Anonymity describes situations where the acting person's identity is unknown. Some writers have argued that namelessness, though technically correct, does not capture what is more centrally at stake in contexts of anonymity. The important idea here is that a person be non-identifiable, unreachable, or untrackable. Anonymity is seen as a technique, or a way of realizing, a certain other values, such as privacy , or liberty. Over the past few years, anonymity tools used on the dark web by criminals and malicious users have drastically altered the ability of law enforcement to use conventional surveillance techniques.
113-557: An important example for anonymity being not only protected, but enforced by law is the vote in free elections. In many other situations (like conversation between strangers, buying some product or service in a shop), anonymity is traditionally accepted as natural. There are also various situations in which a person might choose to withhold their identity. Acts of charity have been performed anonymously when benefactors do not wish to be acknowledged. A person who feels threatened might attempt to mitigate that threat through anonymity. A witness to
226-491: A generic drug . Infringers could be liable for the total loss of potential sales (implying that everyone who buys a counterfeit product would have bought the real thing). It applies to unintentional use of copyright material. It puts the onus on website owners to ensure they comply with laws across several territories. It has been negotiated secretively and outside established international trade bodies, despite EU criticisms. The history of anonymous expression in political dissent
339-422: A riot . This perceived anonymity can be compromised by technologies such as photography . Groupthink behavior and conformity are also considered to be an established effect of internet anonymity. Anonymity also permits highly trained professionals such as judges to freely express themselves regarding the strategies they employ to perform their jobs objectively. Anonymous commercial transactions can protect
452-499: A Feminist Forum", point out the difficulty inherent in monitoring trolling and maintaining freedom of speech in online communities: "harassment often arises in spaces known for their freedom, lack of censure, and experimental nature". Free speech may lead to tolerance of trolling behavior, complicating the members' efforts to maintain an open, yet supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality. Cyberbullying laws vary by state, as trolling
565-462: A certain cause, while subtly ridiculing it. The concern troll posts in web forums devoted to their declared point of view and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals , but with professed "concerns". The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt within the group, sometimes by appealing to outrage culture . For example, a person who wishes to shame obese people , but disguises this impulse as concern for
678-624: A collective voice". Guardian considers that "people will often speak more honestly if they are allowed to speak anonymously" . According to Ross Eaman, in his book The A to Z of Journalism , until the mid-19th century, most writers in Great Britain, especially the less well known, did not sign their names to their work in newspapers, magazines and reviews. Most commentary on the Internet is essentially done anonymously, using unidentifiable pseudonyms. However this has been widely discredited in
791-518: A concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community : Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroup's or forum's members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging
904-492: A conversation) capitalized on a fascination with anonymity. Apps like Yik Yak , Secret and Whisper let people share things anonymously or quasi-anonymously whereas Random let the user to explore the web anonymously. Some email providers, like Tuta also offer the ability to create anonymous email accounts which do not require any personal information from the account holder. Other sites, however, including Facebook and Google+ , ask users to sign in with their legal names. In
1017-407: A crime might seek to avoid retribution, for example, by anonymously calling a crime tipline. Criminals might proceed anonymously to conceal their participation in a crime. Anonymity may also be created unintentionally, through the loss of identifying information due to the passage of time or a destructive event. In certain situations, however, it may be illegal to remain anonymous. For example, 24 of
1130-421: A fictional collaboration by people who had never previously met and did not know who had recruited them. The anonymous purchase of a gun or knife to be used in a crime helps prevent linking an abandoned weapon to the identity of the perpetrator. There are two aspects, one, giving to a large charitable organization obscures the beneficiary of a donation from the benefactor, the other is giving anonymously to obscure
1243-501: A field or area of interest normally dominated by males (as by the famous science fiction author James Tiptree, Jr who was actually a woman named Alice Bradley Sheldon, and likely JT LeRoy ). Some seem to want to avoid the "limelight" of popularity and to live private lives, such as Thomas Pynchon , J. D. Salinger , De Onbekende Beeldhouwer (an anonymous sculptor whose exhibited work in Amsterdam attracted strong attention in
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#17328022453931356-499: A form of deception-serving entertainment and its correlations to aggressive behaviour , katagelasticism , black humor , and the Dark tetrad . Trolling correlates positively with sadism , trait psychopathy , and Machiavellianism (see dark triad ). Trolls take pleasure from causing pain and emotional suffering . Their ability to upset or harm gives them a feeling of power. Psychological researches conducted in
1469-404: A group attempts to remain anonymous, for various reasons such as adding an element of mystique to themselves or their work, attempting to avoid what is known as the " cult of personality " or hero worship (in which the charisma , good looks, wealth or other unrelated or mildly related aspects of the people is the main reason for interest in their work, rather than the work itself) or to break into
