Political repression. Surprisingly Good Evidence That Real Name Policies Fail To Improve Comments. YouTube has joined a growing list of social media companies who think that forcing users to use their real names will make comment sections less of a trolling wasteland, but there’s surprisingly good evidence from South Korea that real name policies fail at cleaning up comments.
In 2007, South Korea temporarily mandated that all websites with over 100,000 viewers require real names, but scrapped it after it was found to be ineffective at cleaning up abusive and malicious comments (the policy reduced unwanted comments by an estimated .09%). We don’t know how this hidden gem of evidence skipped the national debate on real identities, but it’s an important lesson for YouTube, Facebook and Google, who have assumed that fear of judgement will change online behavior for the better. Last week, YouTube began a policy of prompting users to sign in through Google+ with their full names. If users decline, they have to give a valid reason, like, “My channel is for a show or character”. Browser fingerprints make anonymity difficult, finds EFF | Pinsent Masons LLP. Internet users are often warned to ensure that they control the use of cookies – small files that websites leave on a user's computer so that the user can be identified on a return visit – to reflect accurately their privacy preferences.
But digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has conducted research that shows that the simple technical details displayed to websites by every user's browser software can be almost as effective an identifier as a cookie. The revelation could have serious consequences for individuals' ability to mask their identity or control the information gathered about them by organisations. It could also influence policy makers and legislators. The EFF conducted a study of almost half a million visitors to a website and discovered that 84% of those visitors had a browser profile that was unique to them.
Browsers that were installed with Adobe Flash or Java Virtual Machine software were unique in 94% of cases. Privacy pioneer search engine launches anonymous surfing service | Pinsent Masons LLP. Proxy services allow web users to see pages via a third party's web server, meaning that the operator of the page only sees the IP address of that server. Using a proxy means that the site operator will not know the IP address of the page viewer or be able to place tracking cookies on the viewer's computer. The service is being launched by Startpage, the US brand used by search engine company Ixquick. Ixquick was the first company to receive a 'privacy seal' from European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx for its attempts to improve the privacy protections afforded to its users.
In 2006 Ixquick decided to stop collecting the IP addresses of its users when processing their searches. Ixquick operates as a metasearch engine, meaning that it collates results from other search engines, such as Google. Microsoft announced last week that it was reducing from 18 months to six the length of time for which it keeps search data. Does ACTA Kill Online Anonymity? Online Anonymity Will Always Be Possible And Here’s Why. By now you’ve most likely seen several articles like this one where the CEO of Google infers that anonymity on the web isn’t necessary and that the Internet’s future will contain none of it whatsoever. People freak out when they read stuff like that. Every time I read an article of that ilk I get a chuckle because the bitter truth is that the Internet will never be 100% anonymity-free. As big as Google is, it is not bigger than the Internet itself, nor will it ever be.
It’s very easy to read those type of articles and think that, in the future, none of us will be able to surf anywhere or do anything without our real name being attached to it. To be blunt, getting that to work in practical application would be next to impossible. Two Big Things About Google There’s two things you have to remember about Google. “Google? It could. Second, all the information you give them is voluntary. Google Isn’t The Internet The great thing about the Internet is that there is no one entity that owns it. Reporters Sans Frontières - Government crusade against online anonymity. Reporters Without Borders is concerned about a senior official’s statement, reported yesterday, that the government wants to force Internet users to identify themselves in order to post comments online. “The Chinese authorities have been seized by a legislative frenzy in their desire to reinforce control over the Internet,” Reporters Without Borders said. “After adopting an amendment to the State Secrets Law, they are now embarking on a crusade against online anonymity and are trying to put a stop to the many discussions on sensitive political and social subjects that are taking place on the Internet.”
The press freedom organisation added: “The practical difficulties of implementing such a measure with the number of Internet users in China now exceeding 400 million mean this strategy is probably doomed to failure. It would only encourage more Internet users to circumvent the Great Electronic Wall of China when going online.” Hu Jia, who is very ill, was recently hospitalised. Rhodri Marsden: Online anonymity lets us behave badly - Features, Gadgets & Tech.
The most famous is probably Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving the Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. " But another, by web comic artist John Gabriel, is gaining ground; it simply states the following: Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Idiot*. Or in longhand, give the average human the opportunity to express themselves online anonymously and without fear of retribution, and they'll behave rudely, viciously and inappropriately. This "Greater Internet Idiot Theory" – or something incredibly similar to it – was undoubtedly in the minds of executives at Blizzard, the company behind the insanely addictive game World Of Warcraft, when they decided last week to impose a system in their forums where you'd be obliged to post using your real name. Blizzard backtracked at the weekend, realising that alienating thousands of customers might not be good for business.
