Editing Anonymity (section)

=== Arguments for and against anonymity ===
As [[A. Michael Froomkin]] says: "The regulation of anonymous and pseudonymous communications promises to be one of the most important and contentious Internet-related issues of the next decade".<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/019722499128574|title = Legal Issues in Anonymity and Pseudonymity| journal=The Information Society| volume=15| issue=2| pages=113–127|year = 1999|last1 = Froomkin|first1 = A. Michael |author1-link=Michael Froomkin |s2cid = 205509626}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1016/S0167-739X(99)00062-X | volume=16 | issue=4 | title=Privacy protection and anonymity services for the World Wide Web (WWW) | year=2000 | journal=Future Generation Computer Systems | pages=379–391 | last1 = Oppliger | first1 = Rolf}}</ref> Anonymity and pseudonymity can be used for good and bad purposes. And anonymity can in many cases be desirable for one person and not desirable for another person. A company may, for example, not like an employee to divulge information about improper practices within the company, but society as a whole may find it important that such improper practices are publicly exposed.
Good purposes of anonymity and pseudonymity:{{fact|date=February 2022}}
* People dependent on an organization, or afraid of revenge, may divulge serious misuse, which should be revealed. Anonymous tips can be used as an information source by newspapers, as well as by police departments, soliciting tips aimed at catching criminals. Not everyone will regard such anonymous communication as good. For example, message boards established outside companies, but for employees of such companies to vent their opinions on their employer, have sometimes been used in ways that at least the companies themselves were not happy about [Abelson 2001].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/29/technology/29HARA.html?searchpv=site14 By the Water Cooler in Cyberspace, the Talk Turns Ugly] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704182846/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/29/technology/29HARA.html?searchpv=site14 |date=2016-07-04 }}, by Reed Abelson, New York Times, 29 April 2001</ref> Police use of anonymity is a complex issue, since the police often will want to know the identity of the tipper in order to get more information, evaluate the reliability or get the tipper as a witness. Is it ethical for police to identify the tipper if it has opened up an anonymous tipping hotline?
* People in a country with a repressive political regime may use anonymity (for example Internet-based anonymity servers in other countries) to avoid persecution for their political opinions. Note that even in democratic countries, some people claim, rightly or wrongly, that certain political opinions are persecuted. [Wallace 1999]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp54.pdf|title=Nameless in Cyberspace, anonymity on the Internet|author1-first=Jonathan D.|author1-last=Wallace|publisher=[[CATO Institute]]|date=December 8, 1999|website=cato.org|access-date=2 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227080944/http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp54.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-054es.html|title=Nameless in Cyberspace: Anonymity on the Internet|access-date=13 June 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501020933/http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-054es.html|archive-date=1 May 2016}}</ref> gives an overview of uses of anonymity to protect political speech. Every country has a limit on which political opinions are allowed, and there are always people who want to express forbidden opinions, like racial agitation in most democratic countries.
* People may openly discuss personal stuff which would be embarrassing to tell many people about, such as sexual problems. Research shows that anonymous participants disclose significantly more information about themselves [Joinson 2001].<ref>Joinson, A. N. (2001). [http://iet.open.ac.uk/pp/a.n.joinson/papers/self-disclosure.PDF Self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication: The role of self-awareness and visual anonymity] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221142850/http://iet.open.ac.uk/pp/a.n.joinson/papers/self-disclosure.PDF |date=2007-02-21 }}. European Journal of Social Psychology, ''31''(2), 177-192.</ref> People might also feel more open to sharing their personal work anonymously if they feel that their friends and family would harass them or disapprove of their work. Examples of such work could include [[fan fiction]] or vocal performances.<ref name=":0" />
* People may get more objective evaluation of their messages, by not showing their real name.
* People are more equal in anonymous discussions, factors like status, gender, etc., will not influence the evaluation of what they say.
* Pseudonymity can be used to experiment with role playing, for example a man posing as a woman in order to understand the feelings of people of different gender.
* Pseudonymity can be a tool for timid people to dare establish contacts which can be of value for them and others, e.g. through contact advertisements.
* People can contribute to online social discussion with reduced risk of harm by online predators. Online predators include "criminals, hackers, scammers, stalkers, and malicious online vendors".<ref name=":0" />
* People can avoid becoming famous by [[Anonymous work|publishing their work anonymously]].

There has always, however, also been a negative side of anonymity:
* Anonymity can be used to protect a criminal performing many different crimes, for example slander, distribution of child pornography, illegal threats, racial agitation, fraud, intentional damage such as distribution of computer viruses, etc. The exact set of illegal acts varies from country to country, but most countries have many laws forbidding certain "informational" acts, everything from high treason to instigation of rebellion, etc., to swindling.{{fact|date=February 2022}}
* Anonymity can be used for online payments for criminals paying others to perform illegal acts or purchases.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Froomkin |first=A. Michael |author-link=Michael Froomkin |title=Anonymity and its Enmities |date=1995 |volume=1 |journal=Journal of Online Law |at=art. 4 |ssrn=2715621 }}</ref>
* Anonymity can be used to seek contacts for performing illegal acts, like a [[Child grooming]] searching for children to abuse or a swindler searching for people to rip off.{{fact|date=February 2022}}
* Even when the act is not illegal, anonymity can be used for offensive or disruptive communication. For example, some people use anonymity in order to say harmful things about other people, known as [[cyberbullying]].
* [[Internet troll]]s use anonymity to harm discussions in online social platforms.{{fact|date=February 2022}}

The border between illegal and legal but offensive use is not very sharp, and varies depending on the law in each country.<ref>[http://people.dsv.su.se/~jpalme/society/anonymity.html#fn1 Anonymity on the Internet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221051847/http://people.dsv.su.se/~jpalme/society/anonymity.html |date=2008-02-21 }}, by Jacob Palme, using much material from the paper "Usenet news and anon.penet.fi" by Mikael Berglund</ref>