1582-411: A hidden identity is assumed. Suppose that only Alice, Bob, and Carol have keys to a bank safe and that, one day, contents of the safe go missing (lock not violated). Without additional information, we cannot know for sure whether it was Alice, Bob or Carol who emptied the safe. Notably, each element in {Alice, Bob, Carol} could be the perpetrator with a probability of 1. However, as long as none of them
1695-598: A human, an object, a computer ), within a well-defined set (called the "anonymity set"), "anonymity" of that element refers to the property of that element of not being identifiable within this set. If it is not identifiable, then the element is said to be "anonymous". The word anonymous was borrowed into English around 1600 from the Late Latin word "anonymus", from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νώνῠμος (anṓnumos, "without name"), from ᾰ̓ν- (an-, "un-") with ὄνῠμᾰ (ónuma), Aeolic and Doric dialectal form of ὄνομᾰ (ónoma, "name"). Sometimes
1808-668: A need to honor the remains of soldiers for whom identification is impossible. In many countries, such a memorial is named the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier . Most modern newspapers and magazines attribute their articles to individual editors, or to news agencies . An exception is the Markker weekly The Economist . All British newspapers run their leaders, or editorials , anonymously. The Economist fully adopts this policy, saying "Many hands write The Economist , but it speaks with
1921-491: A negative side of anonymity: The border between illegal and legal but offensive use is not very sharp, and varies depending on the law in each country. Anonymous (used as a mass noun) is a loosely associated international network of activist and hacktivist entities. A website nominally associated with the group describes it as "an internet gathering" with "a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives". The group became known for
2034-413: A person may desire a long-term relationship (such as a reputation) with another party without necessarily disclosing personally identifying information to that party. In this case, it may be useful for the person to establish a unique identifier, called a pseudonym . Examples of pseudonyms are pen names , nicknames , credit card numbers , student numbers, bank account numbers, etc. A pseudonym enables
2147-462: A poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they – and the troll – understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group. Whitney Phillips observes in This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping
2260-452: A predetermined route through the anonymizing network. Each router sees the immediate previous router as the origin and the immediate next router as the destination. Thus, no router ever knows both the true origin and destination of the packet. This makes these services more secure than centralized anonymizing services (where a central point of knowledge exists). Sites such as Chatroulette , Omegle , and Tinder (which pair up random users for
2373-419: A prior negative experience during which they did not maintain an anonymous presence. Such experiences include stalking, releasing private information by an opposing school political group, or tricking an individual into traveling to another country for a job that did not exist. Participants in this study stated that they were able to avoid their previous problems by using false identification online. David Chaum
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#17328022453932486-507: A protection against legal prosecution. For example, when committing unlawful actions, many criminals attempt to avoid identification by the means of obscuring/covering their faces with scarves or masks , and wear gloves or other hand coverings in order to not leave any fingerprints . In organized crime , groups of criminals may collaborate on a certain project without revealing to each other their names or other personally identifiable information. The movie The Thomas Crown Affair depicted
2599-459: A purchase on a customer's behalf. When purchasing taboo goods and services, anonymity makes many potential consumers more comfortable with or more willing to engage in the transaction. Many loyalty programs use cards that personally identify the consumer engaging in each transaction (possibly for later solicitation, or for redemption or security purposes), or that act as a numerical pseudonym , for use in data mining . Anonymity can also be used as
2712-431: A series of modem-linked computers. CommuniTree was begun in 1978 but was closed in 1982 when accessed by high school teenagers, becoming a ground for trashing and abuse. Some psychologists have suggested that flaming would be caused by deindividuation or decreased self-evaluation: the anonymity of online postings would lead to disinhibition amongst individuals. Others have suggested that although flaming and trolling
2825-401: A series of well-publicized publicity stunts and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on government, religious, and corporate websites. An image commonly associated with Anonymous is the "man without a head" represents leaderless organization and anonymity. Anonymity is perceived as a right by many, especially the anonymity in the internet communications. The partial right for anonymity
2938-604: A single individual, but rather targets multiple members of a discussion. Trolling can be easily identified by its offensive content, intended to provoke an emotional reaction from an audience. Organizations and countries may utilize trolls to manipulate public opinion as part and parcel of an astroturfing initiative. When trolling is sponsored by the government, it is often called state-sponsored Internet propaganda or state-sponsored trolling. Teams of sponsored trolls are sometimes referred to as sockpuppet armies. A 2016 study by Harvard political scientist Gary King reported that
3051-425: A soapbox for disruptive conversational behavior. The term " troll " is sometimes used to refer to those who engage in such disruptive behavior. Relative anonymity is often enjoyed in large crowds. Different people have different psychological and philosophical reactions to this development, especially as a modern phenomenon. This anonymity is an important factor in crowd psychology , and behavior in situations such as
3164-410: A specific city designation, is traditionally used by scholars in the humanities to refer to an ancient writer whose name is not known, or to a manuscript of their work. Many such writers have left valuable historical or literary records: an incomplete list of such Anonymi is at Anonymus . In the history of art , many painting workshops can be identified by their characteristic style and discussed and
