those | |
telemarketers. | |
But what about the Internet? | |
For the most part, when we first enter the web, we are | |
Anonymous by a large degree. Of course, IP addresses | |
are the one thing that gives away the owner of the | |
machine and something that can be used to identify | |
people if necessary, but for all other intents and | |
purposes, we are, in a sense all Anonymous upon | |
first contact with the Web. | |
However, as one starts to use the Internet for its | |
advantages and services, we start to give away | |
a little of our actual identity. Or at least a | |
manifestation of it. This is what separates the | |
End User from the 'cyberpersonality'. The End User | |
being the actual human, and the 'cyberpersonality' | |
you on the web. | |
For example, lets say I am a new user of the | |
Internet. Age can be taken into consideration, as | |
the age at which the Internet is introduced to | |
people is decreasing with its growing prominence. | |
But, that aside, I am a new user. And I am interested | |
in making an e-mail account for myself. I head on over to | |
a search engine and type in 'free email'. Boom. | |
I have just revealed a little bit about myself to the | |
world. And it didn't take that much effort. Now the search | |
engine knows that I like to look up stuff about email. | |
While it may not be much, I transfered information about | |
myself across the Net, and as a result, lost just a bit | |
of my neutral Anonymity status. With this, as I utilize | |
the services of the Internet, I reveal a bit more to the | |
world as I carry on my business. | |
Now imagine that I've reached www.google.com . | |
Hey! I can make a free email account here! | |
So I make a gmail ------> [email protected] | |
I sign their privacy and policy statements, | |
and again, I have revealed more of my identity. As I | |
continue to use the net, I lose my Anonymity in smaller | |
and smaller degrees. And then I decide to join a forum. | |
I make an account for that forum, make a username | |
to hide my identity, and voila, once again, I have | |
revealed a bit of myself. Now, even though I created a | |
username for my identity, it is clear that at least some | |
of my actual personality will be transmmited to the 'other' | |
me that exists in cyberspace. This is what I have revealed | |
about myself as the End User, not as my 'cyberpersonality'. | |
This reaches the height of matters (a sort of 'peak') | |
when we decide to join a social network or decide to | |
participate in online dating. We are constantly | |
announcing ourselves (for the most part our End User | |
selves) to the world at large. And anything that I | |
say about anything (myself, interests, politics, pictures, | |
familiy) can and probably will be viewed by some one. I have | |
sheded more of my neutral Anonymity and have given more plausibilit | |
to my 'cyberpersonality'. | |
By no means does this mean that one can completely reveal themselve | |
on the Internet. This is impossible as we cannot project ourselves | |
into cyberspace (at least not now). One can also make the argument | |
that you can be known accross the Interwebs under different names | |
in different communities. And this is true. We can have multiple | |
'cyberpersonalities' if we wish. But the fact stands, we will | |
always reveal at least a little something about ourselves | |
when we do this. | |
And this is what I mean by Degrees of Anonymity. We start out at a | |
pretty high unknown level, but as we use it, we start to see that w | |
reveal our End User selves through our 'cyberpersonalities'. | |
Now the important thing is how we present ourselves to the world in | |
this manner. Especially today, where apparently you are insane if | |
you don't have a Facebook (I read that somewhere lol). | |
The otherside of this theory is what TV Tropes (originally | |
Penny Arcade) calls GIFT. | |
It's the darker, less positive manner of thinking about the | |
subject of 'cyberpersonalities' due to the act of keeping | |
Internet Anonymity at a high level in specific (or all) | |
communities. | |
This is the Greater Internet F***wad Theory | |
Simply stated as this: | |
User + Internet + Anonymity = F***wad | |
This is given by the grounds that a person has more | |
of a tendancy to act like a complete jerk, simply | |
because there are no reprecussions on the End User. | |
They don't care about that specific 'cyberpersonality', | |
so they troll. | |
While this may be true, it generally isn't true in all | |
cases. But it remains an interesting byproduct of | |
anonymity. One is compelled to remember the antics | |
of the Anonymous group that manifested out of 4chan. | |
In anycase, this is probably something that is better | |
explored and researched. I will continue with this topic | |
as one of my general personal research interests. | |
I'll probably redo this page sometime in the future with | |
better explanations of what this is all about. This was | |
typed up in a hurry and without the proper planning, | |
so once I get more time I'll type up something more | |
presenatable and easy to understand. | |
Thanks! And as always, don't hesitate to email | |
for any questions comments or thoughts! | |
[email protected] | |
ric299 | |