From Anonymity to Accountability on the Web
One thing that the internet has lacked for a long time is real accountability. At first, anonymity was hailed as this bastion of freedom that would allow people to really express who they were online and that this was truly a great thing. Then this happened:
No one really knew what to do. Early and enthusiastic adopters said to hell with anyone uncomfortable with it, and let them know in the comments. Over and over again we found women journalists or bloggers threatened with death and rape online as if it were ok and just ‘part of the joke’. You can bet your ass this would be a different story if people were held accountable for the things they say online.
Now some might say that being held accountable for everything you say and do online would be a horrendous invasion of privacy, and it is. But it’s becoming true. If you google my name, and more importantly, my most commonly used nickname, you are going to scoop up a lot more information than I would otherwise like you to know. But it holds me accountable.
Long ago I found out that what I say and do online isn’t anonymous, no matter what kind of efforts I make. I can’t just be a huge ‘dickwad’ and get away with it 100% of the time. All it takes is getting caught once and you suddenly realize your vulnerability. It’s like those who scream and ‘road rage’ in traffic as if they’re invulnerable inside their car, until someone pulls out a weapon.
Being exposed online is rough at first, but eventually one becomes habituated to the voyeurism. As my generation matures, businesses will become accustomed to the reality of having access to much more of an employee’s life than before. Suddenly, having those unfortunate pictures of your self online will become a commonplace and accepted burden. Employers will not judge you as harshly for your indiscretions, and because they have access to your full employment history (LinkedIn anyone?) they will suddenly become more realistic about what a real resume and employment history look like.
I really hope that eventually accountability becomes paramount. Scoble has written about how right now, commenting is so horrible that it scares off all but those with an axe to grind. Only those willing to spit venom get heard, and that is just ridiculous. What kind of speaker/audience relationship is that?
This sudden availability of information is scary right now, but eventually it will be commonplace and we will laugh at our former conservative selves. More importantly, we will relish how much nicer it will be to be online when everyone can be held accountable for what they say. I would imagine Godwin’s Law wouldn’t have to be invoked so often:
“As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”