3277-420: A specific individual (because other people could be using that customer's connection, especially if the customer is a public resource, such as a library), but it provides regional information and serves as powerful circumstantial evidence. Anonymizing services such as I2P and Tor address the issue of IP tracking. In short, they work by encrypting packets within multiple layers of encryption. The packet follows
3390-458: A study by the University of Birmingham, which found that the number of people who use the internet anonymously is statistically the same as the number of people who use the internet to interact with friends or known contacts. While these usernames can take on an identity of their own, they are sometimes separated and anonymous from the actual author. According to the University of Stockholm this
3503-486: A troll used in mainland China is pēn zi ( Chinese : 噴子 ; lit. 'sprayer', 'spurter'). In Hebrew the word טרול refers both to internet trolls, who engage in disruptive behavior on social media and online platforms, or to the mythical creatures similar to trolls found in European mythology. The word is also inflected into a verb form, להטריל , which means to engage in trolling behavior on
Anonymity - Misplaced Pages Continue
3616-422: Is a potential risk, which is expected to grow as analytic techniques improve and computing power and text corpora grow. Authors may resist such identification by practicing adversarial stylometry . When it is necessary to refer to someone who is anonymous, it is typically necessary to create a type of pseudo-identification for that person. In literature, the most common way to state that the identity of an author
3729-645: Is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society." However, anonymous online speech is not without limits. It is clearly demonstrated in a case from 2008, one in which the defendant stated on a law-school discussion board that two women should be raped, an anonymous poster's comments may extend beyond free speech protections. In
3842-469: Is a significant predictor of trolling behaviour, alongside trait psychopathy and sadism to be significant positive predictors. Moreover, these studies have shown that people who enjoy trolling online tend to also enjoy hurting other people in everyday life, therefore corroborating a longstanding and persistent pattern of psychopathological sadism. A psychoanalytic and sexologic study on the phenomenon of Internet trolling asserts that anonymity increases
3955-470: Is a spiritual love that is extended from God to man and then reflected by man, who is made in the image of God, back to God. God gives man the power to act as God acts (God is love), man then reflects God's power in his own human actions towards others. One example of this movement is "charity shall cover the multitude of sins" ( 1 Peter 4:8 ). "The practice of charity brings us to act toward ourselves and others out of love alone, precisely because each person has
4068-507: Is both long and with important effect, as in the Letters of Junius or Voltaire 's Candide , or scurrilous as in pasquinades . In the tradition of anonymous British political criticism, The Federalist Papers were anonymously authored by three of America's Founding Fathers . Without the public discourse on the controversial contents of the U.S. Constitution , ratification would likely have taken much longer as individuals worked through
4181-463: Is called the Godfathers of anonymity and he has a claim to be one of the great visionaries of contemporary science. In the early 1980s, while a computer scientist at Berkeley, Chaum predicted the world in which computer networks would make mass surveillance a possibility. As Dr. Joss Wright explains: "David Chaum was very ahead of his time. He predicted in the early 1980s concerns that would arise on
4294-537: Is considered a platform of good taste and professionalism, companies searching for personal information by promoting jobs that were not real and fake accounts posting political messages has caught the company off guard. Researcher Ben Radford wrote about the phenomenon of clowns in history and the modern day in his book Bad Clowns , and found that "bad clowns" have evolved into Internet trolls. They do not dress up as traditional clowns but, for their own amusement, they tease and exploit "human foibles" in order to speak
4407-414: Is creating more freedom of expression, and less accountability. Misplaced Pages is collaboratively written mostly by authors using either unidentifiable pseudonyms or IP address identifiers, although many Misplaced Pages editors use their real names instead of pseudonyms. However, the Internet was not designed for anonymity: IP addresses serve as virtual mailing addresses, which means that any time any resource on
4520-684: Is legally protected to various degrees in different jurisdictions. The tradition of anonymous speech is older than the United States. Founders Alexander Hamilton , James Madison , and John Jay wrote The Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius" and "the Federal Farmer" spoke up in rebuttal. The US Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized rights to speak anonymously derived from the First Amendment. The pressure on anonymous communication has grown substantially after
4633-421: Is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time . Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been discussed repeatedly, but new subscribers to
Anonymity - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-603: Is needed, according to the NATO report, because "they have relatively blind trust in Misplaced Pages sources and are not able to filter information that comes from platforms they consider authoritative." While Russian-language hybrid trolls use the Misplaced Pages troll message design to promote anti-Western sentiment in comments, they "mostly attack aggressively to maintain emotional attachment to issues covered in articles." Discussions about topics other than international sanctions during
4859-492: Is no way to trace their source and it can be disseminated widely. "Cyberbullying, as opposed to general bullying, is still a widely-debated area of Internet freedom in several states. Though Internet anonymity can provide a harmful environment through which people can hurt others, anonymity can allow for a much safer and relaxed internet experience. In a study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University, 15 out of 44 participants stated that they choose to be anonymous online because of
