anonymity on the Net must end
One of the greatest things about the Internet (other than it being tubes rather than a dump truck) is that you can be your true self. You do not have to worry about feeling out of place or rejected because you can remain anonymous and find your niche.
The trouble is that some people use that anonymity as an excuse to cause problems for the rest of us. This goes beyond trolling, though that is a major problem. Anonymity combined with powerful social software tools allow individuals to slander, libel, harass, and bring harm to others without repercussion or accountability.
Now, I know what your thinking – INVASION OF PRIVACY! No. There is a difference between privacy and anonymity. I am all for privacy, but if an individual causes serious disruption and damage to a forum, blog, wiki, or online game there needs to be some form of accountability.
The reason we have a police force is to ensure that 95% of us can live our lives while the 5% that would seek illicit gain or do harm to us are held accountable when they do. Police in the real world have the ability to pierce the veil of privacy to discover the identities of perpetrators of crime. Legal accountability is only possible because we have no real world anonymity.
Let’s look at gaming. When Halo 2 came out I was ready with my new xbox live subscription. I was looking forward to playing multi-player online games any time of day with people from all over the world. Within a few short months it became clear that Halo 2 on xbox live was being ruined by cheaters, modders, hackers, and abusers. There is nothing more frustrating than playing a serious, ranked match only to have one of your team mates turn on you or start to commit suicide to lower their rank because they are tired of playing challenging games and would prefer lower their rank so they can paWn n00bz.  To their credit xbox live has the ability to track down offenders and get them kicked off the system but nothing prevents these no-goodniks from jumping right back on with a new account.
I understand that the actions of cheaters in an online game does not rise to the level of a risk to life and limb but Net anonymity facilitates real crime too. People are using Craig’s List to find victims to rob. Email fraud, phishing, identity theft, sexual harassment, stalking, and worse are now on the rise because anyone can go online with complete anonymity commit crimes with little hope of actual accountability.
If there was a mechanism to map an individual’s online identity to an individual’s real world identity then he or she could be held accountable for his or her actions. Then the 95% would be able to live, work, and play online safe from the crap thrown at us by the 5%.
Let’s keep identity privacy. But anonymity should be a privilege that can be lost when laws, or the rules of conduct, are broken.
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Nice website. I gotta disagree with you. I believe O’Reilly is talking about zombies playing World of Warcraft or some other highly addictive game. He’s not talking about geeks creating code like you and me. Do you have children? I have three adult sons, one who has completely shut himself off from the REAL WORLD to live in the world of warcraft. He would’nt know computer code from the guy next door, and he doesn’t care. Matter of fact, he doesn’t care to have a job, or a social life. A Psychologist friend of mine tells me this is a real growing problem - people a becoming isolated, disconnected, living in a digital world. They immerse themselves in their cell phones, computers and ipods. I’ve seen it, not only with my son, but many of my friends kids as well. O’Reilly is right on this one.
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Jim,
I first thought to simply delete your post but I decided to approve it. The reason I changed my mind is to point out that there is a generation gap that causes the perception that you hold.
What is the real world? Is it going outside and seeing trees and cars? Is it going to the mall? Or, is it connecting and communicating with others?
The internet is the real world. I meet more people online than I do off. I walk through crowded city streets and see hundreds of people. I go to lunch and sit with dozens of people. None of them talks to anyone they do not already know. They stay to themselves or converse with their co-workers. People don’t even talk to their neighbors.
Contrast that with online activity - even gaming. I have friends online. I speak with more people on World of Warcraft than I do at work. On xbox live I have friends that I know better than I know my neighbors. On my IM I have a bunch of folks that I talk to all the time. Over email I connect to people all over the world. Right now I am talking to you - a person I do not know - about a topic we both feel passionate about. When was the last time a conversation like this started in the real world? Talking to complete strangers about topics you love is not something that is easy to do in the “real world”.
To me the real world and the virtual world are the same. Sure, some people do actually loose touch and become anti-social, but chances are they would have done that with or without the Net.
I would encourage you to talk to your son about what he does online. Is he in a guild? Does he use team talk? Is he on the boards? You may be suprised to find that he is actually more connected to the real world than you might think.