Anonymity is the New Privacy
In the Sunday Times, Bryan Appleyard opined:
The simple ability to conceal one’s identity is the deep flaw in the arguments of all Web 2.0’s libertarian boosters.
All western — not just scientific — wisdom is based on identity. Advocates and their critics can be identified and their ideas formally tested.
In the end, Web 2.0 will only be good for us if, somehow, it succeeds in evolving towards an identity-based discourse
He’s entirely correct in saying that advocates and critics must be identified and their ideas formally tested. But, for me, it doesn’t follow to say that we must not conceal our indentities on the web. Rather, anonymity is required for us to maintain any semblance of privacy.
Consistant identities are a useful thing to have, but actual identities are not necessary. It would not make a whit of difference if Einstien had released his papers on the Internet using the nom de plume DaffyDuck. Scientists still would have been able to test and confirm the theory of relativity. And, should Einstien have a penchant for the dark recesses of sexuality, and chose to post on the topic of. I’m just going to stop right there. I don’t want to know. It’s none of my business. I went to Google to search for DaffyDuck’s theory of relativity, not his sexual proclivities. Why should both appear when I search under his name?
The Internet has condensed everything into one sphere. It’s the medium I use to work, to shop, to communicate with friends, lovers, family, and strangers.
With each of these groups, I communicate differently. Sometimes I’m naughty, and sometimes I’m nice. Sometimes I’m professional, and sometimes I say what I think. I don’t display all parts of myself to anyone, and everyone thanks me for it. Such boundaries are necessary in a society. The only way such boundaries can be asserted in the technological age is with anonymity.
Prior to the Internet, different identites weren’t needed because our interactions weren’t recorded, and they certainly weren’t searchable. But, now, Google holds everything, forever.
An Internet without anonymity is saying that the Internet should be used as nothing more than a PR tool for those with stable professional identities.
No one will say anything outside their professional voice, outside of the voice that they want the world so see them as having. We all know that potential employers will search for our names, and what we’ve said online. Talk about drastically reducing the quality of discourse. I’d place my bets that more truth would be produced from a one night bar room brawl of strangers than an eternal corporate meeting where everyone carefully crafted their sentances with their future career aspirations in mind.
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