4972-453: Is not a crime under U.S. federal law. In an effort to reduce uncivil behavior by increasing accountability, many web sites (e.g. Reuters , Facebook , and Gizmodo ) now require commenters to register their names and e-mail addresses. Trolling itself has become its own form of Internet subculture and has developed its own set of rituals, rules, specialized language, and dedicated spaces of practice. The appeal of trolling primarily comes from
5085-411: Is not always effective. Some argue that trolls may interpret a lack of response as a weakness and escalate their harassment. Reporting the troll to the platform administrators may be necessary in such cases. Most online platforms have guidelines against harassment and abuse, and reporting the troll can lead to their account being suspended or banned. There are competing theories of where and when "troll"
5198-453: Is often unpleasant, it may be a form of normative behavior that expresses the social identity of a certain user group. According to Tom Postmes, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the universities of Exeter, England, and Groningen, The Netherlands, and the author of Individuality and the Group , who has studied online behavior for 20 years, "Trolls aspire to violence, to
5311-704: Is the same as playing chess with a pigeon : it defecates on the table, drops the pieces and simply flies off, claiming victory." In Thai , the term krian ( เกรียน ) has been adopted to address Internet trolls. According to the Royal Institute of Thailand , the term, which literally refers to a closely cropped hairstyle worn by schoolboys in Thailand, is from the behaviour of these schoolboys who usually gather to play online games and, during which, make annoying, disruptive, impolite, or unreasonable expressions. Early incidents of trolling were considered to be
5424-423: Is true, but the way it is expressed gives it a completely different meaning to its readers." Unlike "classic trolls", Misplaced Pages trolls "have no emotional input, they just supply misinformation " and are one of "the most dangerous" as well as one of "the most effective trolling message designs." Even among people who are "emotionally immune to aggressive messages" and apolitical, "training in critical thinking "
5537-597: Is unknown is to refer to them as simply "Anonymous". This is usually the case with older texts in which the author is long dead and unable to claim authorship of a work. When the work claims to be that of some famous author the pseudonymous author is identified as "Pseudo-", as in Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite , an author claiming—and long believed—to be Dionysius the Areopagite , an early Christian convert. Anonymus , in its Latin spelling, generally with
5650-1035: The 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the subsequent new political climate. Although it is still difficult to oversee their exact implications, measures such as the US Patriot Act , the European Cybercrime Convention and the European Union rules on data retention are only few of the signs that the exercise of the right to the anonymous exchange of information is under substantial pressure. An above-mentioned 1995 Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads: "(...) protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical minority views . . . Anonymity
5763-530: The HBO television program The Newsroom , in which a main character encounters harassing persons online and tries to infiltrate their circles by posting negative sexual comments. Application of the term troll is subjective . Some readers may characterize a post as trolling , while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. More potent acts of trolling are blatant harassment or off-topic banter. However,
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#17328022453935876-667: The NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence on hybrid warfare notes that the Russo-Ukrainian War "demonstrated how fake identities and accounts were used to disseminate narratives through social media, blogs, and web commentaries in order to manipulate, harass, or deceive opponents." The NATO report describes that a "Misplaced Pages troll" uses a type of message design where a troll does not add "emotional value" to reliable "essentially true" information in re-posts, but presents it "in
5989-476: The male genitalia , where genitalia that is pale white in color represents that someone is young, and thus foolish. Both terms originate from Taiwan , and are also used in Hong Kong and mainland China . Another term, xiǎo bái ( Chinese : 小白 ; lit. 'little white'), is a derogatory term for both bái mù and bái làn that is used on anonymous posting Internet forums. Another common term for
6102-506: The virtues ". Aquinas further holds that "the habit of charity extends not only to the love of God, but also to the love of our neighbor". The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines "charity" as "the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God". The phrase Deus caritas est from 1 John 4:8 —or Θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν ( Theos agapē estin ) in
6215-415: The "truth" and gain a reaction. Like clowns in make-up, Internet trolls hide behind "anonymous accounts and fake usernames". In their eyes, they are the trickster and are performing for a nameless audience via the Internet. Studies conducted in the fields of human–computer interaction and cyberpsychology by other researchers have corroborated Radford's analysis on the phenomenon of Internet trolling as
6328-467: The 1980s and 1990s), and by DJ duo Daft Punk (1993-2021). For street artist Banksy , "anonymity is vital to him because graffiti is illegal". Anonymity has been used in music by avant-garde ensemble The Residents , Jandek (until 2004), costumed comedy rock band The Radioactive Chicken Heads , and DJs Deadmau5 (1998–present) and Marshmello (2015–present). This is frequently applied in fiction, from The Lone Ranger , Superman , and Batman , where
6441-461: The Chinese government's 50 Cent Party creates 440 million pro-government social media posts per year. The report said that government employees were paid to create pro-government posts around the time of national holidays to avoid mass political protests. The Chinese Government ran an editorial in the state-funded Global Times defending censorship and 50 Cent Party trolls. A 2016 study for
