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Sometimes I feel the anonymity aspect of the Internet brings the worst out of people. If we didn't have anonymity to begin with, people would have not tried tho

Sometimes I feel the anonymity aspect of the Internet brings the worst out of people. If we didn't have anonymity to begin with, people would have not tried those kind of harassment. Or if they do, it'll be a routine case for the police as opposed to requiring substantial FBI involvement.

bilbo0s 8y ago
I generally file it under: This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
koolba 8y ago
The other side of that coin is without anonymity only the strongest can truly speak their mind without fear of repercussions. I’d say, overall, it’s been worth it so far.
Shivetya 8y ago
don't fool yourself, people have been harassing and exploiting others without issue long before the internet. the difference is that while the internet can extend their reach the very nature of brings such occurrences to light more often than before. so while the internet broadens their reach it doesn't always give them more anonymity, if anything their trail is easier to follow by more people, especially law enforcement. people just don't understand the depth of a trail they leave when using the net
- vkou 8y ago
  > don't fool yourself, people have been harassing and exploiting others without issue long before the internet. the difference is that while the internet can extend their reach the very nature of brings such occurrences to light more often than before. There's another key difference that you are completely ignoring. The return on effort invested with internet harassment is much better then the ROI with harassment in the physical world. Sometimes, an improvement in ROI produces a categorically new thing. An automobile is just a horse buggy with a better ROI - yet, for some reason, neither society, nor the law treats them like it did horse buggies.
vokep 8y ago
Anonymity is required to maintain freedom of speech. It provides a route for any adult to be the child that calls out the emperors new clothes. The sad part is yes, it also enables bad people to do bad things without consequence, however, that is the bet that we make. That the bad people doing their bad shit, is a small price to pay to prevent bad people in power from doing very very bad shit
- analyst74 8y ago
  It's not anonymity that protected freedom of speech, but people who believe in free speech, represented by supreme court that is protecting it. And when it comes to overthrowing corrupt ruling class, do people seriously believe anonymously complaining online is going to do anything?
  - sleepybrett 8y ago
    One could argue that anonymous complaining and accusations contributed to Trumps election. How many of those 'anonymous americans' (who were concered about the emails, or spouting off about clinton having parkinsons, or bernie or busters, etc etc) were not americans, but non-americans or bots/sockpuppets created to amplify the signal of a vocal minority of americans or non-americans. Because of platforms that are largely anonymous you can never know if an anonymous user is your next door neighbor or a bot tied to the marketing arm of some product you might be interested in or the agent of a foreign government. An interesting concept might be a social network where all users are verified and their profile contains only general information about them, letting you know if their opinion matters or is misleading.
gnode 8y ago
As far as anonymity and abuse goes, the Internet is not a revolutionary development. The postal system has existed for a very long time, and is capable of much worse. The Unabomber is a poignant example.

bilbo0s 8y ago

I generally file it under: This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

koolba 8y ago

The other side of that coin is without anonymity only the strongest can truly speak their mind without fear of repercussions. I’d say, overall, it’s been worth it so far.

Shivetya 8y ago

don't fool yourself, people have been harassing and exploiting others without issue long before the internet. the difference is that while the internet can extend their reach the very nature of brings such occurrences to light more often than before. so while the internet broadens their reach it doesn't always give them more anonymity, if anything their trail is easier to follow by more people, especially law enforcement. people just don't understand the depth of a trail they leave when using the net

vkou 8y ago
> don't fool yourself, people have been harassing and exploiting others without issue long before the internet. the difference is that while the internet can extend their reach the very nature of brings such occurrences to light more often than before. There's another key difference that you are completely ignoring. The return on effort invested with internet harassment is much better then the ROI with harassment in the physical world. Sometimes, an improvement in ROI produces a categorically new thing. An automobile is just a horse buggy with a better ROI - yet, for some reason, neither society, nor the law treats them like it did horse buggies.

vokep 8y ago

Anonymity is required to maintain freedom of speech. It provides a route for any adult to be the child that calls out the emperors new clothes. The sad part is yes, it also enables bad people to do bad things without consequence, however, that is the bet that we make. That the bad people doing their bad shit, is a small price to pay to prevent bad people in power from doing very very bad shit

analyst74 8y ago
It's not anonymity that protected freedom of speech, but people who believe in free speech, represented by supreme court that is protecting it. And when it comes to overthrowing corrupt ruling class, do people seriously believe anonymously complaining online is going to do anything?
- sleepybrett 8y ago
  One could argue that anonymous complaining and accusations contributed to Trumps election. How many of those 'anonymous americans' (who were concered about the emails, or spouting off about clinton having parkinsons, or bernie or busters, etc etc) were not americans, but non-americans or bots/sockpuppets created to amplify the signal of a vocal minority of americans or non-americans. Because of platforms that are largely anonymous you can never know if an anonymous user is your next door neighbor or a bot tied to the marketing arm of some product you might be interested in or the agent of a foreign government. An interesting concept might be a social network where all users are verified and their profile contains only general information about them, letting you know if their opinion matters or is misleading.

gnode 8y ago

As far as anonymity and abuse goes, the Internet is not a revolutionary development. The postal system has existed for a very long time, and is capable of much worse. The Unabomber is a poignant example.