No anonymity on future web says Google CEO | THINQ.co.uk. The CEO of search giant Google has told users they can look forward to an Internet that offers them no place to hide. "True transparency and no anonymity", he says, is the way forward - and there's nothing we can do to prevent it. According to a report on tech blog ReadWriteWeb, Eric Schmidt revealed the size of the Internet information boom yesterday at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe. "There was five exabytes [five billion gigabytes] of information created between the dawn of civilization through 2003," he said. "But that much information is now created every two days, and the pace is increasing... People aren't ready for the technology revolution that's going to happen to them.
"In our lifetimes," Schmidt said, "we'll go from a small number of people having access to information, to five billion people having all the world's knowledge in their native language. " The bulk of that information, Schmidt explained, comes in the form of user-generated data. In defence of anonymity online | Mariam Cook. A running question is why should we put up with, or pay any attention to, those who will not reveal their identity? Some argue making people honest about who they are will improve the "quality" and tone of online debates in arenas such as Comment is free. Journalists smile proudly from profile pictures having earned positions from which they feel confident to commit thoughts of varying controversy to print and web.
Yet not everyone can write so freely – although their words are no less valuable. Michel Foucault once wrote: "If the prisoner is never sure when he is being observed, he becomes his own guardian. " His dystopic vision of a panopticon filled with "docile bodies" relied on the omnipresent threat of surveillance and the conformance it provokes. His thinking built upon Jeremy Bentham's architectural vision of a watchtower from which inmates of every prison cell were never sure when they were being observed. The Anonymous Liberal explains on his blog: "Who am I? We must not lose. Anonymity and Privacy on the Internet.
Anonymity and Privacy on the Internet Technical General Information Here are links to some leading privacy sites A Note About Web Browsers & Privacy A brief warning from the early days of the web by Ed Kubaitis Anonymity, Privacy and Security Information on how to remain anonymous Anonymous Communications on the Internet Study of Internet anonymity and pseudonymity being conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Bacard's Privacy Page From the author of the Computer Privacy Handbook Beyond Concern: Understanding Net Users' Attitudes About Online Privacy An AT&T Labs study suggests that a "one size fits all" approach to privacy won't work.
CDT's Privacy Watchdog "Internet users help us assess the state of privacy on the Internet and send a clear message to the business community that privacy matters. Discovery Channel: Cybersurveillance A special online report by Patrick J. EPIC Online Guide to Privacy Resources Compiled by the Electronic Privacy Information Center U.S. Privacy and open government: conversations with EPIC and others about OpenID. TED Releases 4chan Creator m00t’s Controversial Talk on Online Anonymity | Internet Today.
The End of Online Anonymity: Why Will You Be Freaking Out? When you make forum posts beginning with, "I'm not a racist, but... " or call us retards in the comments, do you use your real name? What if you had to? Cracked has no plans to implement such a feature, but the world certainly seems to be heading that direction. You probably saw the raging backlash that occurred when one of the world's largest video game companies tried to institute a "you must post under your real name" policy: The idea lasted about two days before they were forced to back down. But that felt like a temporary reprieve for anonymity.
Facebook Connect is turning up everywhere, and encourages (sometimes tricks) you into using your Facebook name on other sites (like ours!). As we speak, one of the world's most wired countries, South Korea, has had a real-name policy for Internet users since last year. For all that's going to accomplish. So where do you fall on this spectrum? People With Secret (But Perfectly Legal) Online Lives "These people know nothing of my work. Internet Anonymity. Internet Anonymity "The decision in favor of anonymity may be motivated by fear of economic or official retaliation, by concern about social ostracism, or merely by a desire to preserve as much of one's privacy as possible. ... Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation -- and their ideas from suppression -- at the hand of an intolerant society.
" - McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995) A majority of Internet users feel that the medium's most valuable asset is anonymity - the ability to conceal one's identity while communicating. Similarly, there are strong incentives for whistle-blowers to remain anonymous. In the past year, as the popularity of online message boards has continued to increase, the veil of anonymity increasingly has come under attack. Recent News Articles Surfing the Message Boards(St. Yahoo!