Anonymous means an unknown name or someone that has no individuality. Anonymity surfaced on the web when people started using anonymous names when discussing about sensitive topics where they will feel ashamed or shy to let them know who they really are. Using anonymity to comment on the web makes them feel safer and protected from others at the same time. It also gives them the opportunity to create a character of who they wanted to be in the first place and gain a louder voice to speak on the Internet. Soon, people started to get comfortable for being anonymous when they are on the Internet.
It is true that anonymity allows people to speak their mind but this power is often being misused on the Internet as well. For example, cases of cyber bullying, hacking, threatening and virtual terrorism are often around the news and any discussion sites. The more common victims of anonymity abuse are governments, people with high industrial statuses and celebrities which have high exposure in public.
The use of anonymity has being used in such an abusive way which makes some popular Internet sites, especially social network sites in changing their privacy policy only allowing people that uses their real identity to access their sites. Anyone that uses an anonymous name would often being suspect as someone that is up to doing no good on the Internet by the online community because the community itself now doesn't trust anyone with anonymous names. This policy has been created to keep the Internet a little safer.
Anonymity can protect your personal information from others because they would have trouble finding out who you really are but that doesn't mean you are fully protected. Using real identity on the Internet does not really protect you either. There are a huge number of hackers online, which are also known as data manipulators, that goes out stealing other's identity to carry out online crimes. Online records of our activities are often saved in the Internet and hackers can easily get a hold of that information, especially on social media where we share most about our personal information. Sometimes we don't even know that our identity has been stolen and trouble would come to you.
I feel like in some certain sites on the Internet we should remain anonymous to protect ourselves, especially on any discussion groups, newsgroups or some unknown sites on the Internet. Our personal information should also be kept in minimum to prevent becoming any victim of identity thieves.
References:
Dictionary.com
(2010) Anonymous. Available at: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anonymous (Accessed 6 January 2016).
Huffington Post
(2015) Understanding the Benefits and
Limits of Internet Anonymity. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonha-revesencio/understanding-the-benefit_b_8305984.html (Accessed 6 January 2016).
InfoWorld (2011) The
Internet should not be Anonymous. Available at: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2625309/identity-management/the-internet-should-not-be-anonymous.html
(Accessed 7 January 2016).
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