
Before I had written my post for topic 2 I had already assumed that the debate over multiple online identities would come down to security, oh how I was wrong.
A part of the debate can be attributed to a security aspect, wherein hackers may be able to gain access to accounts and private information which can later be used for identity fraud (mentioned in the beginning of the “anonymity vs. identity” conference). This is something I was always conscious of when creating online accounts so focused in on this, however there is much more to the debate than this.
Something which we had touched on before in topic 1 is that there are differences in how we use the internet, thus keeping these identities separate became another part of this debate. Phil’s blog focused in on this and illustrated how far your online presence can spiral out of control. Phil and I discussed both of our points, both on my blog and on his, and after reading his blog and discussing it with him, I fully understand how having multiple identities and keeping them separate can benefit the individual.
Additionally, I had not considered the regulation of communities in order to facilitate having multiple identities, Carolina’s blog ended stating as such. In my comment on Carolina’s blog, she replies with the idea that people shouldn’t need to hide their identity in order to participate and there should be measures in place to stop people from being attacked. So if it is possible to properly manage your identities, then there would be no need to wear an ‘online mask’.
All in all, I think that this topic has shown me how narrow my train of thought was initially and how there is always scope to think from a different perspective.
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