6554-494: The European Union. Japan was on 4 October 2012 the first to ratify the treaty. It creates an international regime for imposing civil and criminal penalties on Internet counterfeiting and copyright infringement. Although ACTA is intentionally vague, leaving signatories to draw precise rules themselves, critics say it could mean innocent travellers having their laptops searched for unlicensed music, or being jailed for carrying
6667-513: The Internet has existed. In modern English usage, " trolling " may describe the fishing technique of slowly dragging a lure or baited hook from a moving boat, whereas trawling describes the generally commercial act of dragging a fishing net. Early non-Internet slang use of "trolling" can be found in the military: by 1972 the term "trolling for MiGs " was documented in use by US Navy pilots in Vietnam . It referred to use of "...decoys, with
6780-427: The Internet is accessed, it is accessed from a particular IP address, and the data traffic patterns to and from IP addresses can be intercepted, monitored, and analysed, even if the content of that traffic is encrypted. This address can be mapped to a particular Internet Service Provider (ISP), and this ISP can then provide information about what customer that IP address was leased to. This does not necessarily implicate
6893-586: The Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture that certain behaviors are consistent among different types of trolls. First, trolls of the subcultural variety self-identify as trolls. Trolls are also motivated by what is known as lulz , a type of unsympathetic, ambiguous laughter. The final behavior is the insistent need for anonymity. According to Phillips, anonymity allows trolls to engage in behaviors they would not replicate in professional or public settings, with
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#17328022453937006-463: The U.S. states have "stop and identify" statutes that require persons detained to self-identify when requested by a law enforcement officer, when the person is reasonably suspected of committing a crime. The term "anonymous message" typically refers to a message that does not reveal its sender. In many countries, anonymous letters are protected by law and must be delivered as regular letters. In mathematics , in reference to an arbitrary element (e.g.,
7119-986: The Ukrainian crisis "attracted very aggressive trolling" and became polarized, according to the NATO report, which "suggests that in subjects in which there is little potential for re-educating audiences, emotional harm is considered more effective" for pro-Russian Latvian-language trolls. A 2016 study on fluoridation decision-making in Israel coined the term "Uncertainty Bias" to describe the efforts of power in government, public health and media to aggressively advance agendas by misrepresentation of historical and scientific fact. The authors noted that authorities tended to overlook or to deny situations that involve uncertainty while making unscientific arguments and disparaging comments in order to undermine opposing positions. The New York Times reported in late October 2018 that Saudi Arabia used an online army of Twitter trolls to harass
7232-528: The United States, disclosure of identity is required to be able to vote , though the secret ballot prevents disclosure of individual voting patterns. In airports in most countries, passengers are not allowed to board flights unless they have identified themselves to airline or transportation security personnel, typically in the form of the presentation of an identification card . On the other hand, some policies and procedures require anonymity. Stylometric identification of anonymous authors by writing style
7345-454: The appropriateness of anonymous organizational communication varies depending on the use, with organizational surveys or assessments typically perceived as highly appropriate and firing perceived as highly inappropriate. Anonymity use and appropriateness have also been found to be significantly related to the quality of relationships with key others at work. With few perceived negative consequences, anonymous or semi-anonymous forums often provide
7458-479: The benefactor both from the beneficiary and from everyone else. Anonymous charity has long been a widespread and durable moral precept of many ethical and religious systems, as well as being in practice a widespread human activity. A benefactor may not wish to establish any relationship with the beneficiary, particularly if the beneficiary is perceived as being unsavory. Benefactors may not wish to identify themselves as capable of giving. A benefactor may wish to improve
7571-459: The book Interface Culture , and a paper by Judith Donath in 1999. Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied " virtual community " such as Usenet : In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter. Donath provides
7684-415: The case of Google+, this requirement led to a controversy known as the nymwars . The prevalence of cyberbullying is often attributed to relative Internet anonymity, due to the fact that potential offenders are able to mask their identities and prevent themselves from being caught. A principal in a high school stated that comments made on these anonymous site are "especially vicious and hurtful since there
7797-545: The case, a Connecticut federal court must apply a standard to decide whether the poster's identity should be revealed. There are several tests, however, that the court could apply when considering this issue. The right to internet anonymity is also covered by European legislation that recognizes the fundamental right to data protection , freedom of expression , freedom of impression. The European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights recognizes in Article. 8 (Title II: "Freedoms")
7910-470: The controversial views they claim. Farhad Manjoo criticises this view, noting that if the person is trolling, they are more intelligent than their critics would believe. One common strategy for dealing with online trolls is to ignore them. This approach, known as "don't feed the trolls," is based on the idea that trolls seek attention and reactions. By withholding these, the troll may lose interest and stop their disruptive behavior. However, ignoring trolls
