Anonymity on the Internet is a tough issue to
discuss, as there are various different aspects to it. Over the last 10 years, the Internet was
notoriously known for anonymity because anyone can be anyone on the Internet. Today, social media is pushing anonymity
away, for example, Facebook encourages using your real name and as of recently,
YouTube has been encouraging their users to switch from their usernames to their real names.
Within the last 15 years, Internet usage has
increased exponentially and with that, no real manual on how to use it. In short, an exponential number of people
being able to access the Internet, where there are no enforced rules or
regulations – is a setup for trouble.
Anonymity on the Internet, allows people to express their opinions
openly on public forums, which is a good thing, but it can also lead to racial,
homophobic, sexist, and even bullying and criminal comments. To combat this
behaviour, online groups such as Anonymous, “out” people by exposing the
identities of the individuals who are responsible for their comments. In some extreme cases, personal information
(i.e. home address, work address, personal e-mail) has been posted on public
forums as a form of “corrective action”.
To a certain extent, I do believe that this “corrective action” should be
taken against the inappropriate comments mentioned previously, however, I don’t
believe that Anonymous’ actions of posting personal information on a public
forum is the right form of “corrective action”.
Corrective action taken by the group known as Anonymous, such as
“outing” people for their inappropriate and ignorant comments isn’t always the
right action to take. Revealing the identities of racists, sexists, or
homophobes doesn’t change the fact that they posted inappropriate comments in
the first place, by revealing their identities, it doesn’t change the values or
personal views – it only changes whether or not they choose to post their
opinions on public forums. Not to
mention that it ostracizes and puts them in the spotlight for receiving criticism,
which leaves the open possibility to create an adverse situation or make the
situation much worse than it had been originally.
The underlying problem of public forums is the extent of freedom of
speech. In Canada, as well as, the
United States we have the right to freedom of speech and it applies to online
forums as well. In context, we are
allowed to express our opinions in any media form. This is the same to those who make
inappropriate posts and comments online, whether if it’s racist, sexist, or
homophobic – it is their opinion and they are free to express it. The question still remains though, if it’s
appropriate or not for those types of opinions to be expressed on a public
medium. Inevitably, everyone will have
different opinions on various topics due to different values, culture and
religion – even though all of the opinions are different everyone has a right
to it. Limiting what people say on the
Internet is taking their right to free speech away. Personally, I don’t think these types of
opinions belong on a public forum as they spread hate and inequality among the
community but I also believe that everybody has the right to free speech. There is a time and place for everything and
for those certain topics it applies.
Corrective action in online forums is a specialty for
Anonymous. Anonymous forces people to
comply with the values of what they think are right through blackmail or other
devices. The Kylie Kylem incident is a good example;
bullies from Kylie’s school were making horrible remarks about how Kylie should
kill herself. This incident escalated to
the point where Anonymous took interest in it.
Anonymous took it in their hands and compiled the identities of the
bullies and threatened to send it to authorities. Though through the corrective action of
Anonymous, they were successful in making the cyber bullying to stop but
through the means of blackmail.
Blackmail is not a means of corrective action, though Anonymous was
successful in resolving the Kylie incident through blackmail – I don’t believe
that it’s the solution that people should resort to in solving problems.
Today, cyber bullying has become an increasing problem on the
Internet media platform. The Internet
has become very integrated in our daily lives thus children have been allowed
access to it. Children are very
vulnerable and impressionable and if they are educated at a young age about Internet safety it
could potentially prevent cyber bullying before it starts. Even though this isn’t a counter measure to
combat inappropriate comments on the Internet, it has the potential to prevent
the younger generation from making such remarks. Another way to potentially combat
inappropriate comments on the Internet, is educating the public about different
cultures and religions. Making the
general public more aware of what each others cultural and religious values
are, would make people more tolerant and understanding of those values.
Even though anonymity has given us the freedom to express ourselves,
we must keep in mind the responsibility of the things we say. For example, those who express their racial,
sexist or homophobic opinions on an online forum, must be conscience of criticism that they
will receive from the online community.
Freedom of speech is a right that everyone has, but it shouldn’t be
taken advantage of. There is a time and
place for everything, including freedom of speech. Corrective action such as education is the
most sound and peaceful resolution, unlike blackmail in which Anonymous resorts
to using. We all have the right to
exercise our right to freedom of speech; we just need to be mindful of what we
say in the current time and place.
