Reports Of Anonymity's Demise Are Premature
Well, this is clumsy quoting. In fact, it's not a direct quote at all; more a cherry-picking of statements from a 10 minute interview, strung together and placed in quotation marks;
“When someone's just blogging anonymously because of employment concerns or whatever, it doesn't matter,” said Catherine McMillan, who writes a political blog called Small Dead Animals. Government critics in oppressive regimes have every right to secrecy, she added. “As soon as you use anonymity as a shield, to set up hate sites or write outrageous things, you should expect anything and everything to come back at you.”
That said, it does bear a passing resemblance to what I told Susan Krashinsky. I explained that there are individuals who choose anonymity for employment reasons, for reasons of personal safety (bloggers in war zones); while there are others (I mentioned the once anonymous Richard Fernandez of Belmont Club fame) who simply prefer their content to stand on its own merit.
However, I also hold that when individuals exploit anonymity to defame or, as has happened in my case, actually create a site to write under my stolen identity, they should expect everything and anything to come back at them.
Anonymity isn't a right of blogging, it's a tool. Use it appropriately, and few will take issue with your choice. Use it to misrepresent, attack and defame, and all bets are off. Someone will be out to get you.
Besides, anyone who uses Google's platform to shield their identity is a fool to begin with. Contrary to the title of the piece - "The virtual end of online anonymity " the ability to write anonymously on line remains a keystroke away from your nearest offshore server.
Update: Right on cue, an anonymous commentor pops into the Globe and Mail comments section to defame me.
Posted by Kate
No comments:
Post a Comment