8023-502: The crown jewel of the virtues. Cappadocian father St. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote that It is not at all an easy task to discover the one virtue that surpasses all others and to give it the scepter and palm, just as it is not easy in a meadow fragrant with many blossoms to find the most fragrant and beautiful. After considering many of the Christian virtues, he concludes that following Paul and Christ himself, we must regard charity as
8136-661: The dignity of a beloved child of God." Charity is held to be the ultimate perfection of the human spirit because it both glorifies and reflects the nature of God. Confusion can arise from the multiple meanings of the English word "love". As with other theological virtues, charity is divinely infused into the soul; it resides in the will . According to Aquinas, charity is an absolute requirement for happiness, which he holds as man's last goal. Charity has two parts: love of God and love of man, which includes both love of one's neighbor and one's self. In 1 Corinthians 13 , Paul places
8249-415: The effectiveness of trolling often being dependent upon the target's lack of anonymity. This can include the disclosure of real-life attachments, interests, and vulnerabilities of the target. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup or online forum, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the online community. In a group that has become sensitized to trolling – where
8362-425: The eye cannot see, and trolling involves blindly talking nonsense over the Internet, having total disregard to sensitivities or being oblivious to the situation at hand, akin to having eyes without pupils. An alternative term is bái làn ( Chinese : 白爛 ; lit. 'white rot'), which describes a post completely nonsensical and full of folly made to upset others, and derives from a Taiwanese slang term for
8475-551: The fields of personality psychology and cyberpsychology report that trolling behaviour qualifies as an anti-social behaviour and is strongly correlated to sadistic personality disorder (SPD). Researches have shown that men , compared with women , are more likely to perpetrate trolling behaviour; these gender differences in online anti-social behaviour may be a reflection of gender stereotypes , where agentic characteristics such as competitiveness and dominance are encouraged in men . The results corroborated that gender (male)
8588-710: The first and greatest of the commandments since it is the very sum of the Law and the Prophets, [and] its most vital part I find is the love of the poor... Internet troll In slang , a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media , a newsgroup , a forum , a chat room , an online video game ) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and motivations of trolls can range from benign to sadistic. These messages can be inflammatory, insincere , digressive , extraneous , or off-topic , and may have
8701-509: The greatest emphasis on charity (love). "So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." He describes it this way: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed
8814-519: The greatest of these is charity. The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and mercy. In December 2005, Pope Benedict XVI issued the encyclical Deus caritas est , in which he discussed "... the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others." Based on the Matthew 25 's Parable of The Sheep and the Goats , the early Church saw the love of the poor ( periptochias ) as
8927-488: The group would not realize, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a practice to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution. One of the most notorious AFU trollers, David Mikkelson, went on to create the urban folklore website Snopes.com . By the late 1990s, alt.folklore.urban had such heavy traffic and participation that trolling of this sort
9040-515: The health of overweight people, could be considered a concern troll. A verifiable example of concern trolling within politics occurred in 2006 when Tad Furtado, a member of staff for then-Congressman Charles Bass ( R - N.H. ), was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass's opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes , on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH". "IndyNH" expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass
9153-481: The immediate circle of Sandro Botticelli . In legal cases, a popularly accepted name to use when it is determined that an individual needs to maintain anonymity is " John Doe ". This name is often modified to "Jane Doe" when the anonymity-seeker is female. The same names are also commonly used when the identification of a dead person is not known. The semi-acronym Unsub is used as law enforcement slang for "Unknown Subject of an Investigation". The military often feels
9266-436: The incidence of the trolling behaviour, and that "the internet is becoming a medium to invest our anxieties and not thinking about the repercussions of trolling and affecting the victims mentally and incite a sense of guilt and shame within them". Concern trolls pretend to be sympathetic to a certain point of view which they are actually critical of. A concern troll will often declare an interest in joining or allying with
9379-450: The intent of provoking others into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perception, thus acting as a bully or a provocateur . The behavior is typically for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or purposefully causing confusion or harm to other people. Trolling behaviors involve tactical aggression to incite emotional responses, which can adversely affect
9492-849: The internet 15 or 20 years later." There are some people though that consider anonymity in internet being a danger for our society as a whole. David Davenport, an assistant professor in the Computer Engineering Department of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, considers that by allowing anonymous Net communication, the fabric of our society is at risk. "Accountability requires those responsible for any misconduct be identified and brought to justice. However, if people remain anonymous, by definition, they cannot be identified, making it impossible to hold them accountable." he says. As A. Michael Froomkin says: "The regulation of anonymous and pseudonymous communications promises to be one of
