Hal Finney wrote:
>I don't know how far it will go, but I think we will begin to see
>movement towards online anonymity (of which there has been little so
>far) ... Napster users have been identified and sanctioned ...
>people got in trouble for bulletin board postings, and it may be
>that people will learn that you should never post anything on a system
>where your identity can be tracked, if you don't want to be sued.
>These factors will provide gentle social pressure to push us towards
>adoption of anonymity technologies.
You point out ways in which easier identification raises some costs of
being identifiable. There are also probably many ways in which the
benefits of being identifiable increase. The easier it is for people
to find you, for example, the easier it is for your friends to find you.
This may help explain the lack of movement toward anonymity.
Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:37 MDT