Actually, you shouldn’t be entitled to complete privacy on the internet
Privacy online is super important to most people, and for good reason. Especially in an age where we are always hearing stories of how our data is being collected and sold by social media companies. But, often, this can spiral into a belief in an entitlement to complete anonymity on the internet. You don’t have to put your real name on your social media account. But what are the real impacts of this?
When people argue for the importance of privacy online, they often mix up privacy and anonymity. Privacy and anonymity are related concepts but have distinct differences.
- Privacy refers to the ability to control and restrict access to personal information, ensuring that it is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals or entities.
- Anonymity pertains to the state of being unidentified or unknown, where personal identity or information is concealed.
While privacy focuses on protecting personal data, anonymity goes a step further by completely hiding one’s identity. The two can be entirely separate issues, and the right to one should not automatically entail the other. You can keep your personal information safe, whilst ensuring that online interactions are open and honest. But, this involves a fundamental shift in how we perceive what people are and are not entitled to online. A shift that, among younger generations, is already taking place with so-called ‘blank profiles’ being increasingly mocked for cowardice when they leave unsavoury comments on others' posts.
Having the right to remain anonymous online may appear to be a positive thing. It's understandable that you wouldn't want to disclose your identity every time you engage in online activities (and let's be honest, a little bit of Instagram snooping is harmless.) However, when people abuse their right to anonymity (and they frequently do), it can lead to disaster. We all know that it can get ugly when trolls start attacking and sending death threats to individuals they consider unworthy.
A troll may target someone by spreading false information about them, making personal attacks, or inciting others to harass and intimidate the person. This can lead to emotional distress, reputational damage, and even real-life consequences such as cyberbullying or doxxing. It’s important to address and combat such online harassment to ensure the safety and well-being of individuals in the digital space.
Trolling isn’t new, but it is worse
Unfortunately, complete anonymity, both online and offline, can cause people’s darkest sides to come into play, causing all sorts of harmful behaviour that people don’t engage in when their identity is known. Offline, the power of peer judgement is key to anonymity and how it impacts behaviours. Crowd mentality causes people to feel they are less visible, so they can reveal personality traits that they may not otherwise. The feeling of being ‘less visible’ is what often causes people to behave differently — and often more dangerously. People are more likely to drive aggressively when they are less visible.
Prior to the dawn of the digital age, creeps and weirdos could definitely find ways to spook their enemies without letting them know who they were. This behaviour presents itself today in the form of online trolls. Trolls predominantly impact women and minorities. Increasing hate comments targeting our appearances, dismissing what we say about discrimination and harassment, and many other flavours of discriminatory behaviour. And this can have real-life impacts too, through impacting mental health, or through harassing behaviour online bleeding into the non-digital world. In 2011, an internet troll was even jailed for mocking dead teenagers online.
Research indicates that our behaviour changes when we are anonymous compared to when we are known. This is because we can separate the outcomes of our actions from the actions themselves. If no one knows who we are, then there are no consequences for our actions.
What do the kids think?
As we continue to navigate the ever-evolving digital landscape, it is crucial that we prioritize accountability and responsibility. It is no longer enough to simply view online interactions as separate from real-life interactions. Instead, we must recognize that our actions in the virtual world can have just as much impact as our actions in the physical world. This is especially important for younger generations who are growing up with technology as an integral part of their daily lives. By holding ourselves and others accountable for our online behaviour, we can work towards creating a safer and more equitable digital space for all.
The idea of the ‘blank profile’ as something that is worthy of condemnation is something that is rising in prominence. Young people are increasingly thinking of these anonymous commenters as cowardly. Why won’t they show their face? Are they hiding something? Probably.
For a generation that grew up on online safety videos that are reminiscent of a true crime documentary, accusing people who do not state their identity publicly of being cowards is a perfectly reasonable reaction. Throughout primary school, we were sat down and made to watch videos of yet another child being snatched away by a man in a white van. This man is always pretending to be someone else online, and we appear to have collectively internalised that this is bad behaviour.
The evolving legal landscape is also recognising the need for online accountability. Governments and regulatory bodies are enacting laws and regulations that aim to curb harmful online behaviour and ensure that individuals can be identified and held responsible for their actions. I argue, as do many my age, that this accountability has to involve transparency. When you interact with others online, they have a right to know who they are interacting with. The benefits of being able to hide one’s identity online do not outweigh the costs.
What’s behind our desire to be anonymous online?
‘If you post one video or picture with alcohol in it, you will be jobless for life’ — Every teacher I’ve ever had
It is also worth discussing one of the main reasons why people choose to stay anonymous online. Alongside the terror-inducing online safety videos we have been shown throughout our childhood, we have also constantly been told that future employers will stalk us on social media. If we post too many videos being ‘irresponsible’ (whatever that entails is left a mystery), then we will be left unemployed for life.
I, personally, deal with this by using my double-barreled surname for professional pursuits online, and not for my personal accounts. This appears to be working this far, as you can see above. I pride myself on being ‘Google-able’ for potential employers, as you can see above. But, I also take issue with the concept in and of itself.
To a certain extent, this is understandable. A quick look at someone's Instagram can quickly tell you if they are an absolute nutter (and no one wants to hire one of those). I understand why employers may do this, but it still feels like something of an invasion of privacy, and that is a contributing factor as to why a lot of people choose to remain anonymous online.
As I have illustrated, though, you can avoid both of these things at once. My personal accounts clearly illustrate that I am a real person, and give basic information, so anyone that interacts with me does not feel they are talking to a robot. But, they will not appear when a potential employer googles me. Not that I post anything incriminating, but the definition of ‘inappropriate’ is very broad, and I am very public about my gender transition and my political opinions, particularly on my personal TikTok. And, out of principle, I don’t want employers making any judgements about me based on my TikTok.
It is worth remembering that a fair amount of the responsibility for this fear of being ‘Google-able’ lies with educators and employers. It is important to respect people's privacy a little more and perhaps have a serious think over what is and is not relevant to the hiring process.
