r e s m a r t e d

online anonymity & self-policing

“One man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric.”

These are the words of Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan II in the majority opinion of a 1971 free-speech case, Cohen v. California. However, with the continuing rise in importance of the Internet, and the venomous culture that has begun to develop there, it may well be time for everyone to reassess exactly how we conduct ourselves in cyberspace.

The Internet is an important medium for sharing information. However, it’s also, for the most part, a completely unregulated entity that allows users to say or do almost anything without fear of retribution. As such, the Internet can be a breeding ground for belligerence, ignorance and even racism. And, the anonymity it affords can allow us to comfortably hide our faces while we carry on our diatribes against the world.

The Internet is a giant peer-to-peer information sharing network. But without many authority figures to enforce etiquette online, a diffusion of responsibility begins to develop among users. This enables them to say things they wouldn’t normally say, or be overly aggressive in dealing with others.

Thirteen- and 14-year-olds are playing games rated for 17-year-olds and up, exposing them to all these negative aspects of online culture and often assimilating them into this way of thinking. These younger players want to be accepted by older players, who act as “agents of socialization” and present the foul language and aggressive behavior as the norm in online culture.

The anonymity offered to online commenters results in a complete lack of accountability, allowing adults to bicker like petulant children from the safety of their home or office without fear of real-life consequences. I doubt that people who use offensive, often racist language in their online comments interact that way with people in their everyday life.

By using a screen name to fling mud at others in cyberspace, users depersonalize themselves. This begs the question of whether you can consider an account without a real persona backing it to be a real person in the eyes of the law, entitled to First Amendment protection.

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