Imagine that you're a lawyer who also runs a popular sexual fetish
podcast. Or that you're a blogger on political issues and you want to
determine for yourself who you're going to get into political arguments
with. Or you're a transgender woman who isn't out to your real-life
associates but you want to explore your gender identity online. Or that
you're a female gamer who wants to play World of Warcraft without being
hit on or harassed. All of these people have perfectly good reasons for
wanting to use a pseudonym online. And yet more and more websites are making it difficult or impossible to do so,
often for perfectly legitimate reasons of improving civility and
stopping anonymous abuse. How can pseudonymity — one of the key
foundations of early internet communities — be saved?Thursday, 19 September 2013
Can Internet Pseudonymity Be Saved?
Imagine that you're a lawyer who also runs a popular sexual fetish
podcast. Or that you're a blogger on political issues and you want to
determine for yourself who you're going to get into political arguments
with. Or you're a transgender woman who isn't out to your real-life
associates but you want to explore your gender identity online. Or that
you're a female gamer who wants to play World of Warcraft without being
hit on or harassed. All of these people have perfectly good reasons for
wanting to use a pseudonym online. And yet more and more websites are making it difficult or impossible to do so,
often for perfectly legitimate reasons of improving civility and
stopping anonymous abuse. How can pseudonymity — one of the key
foundations of early internet communities — be saved?
