Ethics Reader- cyberethics ch37

An understanding of the natural meaning of anonymity, as may be reflected in ordinary usage or a dictionary definition, is of remaining nameless, that is to say, conducting oneself without revealing one’s name. A poem or pamphlet is anonymous when unattributable to a named person; a donation is anonymous when the name of the donor is withheld; people strolling through a foreign city are anonymous because no-one knows who they are. Extending this understanding into the electronic sphere, one might suggest that conducting one’s affairs, communicating, or engaging in transactions anonymously in the electronic sphere, is to do so without one’s name being known. Specific cases that are regularly discussed includes ending electronic mail to an individual, or bulletin board, without one’s given name appearing in any part of the header participating in a “chat” group, electronic forum, or game without one’s given name being known by other participants buying something with the digital equivalent of cash being able to visit any web site without having to divulge one’s identity.

The concern I wish to raise here is that in a computerized world concealing or withholding names is no longer adequate, because although it preserves a traditional understanding of anonymity, it fails to preserve what is at stake in protecting anonymity.