Theme:
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We live in a time where fake news, trolls and cyberbullying by anonymous users has become a common phenomenon. This resulted in discussions on whether anonymity should continue to be allowed on the internet.
Yes – Anonymity should be allowed on the internet:
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Not everyone can freely express their opinions. If they do so, they may face threats or bullying. Anonymity allows them to express their views without compromising their safety & sanity. This upholds freedom of expression and can help in the betterment of the world.
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In the modern world, government surveillance is an increasing threat. To avoid becoming a victim of that, anonymity helps. So, anonymity helps people to have a right to privacy.
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The concept of anonymity is not new to our society. Since many years, several writers have opted to be anonymous to avoid judgements from their community and society.
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Being anonymous on the internet helps in protecting ourselves from cyberbullying & cybercriminals. So, removing the option of anonymity exposes everyone to these negative side of the internet.
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For introverts, anonymity is helpful to express their opinions freely in the online platforms.
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Some people who have fame want to live their life without being followed everywhere. In real life, they can’t go to some places to protect themselves from paparazzi. But on the internet, they can choose to be anonymous. So, anonymity is very important for celebrities.
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Anonymity helps in avoiding the judgments of others. For example, now anyone can ask their doubts and solve others’ doubts using Quora, Reddit etc. People can ask questions, that they can’t ask anyone in real life which is very helpful for many.
No – Anonymity should not be allowed on the internet:
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Using the option of anonymity, several people are harassing others in online platforms. People behave differently in online space and in real life. This is called as ‘online dishibition effect’. Aggressive comments and threats to those whose opinions differ have become very common.
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Even political parties are misusing the option of anonymity to defame the people of other parties. Politically motivated hatred comments are now a common thing.
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Cyberbullying is a growing threat, and the main reason for this is the option of anonymity.
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Anonymity is being used to write negative reviews for the competitor companies too.
Conclusion:
Anonymity on the internet has a lot of advantages and disadvantages too. But anonymity is important at least until everyone in the world is capable of freely expressing their opinions. To reduce the negative consequences of allowing anonymity on the internet, awareness programs on responsibility and morals will be helpful to some extent. Children should be taught about internet ethics through schools. Moreover, punishing those who misuse anonymity to harass others will act as a deterrent against such behaviour.
Your Turn…
Do you think anonymity should continue to be allowed on the internet? What are your thoughts on this topic? Express your point of view through the comment section below. And subscribe to our blog to read answers to the trending GD topics.
References:
Image by Sammy-Williams from Pixabay
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I will like to address the points made:
1) Not everyone can freely express their opinions. If they do so, they may face threats or bullying. Anonymity allows them to express their views without compromising their safety & sanity. This upholds freedom of expression and can help in the betterment of the world.
1) for example, my opinions is that blacks/jews/gays/women/mexicans/chinese are taking over society and they should be wiped from the face of the earth. these opinions are safeguarded by anonymity, I would argue that such opinions has no place to be freely expressed in society.
2)In the modern world, government surveillance is an increasing threat. To avoid becoming a victim of that, anonymity helps. So, anonymity helps people to have a right to privacy.
2) noted.
3)The concept of anonymity is not new to our society. Since many years, several writers have opted to be anonymous to avoid judgements from their community and society.
3) avoid judgments? if you have conviction in your beliefs you should put your name to it. if a writer believes that the age of consent should be lowered to 14 I would like to know who that person is and make sure that person should stay away from children.
4)Being anonymous on the internet helps in protecting ourselves from cyberbullying & cybercriminals. So, removing the option of anonymity exposes everyone to these negative side of the internet.
4) I disagree, anonymity allows cyberbullys and cybercriminals. if we knew who everyone was we can immeditely report them to the authorities e.g. forum anonymous poster talks about making a bomb to take to school. no one knows who it is because of anonymity.
5)For introverts, anonymity is helpful to express their opinions freely in the online platforms.
5) helpful in what manner? they already are behind a computer screen and are not out in public.
6)Some people who have fame want to live their life without being followed everywhere. In real life, they can’t go to some places to protect themselves from paparazzi. But on the internet, they can choose to be anonymous. So, anonymity is very important for celebrities.
6) disagree, e.g. a famous female celebrity is constantly bombarded with rape threats and stalkers, it cannot end and she requires heightened security because we cannot catch the prepatrators.
7) Anonymity helps in avoiding the judgments of others. For example, now anyone can ask their doubts and solve others’ doubts using Quora, Reddit etc. People can ask questions, that they can’t ask anyone in real life which is very helpful for many.
7) noted. this seems to be a seperate issue with the quality of public education. factual information should be wide dispersed to all.
In my opinion, if an individual has the right to express their thoughts, they should also possess the courage to stand by and take accountability for their opinions.
According to me everything is good side and bad side. Some of the people have good intention and some of the people have bad intention. Yes anonymity in the internet sometimes it is required because celebrities and famous people can’t disclose their name but everybody should right to express their opinion in a democratic country. This is not bad but some of the people take advantage in the social media platform , they threat , sometimes obscene photo, bad comments etc this is not good. They want to take the revenge. Actually according to me authority should develop the program as when people register their name in the social media everybody they have to produce one original identity number but it should be completely hide nobody can understand then when bad peoples they use the social media then they will be in trouble administration easily catch them and not only that they will think twice when they use it bad purpose and cyber crime dept. should more strong if people make this type of wrong activity he or she will get the punishment and fine . But anonymity should allowed esp. not for common people but for famous people.
Yes, the topic is discussed timely as over the months we have been witnessing a lot of people being trolled falsely and distortedly on social media platforms. I am going to impress upon you all the advantages and disadvantages of the Anonymity being allowed on the internet.
advantages:
1) it helps people protect them from being cruelly served punishments.( LIke we know countries like china, north korea etc. where people are oppressed. They can impress upon the world about how the people are treated there in. But, if they don’t use anonymity then they will be brutally killed to death.
2) it makes people don’t feel demotivated. (we have been seeing for months how celebrities fares on social platforms. Even the hatred and animosity being spread there may lead to suicidal feelings in victim.)
3) it keeps you remain unpiercing from hackers mostly from ethical hackers and the ones who are involving in Cryptocurrency. ( For instance we have witnessed how the social media accounts of people having elephantine following are misused to dupe people. they start demanding that send me certain cryptocurrency and we will double it.)
Disadvantages:
1) People may be deceived by anonymous personality. ( just of late i was informed that a people in kolkata was duped to the tune of Rs. 84 lakh as people from niegeria told him to deposit money for investment into business where actually the things were different.)
2) if anonymity is allowed it will increase terrorism and thereby giving back to a massive problem for the world.
3) People and platforms may be hounded.
going by above i would like to say that the anonymity should not be allowed. yes there are problems in unanonymous world but we need to make our systems sound and sophisticated and we should to make our laws stern to prevent any contempt for people. Thank You so much for being attentive throughout.