Poll of the Day > Is Internet anonymity a privilege or a right?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Thoughts?

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Since I don't use FB there's no need to connect my online and offline lives. Keep it anon.

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For message boards it's nice, because it allows you to share blunt opinions. You don't need to spend so much time walking on eggshells or spending an hour sorting your thoughts out to put it into terms that won't get you fired from your job or exiled from your family. We can be raw and honest and not feel pressured.

That's very important.

If we had our full name attached to everything we say, people could stalk us more easily than they already can.

I've been on these gamefaqs boards long enough to know that there are some very pathetic people on this site, with waaaaay too much time on their hands. Some people seriously keep documents and profiles for a lot of users. Logging what their political affiliations are, things they said, or taboo topics they might have engaged in months, or even YEARS ago....and they will bring it up to remind them at the most random times. Or try to discredit them to make other users weary of them. "Don't listen to this guy! He said some really negative things about Obama back in 2015!"

I could see people online trying to jeopardize people's real life jobs/relationships/homes/safety if there wasn't anonymity to protect them. Some people can't handle opposing views very well. That's why "doxxing" has become a thing.

I think we should strive for internet anonymity, but i wouldn't say it's a right. It's a privilege. It's super nice to have, and I wish it could be guaranteed.....but people would abuse it.


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GreenKnight127 posted...

I could see people online trying to jeopardize people's real life jobs/relationships/homes/safety if there wasn't anonymity to protect them. Some people can't handle opposing views very well. That's why "doxxing" has become a thing.

It's not even a question of having dissenting opinions - doxxing started more as a way to fuck with people who beat you in online games. People are incredibly petty, and will go out of their way to utterly destroy other people's lives over insanely inconsequential things. Because humans suck.



GreenKnight127 posted...

but i wouldn't say it's a right. It's a privilege. It's super nice to have, and I wish it could be guaranteed.....but people would abuse it.

People abuse plenty of things we consider rights, though.
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Priviledge that should be a right.

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GreenKnight127 posted...

For message boards it's nice, because it allows you to share blunt opinions. You don't need to spend so much time walking on eggshells or spending an hour sorting your thoughts out to put it into terms that won't get you fired from your job or exiled from your family. We can be raw and honest and not feel pressured.

Except that is taken to mean you can get personal and insulting in an effort to drive a point home without repercussion because no one has invented punching people through TCP/IP as of now.

Also Reddit and echo chambering singular opinions and whatnot through downvoting and the like...

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Solid Sonic posted...

Except that is taken to mean you can get personal and insulting in an effort to drive a point home without repercussion because no one has invented punching people through TCP/IP as of now.

To be fair we've mostly castrated that in the real world as well - try punching someone in the face for insulting you, and you're likely to wind up in jail for assault more than you're going to convince them to be a better person.

The days where you could beat the shit out of someone for being an asshole and have most people agree you were fully justified are kind of gone at this point. And plenty of assholes are more than willing to exploit that and provoke the hell out of people, knowing they won't respond in kind.
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I think that online anonymity causes more problems than it is worth.

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It's neither a right nor a privilege, but it's a good thing considering the number of fascists out there who will go out of their way to try to ruin peoples' lives for expressing a dissenting opinion. And, of course, the trolls who just do it for the lulz.

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Every incarnation of self should be true.

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people don't stop being trolls and bullies just because they use their real names.
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Neither, it's just a byproduct of how the internet works

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Amuseum posted...

people don't stop being trolls and bullies just because they use their real names.

some of them do

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To clarify from last night...

It is, most certainly, a privilege since it's something not innate to your being. Going online means connecting to the web and, if people are determined enough, they can track you down no matter what you do on your end. You could be the most inoffensive person who just posts pictures of sunsets and, if the government wanted, they could crack down on you. It's not inherent to you and, thusly, is a privilege. However it should be a right; especially given how bad things are in those nations where it is not one which results in hyper-authoritarian governments cracking down on effectively everything.

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It's tough, because crazy people are dangerous to others but also potentially less likely to make waves if everyone knows who they are.

Absolutely a privilege.
The UN isn't going to sanction your government if they decide you shouldn't be allowed to post anonymously on the internet anymore.


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I'm torn between right and privilege. At first I wanted to say privilege, but thinking on it, doesn't the anonymity help protect freedom of speech? I could see where making everything you say or do online linked in a way that can easily be traced to you causing a lot of issues.

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It's definitely a privilege. Whether it should be a right or not is a different topic, though...
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Network security exists to protect your right to privacy.
I write network security software. Never let someone say you do not deserve your privacy.
Coincidentally, you do not have any privacy. I'd say that 99% of the traffic you generate is in the open before it gets to your destination, and 100% of it is being monitored and recorded without your knowledge. To my knowledge most SaaS only do HTTPs between you and their internal network and it's HTTP everywhere else in their internal network. You're basically being honeypotted without your knowledge.

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It's beyond being a right, it's the default position... a right is something granted.

The real question is, does the government have the right to take your anonymity away.

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Lokarin posted...

The real question is, does the government have the right to take your anonymity away.

It doesn't matter. They do and will always do so. You have no control over this.

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