Privacy Issues

Anonymity on the Internet offers a form of privacy that is eagerly embraced by some and troubling to others. Part of the appeal of the Internet is that the user is anonymous if he or she wants to be. On-screen names are created and do not identify the user. Even the sex of the user is secret unless deliberately revealed, as are age, race, and other demographic data. Anonymity allows the user to be more open than he might otherwise be, but it also allows the user to remain cloaked when behaving badly. Anonymity encourages people to use the Internet without fear of having their privacy invaded, but it also stands as an opportunity to the unscrupulous to hide their identity while doing harm to others.

Dockrill (1987) states that the concern for privacy through the possible intrusion of electronic data-processing equipment is of relatively recent origin. De

. . .
joy. The writer sees the proliferation of information as such that the computer is reducing all our privacy to something in the past. By this the writer means that massive amounts of information can be gathered in one place and analyzed, information that in the past would have been spread over a number of different sources and would have been nearly impossible to bring together. We therefore used to be able to remain anonymous to a greater degree than we can today (Virtual privacy, 1996, 16-17). Chapman (1996) echoes this theme while showing that the idea of anonymity is at the heart of debates taking place about the future of the Internet. The actual issue is a combination of anonymity and pseudonymity, or the ability to conceal one's identity behind a fictional name, and some people are trying eliminate electronic anonymity while others are trying to make it more effective and easier to use. The main reasons people want to retain anonymity include privacy and freedom of expression. The Supreme Court ruled in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Committee that the anonymity of citizens must be protected for political speech. This was a case about a woman who distributed leaflets without identifying who wrote them or where they we
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Data Center, Anonymity Internet, Europe Government, Caller ID, , Church Scientology, Johan Helsingious, Elections Committee, D7 Coursey, Law Review, chapman 1996, graham 1987, coursey 1997, dockrill 1987, chapman 1996 d7, personal information, deliberate efforts, online services, protect privacy, virtual privacy 1996, quittner 1996, encryption anonymous remailers, 1987 1396, anonymous internet remailer, angeles times d7,
Approximate Word count = 1612
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Privacy Issues