9605-626: The internet or social media. In Icelandic , þurs (a thurs ) or tröll (a troll ) may refer to trolls, the verbs þursa (to troll) or þursast (to be trolling, to troll about) may be used. In Japanese , tsuri ( 釣り ) means "fishing" and refers to intentionally misleading posts whose only purpose is to get the readers to react, i.e. get trolled. Arashi ( 荒らし ) means "laying waste" and can also be used to refer to simple spamming . In Korean , nak-si (낚시) means "fishing" and refers to Internet trolling attempts, as well as purposely misleading post titles. A person who recognizes
9718-452: The issues. The United States Declaration of Independence , however, was not anonymous. If it had been unsigned, it might well have been less effective. John Perry Barlow , Joichi Ito , and other U.S. bloggers express a very strong support for anonymous editing as one of the basic requirements of open politics as conducted on the Internet. Anonymity is directly related to the concept of obscurantism or pseudonymity , where an artist or
9831-503: The late Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other critics of the Saudi government. In October 2018, The Daily Telegraph reported that Facebook "banned hundreds of pages and accounts which it says were fraudulently flooding its site with partisan political content – although they came from the US instead of being associated with Russia." While corporate networking site LinkedIn
9944-851: The latter is used to refer to both (in general, a situation where the legal identity of the person is disguised). Anonymity may reduce the accountability one perceives to have for their actions, and removes the impact these actions might otherwise have on their reputation. This can have dramatic effects, both useful and harmful to various parties involved. Thus, it may be used for psychological tactics involving any respective party to purport or support or discredit any sort of activity or belief. In conversational settings, anonymity may allow people to reveal personal history and feelings without fear of later embarrassment. Electronic conversational media can provide physical isolation, in addition to anonymity. This prevents physical retaliation for remarks, and prevents negative or taboo behavior or discussion from tarnishing
10057-435: The level of trouble they can cause in an environment. They want it to kick off. They want to promote antipathetic emotions of disgust and outrage, which morbidly gives them a sense of pleasure." Someone who brings something off topic into the conversation in order to make that person mad is trolling. The practice of trolling has been documented by a number of academics since the 1990s. This included Steven Johnson in 1997 in
10170-651: The mission of drawing...fire away..." The contemporary use of the term is said to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s, but the earliest known attestation according to the Oxford English Dictionary is in 1992. The context of the quote cited in the Oxford English Dictionary sets the origin in Usenet in the early 1990s as in the phrase "trolling for newbies", as used in alt.folklore.urban (AFU). Commonly, what
10283-540: The most important and contentious Internet-related issues of the next decade". Anonymity and pseudonymity can be used for good and bad purposes. And anonymity can in many cases be desirable for one person and not desirable for another person. A company may, for example, not like an employee to divulge information about improper practices within the company, but society as a whole may find it important that such improper practices are publicly exposed. Good purposes of anonymity and pseudonymity: There has always, however, also been
10396-546: The original Greek is translated in the King James Version as: "God is love", and in the Douay-Rheims bible as: "God is charity" ( 1 John 4:8 ). Thomas Aquinas does not simply equate charity with " love ", which he holds as a passion, not a virtue. The King James Version uses both the words charity and love to translate the idea of caritas / ἀγάπη ( agapē ): sometimes it uses one, then sometimes
10509-405: The other party to link different messages from the same person and, thereby, to establish a long-term relationship. Pseudonyms are widely used in social networks and other virtual communication, although recently some important service providers like Google try to discourage pseudonymity. Someone using a pseudonym would be strictly considered to be using "pseudonymity" not "anonymity", but sometimes
10622-528: The other, for the same concept. Most other English translations, both before and since, do not; instead, throughout they use the same more direct English word love . Love can have other meanings in English, but as used in the New Testament it almost always refers to the virtue of caritas . Many times when charity is mentioned in English-language bibles, it refers to "love of God", which
10735-461: The poor , and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.... And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but
10848-457: The privacy of consumers. Some consumers prefer to use cash when buying everyday goods (like groceries or tools), to prevent sellers from aggregating information or soliciting them in the future. Credit cards are linked to a person's name, and can be used to discover other information, such as postal address, phone number, etc. The ecash system was developed to allow secure anonymous transactions. Another example would be Enymity, which actually makes
10961-427: The rate of deception is high – many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trolling. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusations are unfounded, being branded a troll may be damaging to one's online reputation. Susan Herring and colleagues, in "Searching for Safety Online: Managing 'Trolling' in
11074-449: The reputation of the speaker. This can be beneficial when discussing very private matters, or taboo subjects or expressing views or revealing facts that may put someone in physical, financial, or legal danger (such as illegal activity, or unpopular, or outlawed political views). In work settings, the three most common forms of anonymous communication are traditional suggestion boxes, written feedback, and Caller ID blocking. Additionally,
11187-411: The right of everyone to protection of personal data concerning him. The right to privacy is now essentially the individual's right to have and to maintain control over information about him. One of the most controversial international legal acts, regarding this subject is Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) . As of February 2015, the treaty was signed -but not all ratified- by 31 states as well as
