Spring Break
Panelists Debate Online Anonymity
Anna Brook
Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: News
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After weeks of debate over the pros and cons of online anonymity, several groups, including The Dean of Students Office, HLS Student Government, HLS ACLU, Women's Law Association, Journal of Law and Gender, JOLT, and Stop DV, organized a panel discussion on the subject on Thursday, April 5 in Langdell North. The panel, moderated by Professor Charles Nesson, sought to address the following issues, as stated on the event's wiki: "Open forums with anonymous postings discussing issues relating to law school, such as AutoAdmit, have become more prevalent on the Internet. Do targets of offensive postings have the right to have such material removed? Are these attacks, or are they just expressions of free speech? These questions and more will be discussed by a panel representing a wide range of views from free speech issues to anti-defamation issues, women's issues, and internet capabilities and responsibilities."
The panel had already been a hot topic of discussion online on AutoAdmit, with the majority of posters supporting their right to remain anonymous. Originally, the panel was meant to discuss online anonymity in general, not only on AutoAdmit. The conversation, however, centered on AutoAdmit when the first panelist, Michael Fertik, the CEO of ReputationDefender, quoted emails from his clients to the operators of AutoAdmit asking to remove posts that included their names, links to photos, and hurtful content.
Fertik's company works to have unwelcome information about people removed from the internet. He explained that it is difficult to do so on anonymous websites where the posters cannot be tracked down and there are no forum moderators. On the other hand, it is very simple for a potential employer to search for the applicant's name online and form a negative impression based on often untrue information on such forums.
Robert Trestan from the Anti-Defamation League asked where the limits for online expression should be drawn. One problem is that online activity is not limited to the US. If laws are passed seeking to either moderate or eliminate anonymous forums, the forums can easily be hosted from another country that does not have any limits. The online community allows people to take on completely different identities. Trestan even mentioned the example of high school students posting MySpace profiles for other students and impersonating them.
The panel had already been a hot topic of discussion online on AutoAdmit, with the majority of posters supporting their right to remain anonymous. Originally, the panel was meant to discuss online anonymity in general, not only on AutoAdmit. The conversation, however, centered on AutoAdmit when the first panelist, Michael Fertik, the CEO of ReputationDefender, quoted emails from his clients to the operators of AutoAdmit asking to remove posts that included their names, links to photos, and hurtful content.
Fertik's company works to have unwelcome information about people removed from the internet. He explained that it is difficult to do so on anonymous websites where the posters cannot be tracked down and there are no forum moderators. On the other hand, it is very simple for a potential employer to search for the applicant's name online and form a negative impression based on often untrue information on such forums.
Robert Trestan from the Anti-Defamation League asked where the limits for online expression should be drawn. One problem is that online activity is not limited to the US. If laws are passed seeking to either moderate or eliminate anonymous forums, the forums can easily be hosted from another country that does not have any limits. The online community allows people to take on completely different identities. Trestan even mentioned the example of high school students posting MySpace profiles for other students and impersonating them.
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