An invited talk on the value of anonymity online.

1. “Assessing the value of
anonymous communication
online”
Robert Bodle, PhD (USC)
Associate Professor of Communication and New
Media Studies, College of Mount St. Joseph

2. Anonymity as political freedom
Khaled Mohamed Saeed (1982-2010)

3. Anonymity as political freedom
Wael Ghonim

4. Tahrir Square 1/25/11

5. Insights
-anonymity instrumental in organizing protest
-human lives at risk
-online anonymity more difficult to achieve due to a fixed
user identity ecosystem

6. Fixed user identity ecosystem
Real Name Only Policy:
“Impersonating anyone or
anything is not permitted.”
“Essentially, we are moving beyond
the point of no return” (Solis, 2010)

7. Defining anonymity online
Basic conditions –
1) an anonymous action is not linkable to
someone’s identity
2) two anonymous actions by the same person, are
not linkable to each other (Clarke, Gauvin, Adams,
2009)
Or, “nonidentifiability by virtue of noncoordinatability of
traits” (Wallace, 2008).

8. Facebook coordinates our traits
mashups
widgets
social games
social plug-ins
The “Like” button

9. A culture of sharing . . .
Sharing one's 'social graph'

10. One condition - ID is attached
Why?
Safety?
Civility?
Market incentive?
“Essentially, we are moving beyond
the point of no return” (Solis, 2010)

11. Facebook claims real names =
safety
“When everyone uses their real first and last
names, people can know who they're
connecting with. This helps keep our community
safe.”
“We take the safety of our community very
seriously. That's why we remove fake accounts
from the site as we find them.” (Facebook Help
Center)

12. the most vulnerable people are far
LESS safe when identifiable
-a dissident who fears imprisonment, torture, and death
-a gay teen who wants to reach out online without fear of
their family finding out
-a whistleblower who fears retribution
-a person of faith who could be subject to religious
persecution
-a battered wife seeking shelter
-a parent who wants their child to navigate safely online

13. “The Civilizing Effect” of real
names
“People behave a lot better
when they have their real
names down” - Randi
Zuckerberg, Marketing
Director of Facebook.

14. “The Civilizing Effect” of real
names
The connection between
civility and use of real
names is refuted by recent
studies on use of
pseudonyms online (Boniel-
Nissam & Barak, 2011;
Cho, 2011; Disqus, 2012).

15. Double edged attributes of
anonymity
The same attributes that have antisocial
outcomes also have beneficial ones . . .
•Minimizes accountability
•Disinhibition
•Deindividuation

16. Minimizes accountability
tempts criminals to act w/impunity
offers safety from reprisal
masks failure/builds confidence

17. Disinhibition
stupid, abusive, vile, hateful, dishonest speech
uninhibited public opinion
experimentation
intimacy
honest self disclosure
therapeutic value
“Anonymity is authenticity”
(Poole aka “Moot” 2011)

18. Deindividuation Effects
antinormative
behavior
group norms
community ID
high participation
Anonymous Collective Action

19. Human rights dimensions of
anonymity
Anonymity supports fundamental
freedoms and rights online
•Privacy
•Right to assemble
•Freedom of expression

20. Democratic Rights and Freedoms
Anonymity enables political
expression that is “uninhibited,
robust, and wide-open” (Supreme
Court Justice Brennan, NY Times
v. Sullivan, 1960)
And . . .
“Protection from the tyranny of the
majority” (de Tocqueville 1835)
The authors used the pseudonym "Publius"

21. Democratic Rights and Freedoms
First Amendment protection of
anonymous communication
tolerates offensive speech to
allow for robust political debate,
including . . .
“differences of opinion, scathing
dissent, and the risk of disorder”
(Bollinger, 2009).

22. Protect rights and freedoms online
and offline
Demand social media sites, services
provide:
-privacy
-pseudonyms
-anonymity
-freedom from surveillance
With global implications . . .

23. Thank you for your attention.
robert_bodle@mail.msj.edu
http://twitter.com/robertbodle

24. “Assessing the value of
anonymous communication
online”
Robert Bodle, PhD (USC)
Associate Professor of Communication and New
Media Studies, College of Mount St. Joseph