The Battle Between Anonymity And Real Identity – A Deeper Look

Do you think the people of Gotham city would view Batman in a different light if they knew he was a billionaire playboy? Conversely, are people enthralled by Iron Man alone or by Tony Stark who so arrogantly wears his Iron Man-ness on his chest? These questions ought to get you thinking not about super toys and fantastical comic settings, but about the way in which these Supermen conduct themselves – one pursues anonymity like a woman pursues a solitaire and the other brushes it off as unnecessary.

Transfer this setting to the virtual world and it takes on the form of magnanimous proportions. The scope is no longer limited to saving the world (ah! That is so trivial) but is extended to tweeting about how it must be done, updating status’ on what’s on your mind regarding the issue, uploading high contrast photos of what food will help you save it and of course writing long posts expressing your thoughts on the subject. The catch here is this: If Bruce Wayne was active online, people *might* deem it all to be a rich man’s talk followed by little action. But if Batman did the same, the impact it would have would be totally different.

Where Anonymity Assists

Yes, anonymity (or adopting the right pseudo identity) can be impactful if handled well but it runs the risk of falling flat on the face when the question of authenticity arises or when the government decides to intervene. Take the example of the Anonymous Hacktivist group. This is a loosely associated online group that is against internet censorship and surveillance and has hacked many government websites – including that of Mamata Banerjee. You think this hacktivist group, which is fighting for what most deem to be a fair cause, would be half as successful as they currently are if the members made their real identities known? No. Governments of the world would arrest them and stop them from following their public interest agenda; they would be the next Julian Assange.

Anonymity on the internet gives one the power to express them freely, to promote controversial political and social issues, to push for change that years of known, public battle has not permitted.

The Downside

And while anonymity can be used for the good, it can be (and is) used for the bad too. Anonymous death threats, online abuse, online ragging are torments of the modern world. People use anonymity as a tool to attack others and to bully or disgrace them. Sometimes, people take on John Doe identities and play havoc on other’s lives. An apt example of this would be the Assam – NE exodus that we battled a couple of days back. But this is just one aspect of anonymity, where the user consciously decides to protect his identity – for the good or the bad. Another side of the anonymity story stems from government regulation and spying.

Anonymous: You & Me

We all know the risks of having accounts on social networking sites; of having an online presence with respect to net-banking accounts, e-commerce accounts, and so on. Our presence across all these platforms can be collated to give us a coherent and intricate online identity. Our online information is available to governments or individuals who can ‘hack’ into our virtual lives, thus giving them the power to spy on us.

ECHELON is a signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states – USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – which was created to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. It has since been accused of assisting these governments in corporate espionage and in spying on their citizens. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the world has become agonizingly suspicious and people have become vulnerable to phone hacking (think of News of the World here), online surveillance and so on under the pretext of security.

The Athens Affair is a glaring example of real identities and hacking. In this case, a Vodafone Greece electrical engineer – Costas Tsalikidis – penetrated the network and hacked/bugged the phones of multiple users including the Prime Minister. You can also take the example of the LinkedIn account hacking where numerous user passwords and in-turn personal information were compromised as also the hacking of 3 million bank accounts in Iran by Khosrow Zarefarid. In days like these, when the information we belt out subconsciously and naturally can be used against us, anonymity becomes a key. And the purpose of this form of anonymity is humble – to protect ourselves. The Tor Project (blocked in Syria, China, Egypt and Libya) is one online platform that allows users to function anonymously, to better their privacy and security on the internet thus protecting them against online spying.

Personal Take

In all this anonymous talk, the keyword for me is ‘security’. I want to protect my family members, friends and myself from government spying and hacking and so I just might consider going anonymous. Secondly, protecting your identity so as to be able to enforce the larger good is understandable, provided you don’t stray off the course and use the anonymity to harm others.

I think the ability to go anonymous is a choice and the sensibilities needed to use it smartly is an education that people must have.

Image Courtesy |  mashable

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