More and more people are concerned about the issue of privacy in an age in which virtually everything we do is recorded somewhere in a computer system. The potential for abuse is great. Congress has considered the issue, the courts have had to deal with it many times and will certainly have to address it in many cases in the future, and the public at large is convinced that there is a potential for abuse even if such abuse has not yet surfaced. Because of this concern, there is a need for a comprehensive program of legislation to identify the problem, clarify the issues, and offer a legal framework as a solution.
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. Developments in technology have created greatly advanced capabilities and an associated reduction in cost for this type of equipment. There has also been a growth in volume and in the complexity of everyday transactions using the computer, and this has further enhanced the spread of the technology throughout the world. The first experimental models of computers were installed in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, and the number had reached 300,000 by 1974. Tod...