• DOI:10.1080/019722499128547
• Corpus ID: 10072072

Assessing Anonymous Communication on the Internet: Policy Deliberations

@article{Kling1999AssessingAC,
  title={Assessing Anonymous Communication on the Internet: Policy Deliberations},
  author={Rob Kling and Ya-Ching Lee and Albert H. Teich and Mark S. Frankel},
  journal={Inf. Soc.},
  year={1999},
  volume={15},
  pages={79-90}
}

• R. Kling, Ya-Ching Lee, +1 author M. Frankel
• Published 1 May 1999
• Political Science
• Inf. Soc.

Anonymous communication on the Internet offers new opportunities but has ill-understood risks. This article helps to ground the policy debates by examining some fundamental aspects of anonymous social behavior and current controversies over anonymous communications. It is a companion to the article in this issue, "Anonymous Communication Policies for the Internet: Results and Recommendations of the AAAS Conference." It examines the social character of anonymous communication and the ways that anonymous communication has played important roles for professionals such as journalists and the police. It also explains some of the new technological supports for anonymous communication on the Internet. The openness, decentralization, and transnational character of the Internet challenge the efficacy of traditional control mechanisms and have raised issues related to accountability, law enforcement, security and privacy, governmental empowerment, and e-commerce. Yet, to ban or restrict all anonymous communication ...