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Post #1
Well we are basically seeing that more and more websites are making people use Facebook to comment on them as well as things like the whole blizzard real id incident on the forums
The debate
Should anonymity be a internet right or should it be slowly phased out and replaced with real names?
sorry if it isn't good debate :[
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I think a person should always have a right to anonymity, online or not.
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The Internet as we know it will die if we'll be forced to use our real names.
That and IRL crime rate will grow sky high since everyone will be able to look up information about everyone.
"Son, I've seen what forums do you post on and what do you post, you're not allowed in our house anymore"
"Hey let's mock this kid for liking the game/movie/band/football team we don't like"
"you said bad things about <political figure> so I'm gonna burn your house down"
etc
I'm probably exaggerating a bit but this can't be good for anyone
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That wont happen. Law Enforcement takes people's information seriously. Publicly, you cant find anything about the person unless they, themselves have posted it.
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AUTISMAL FEDORA WEARING MASSIVE RUNNING JOKE - PRAY CROHN'S DISEASE KILLS ME
July 2010
17,345 Posts
A problem with anonymity however is it allows criminals and criminal organisations to work over the internet more easily than without it. (Paedophile rings being one result.)
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I would absolutely despise having to use our real names, since that would essentially make the internet one, huge social network. But most importantly, we wouldn't have our confidence, nor our freedom. Anonymity is crucial, it makes the internet what it is.
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Kids being mocked for their preferences isn't anything new but I think you're wrong about being forced to use real names for everything, for instance look at when Blizzard announced that they were going to use real names on the forums, people were in a uproar about it.
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You sound like some right winged mother.
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AUTISMAL FEDORA WEARING MASSIVE RUNNING JOKE - PRAY CROHN'S DISEASE KILLS ME
July 2010
17,345 Posts
It is true however, the internet is an unregulated mess in which anything may happen.
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I can't physically hurt you through the internet
I wish I could though.
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having the right to anonymity is not the right to abuse it.
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And that is the best thing about it.
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AUTISMAL FEDORA WEARING MASSIVE RUNNING JOKE - PRAY CROHN'S DISEASE KILLS ME
July 2010
17,345 Posts
If you could physically harm people over the internet then most internet users would be in the hospital.
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Much like a credit card. It can been a great tool when you need it but, when you start to abuse it, everyone pays for it.
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"or not"?
What does that mean? You are ok with people walking around in balaclavas?
If so I disagree.
I think web anonymity is important though.
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I have always believed that a person should be accountable for what they do, say, etc. However, I also think that anonymity acts as a sort of diplomatic immunity (even more so than actual D.I.). You can say what you want without fear of any persecution.
My opinion? Leave it the way it is. We, at the moment, leave it up to the user. If you want anonymity, you have access to FP, 4Chan, and other such forums. There's also Facebook, which leans more towards the other side of the spectrum.
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It's the virtual sandbox/playground of our time.
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Have proof for that? We have had phone books for years, and crime rates have been dropping. Not to imply having phonebooks leads to a lower crime rate. Also, you can actually look up information about anyone using a phonebook-like website.
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I don't think we should be forced out of anonymity. The internet seems to be the only true place you can have that. Regarding social networks they're optional, and should always stay that way.
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I was thinking of opinion articles in newspapers, or radio and tv interviews.
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Theres no stopping anonymity, on the web. If there is a law against it, just look back at pirating. People still do it, even though its illegal.
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Where I live, "people" KILL each other for liking a different football team. Now imagine if a bunch of chavs went on a forum of the team they don't like and got all the names of people that post there, they could quickly find them and hurt them, or worse if they're capable of beating random pedestrians to death just because they like a different sports club.
Oh and it provides massive stalking opportunities, would ruin relationships and break families, just think what would happen if your parents/girlfriend/boyfriend found what kind of porn do you watch or that you have unpopular opinions about things.
You would either have to restort to lurking or posting only politically correct things from a neutral perspective to not make others hate you
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There will always be anonymity. It's as simple as using a fake name.
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Strange, I've never seen anyone's information being posted in the phonebook. I've seen companies however.
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Phone books are opt-out'ble again, its not impossible to live with anonymity.. just takes some skill.
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The White Pages.
That wasn't my point. He was saying not being anonymous will lead to a higher crime rate.
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Which is completely not possible to link together. Well, it is, just not correctly. Sure someone can draw the conclusion that people may go for more bigger crimes if they dont have an identity.
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I very much would like to keep it. at the moment the internet provides a level playing ground for all people and I think forcing people to use their real names would get rid of that.
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If anonymity were eliminated on the net then people would be under much more potential harm and as a reaction to that, they'll probably put up restrictions in order to enforce that safely, with our internet freedom being even more restricted. That's just a guess though. I think the internet should remain anonymous though. Too much can sprout from making it not.
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The internet is anonymity.
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I think anonymity should be able to be taken away. Not from everyone, just from the trolls that go too far, so they can't use anonymity as a shield for acting like a prick and causing random grief.
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"These fuckers don't deserve a 'humane' punishment. They don't deserve to be called human. They don't even deserve to be called shit. Gas chamber is minimum acceptable punishment."
October 2008
11,841 Posts
It's not a bad idea, but that'd actually be pretty hard to do.
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that would be almost impossible to do
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If I mock you on the street, I don't have to give you my name.
Why should I have to do it on the web?
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The internet is the current frontier world
Losing anonymity would be akin to losing the "wilderness" aspect of it, in my opinion.
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The internet would be frustrating to use if there was no anonymity. I believe that personal information should be a user's choice.
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They could never enforce a law that has us use real names/ids online. If they don't, I just won't use sites that force it.
Anonymity makes the content more important than the user. Moot said that. Of course some people who choose to remain anonymous are ignorant, heartless, bastards, and that sucks.
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Maybe in the future we could have a hyper complex 'douche filter' that enforces that. By trolling, I don't mean sucking away anonymity for calling someone a fag, I mean like harassing people endlessly, or even defacing online memorials. It sounds far fetched, but I think it would be feasible in like a decade or so.
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Privacy shouldn't exist.
Privacy removes information, if you remove information, there is a higher chance that your predictions regarding your actions will be wrong and therefore, that the action will backfire.
Which turns into a less desirable situation when comparing it with having all of the information in the world.
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Have you thought about security and safety?
