The blurred lines of internet anonymity

March 28th, 2014
The blurred lines of internet anonymity

By Naomi Dolin-Aubertin

Recently there have been a rise in the number of anonymous social sharing apps. One of the first places we saw this institutionalized was not digital, in the form of PostSecret, the mail-in project that allowed people to confess their true thoughts to a large audience. There are two sites that have grown up to fill PostSecret's shoes: Whisper and Secret.

Secret is a social network that allows you to anonymously post messages and even name names to a network of people that you know. The iTunes app store describes it as:

Secret is a new way to share what you’re thinking and feeling with your friends.

  • Write anything that’s on your mind, free of judgment.
  • When friends like your post, it spreads to their friends. The most interesting posts can travel around the world.
  • Secret is fun and addictive. Be yourself. Say what you mean. Speak freely.

In the past two weeks, controversy has arisen about cyber-bullying on the app. "Without names attached, people are free to insult and troll as they please. Posts criticizing/defaming public figures in tech including founders and investors are not uncommon..." [1] The app is in its first growing stages and its CEO recently responded to these issues with a plan for how to balance the right to free speech with the protection of its users from hate speech.

Whisper is an open application which allows users to share meme-like confessions to the entire network and internet. Like Secret, it allows users to engage with each other. The confessions range from lighthearted and funny to deep and emotionally-charged. "Where Secret shares your anonymous post with your circle of friends, Whisper makes no distinction between people who know each other and people who are perfect strangers, inviting what seems to be a more positive and humorous user base." [2]

While internet anonymity allows users to share and connect with a community of people (sometimes supportive and sometimes not), it can sometimes work against people as well. For instance, a teen in California posted to her Tumblr account that she was going to commit suicide. A follower of her account, another teen, was galvanized into action and despite not knowing the anonymous user's full name, hometown, etc. she launched a search to find her.

Digging through her Tumblr account, Rosas, the police and a local high school principal named Karen Dimick worked together, eventually finding the girl's Twitter page. From there, they dug through her tweets, gleaning her last name, location and high school.

The search took a whopping eight hours, but saved the girl's life. Police found her at home, where she had a taken a dangerous amount of pills, and immediately whisked her to a medical facility. [3]

This story had a happy ending, but how many more people reach out to an internet community who cannot catch them when they need it the most?

On the other hand, internet anonymity can also give free speech and expression to people living in societies that repress journalism, the open exchange of ideas, and dissenting opinions. If you want to explore this concept in more depth, I wrote an article on the DirectCloud blog about why uncensored access to the internet is both a human right and important to furthering free speech and education in developing and/or repressive nations.

Is anonymity on the internet a positive or negative force? I really don't know, but I do think the conversation is worth having. What do you think? Post a comment below.


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