11300-470: The same as flaming , but this has changed with modern usage by the news media to refer to the creation of any content that targets another person. The Internet dictionary, NetLingo, suggests there are four grades of trolling: playtime trolling, tactical trolling, strategic trolling, and domination trolling. The relationship between trolling and flaming was observed in open-access forums in California, on
11413-461: The target's well-being. In this context, the noun and the verb forms of "troll" are frequently associated with Internet discourse. Recently, media attention has equated trolling with online harassment . The Courier-Mail and The Today Show have used "troll" to mean "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families". In addition, depictions of trolling have been included in popular fictional works, such as
11526-598: The term Internet troll has also been applied to information warfare, hate speech, and even political activism . The " Trollface " is an image occasionally used to indicate trolling in Internet culture. The word is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to anyone with controversial or differing opinions. Such usage goes against the ordinary meaning of troll in multiple ways. While psychologists have determined that psychopathological sadism , dark triad , and dark tetrad personality traits are common among Internet trolls, some observers claim that trolls do not believe
11639-509: The thrill of how long one can keep the ruse going before getting caught, and exposed as a troll. When understood this way, Internet trolls are less like vulgar, indiscriminate bullies, and closer to countercultural respondents to a (so called) overly sensitive public. The main elements of why people troll are interactions; trolling exists in the interactive communications between Internet users, influencing people's views both from objective and emotional standpoints. Further, trolling does not target
11752-427: The troll after having responded (or, in case of a post title, nak-si , having read the actual post) would often refer to themselves as a caught fish. In Portuguese , more commonly in its Brazilian variant, troll (pronounced [ˈtɾɔw] in most of Brazil as spelling pronunciation ) is the usual term to denote Internet trolls (examples of common derivate terms are trollismo or trollagem , "trolling", and
11865-428: The verb trollar , "to troll", which entered popular use), but an older expression, used by those which want to avoid anglicisms or slangs , is complexo do pombo enxadrista to denote trolling behavior, and pombos enxadristas (literally, "chessplayer pigeons") or simply pombos are the terms used to name the trolls. The terms are explained by an adage or popular saying: "Arguing with fulano (i.e., John Doe )
11978-399: The word troll to describe those that deliberately harass or provoke other Internet users, similar to the modern sense of the word. In Chinese , trolling is referred to as bái mù ( Chinese : 白目 ; lit. 'white eye'), which can be straightforwardly explained as "eyes without pupils", in the sense that while the pupil of the eye is used for vision, the white section of
12091-591: The workshop's output set in chronological order. Sometimes archival research later identifies the name, as when the "Master of Flémalle"—defined by three paintings in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt — was identified as Robert Campin . The 20th-century art historian Bernard Berenson methodically identified numerous early Renaissance Florentine and Sienese workshops under such sobriquets as "Amico di Sandro" for an anonymous painter in
12204-424: The world, as long as no one knows who did it, out of modesty, wishing to avoid publicity. Another reason for anonymous charity is a benefactor who does not want a charitable organization to pursue them for more donations, sometimes aggressively. Attempts at anonymity are not always met with support from society. Anonymity sometimes clashes with the policies and procedures of governments or private organizations. In
12317-458: The wrong context, intending the audience to draw false conclusions." For example, information, without context, from Misplaced Pages about the military history of the United States "becomes value-laden if it is posted in the comment section of an article criticizing Russia for its military actions and interests in Ukraine. The Misplaced Pages troll is 'tricky', because in terms of actual text, the information
12430-454: Was convicted with 100% certainty, we must hold that the perpetrator remains anonymous and that the attribution of the probability of 1 to one of the players has to remain undecided. Charity (virtue) In Christian theology , charity ( Latin : caritas ) is considered one of the seven virtues and was understood by Thomas Aquinas as "the friendship of man for God", which "unites us to God ". He holds it as "the most excellent of
12543-640: Was first used in Internet slang, with numerous unattested accounts of BBS and Usenet origins in the early 1980s or before. The English noun "troll" in the standard sense of ugly dwarf or giant dates to 1610 and originates from the Old Norse word " troll " meaning giant or demon . The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children's tales: antisocial, quarrelsome and slow-witted creatures which make life difficult for travelers. Trolls have existed in folklore and fantasy literature for centuries, and online trolling has been around for as long as
12656-459: Was frowned upon. Others expanded the term to include the practice of playing a seriously misinformed user, even in newsgroups where one was not a regular; these were often attempts at humor rather than provocation. The noun troll usually referred to an act of trolling – or to the resulting discussion – rather than to the author, though some posts punned on the dual meaning of troll. The August 26, 1997 strip of webcomic Kevin and Kell used
12769-537: Was unbeatable. Hodes eventually won the election. Although the term "concern troll" originated in discussions of online behavior, it now sees increasing use to describe similar offline behaviors. For example, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair accused a conservative New York Daily News columnist of "concern troll" behavior in his efforts to downplay the Mark Foley scandal . Wolcott links what he calls concern trolls to what Saul Alinsky calls "Do-Nothings", giving
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