QotW5: Are You Really Who You Are?

What is your Online Identity?

In the age of vast internet usage, the context of human communication has been altered. With the birth of instant messaging and forums, we can now indulge in "many-to-many" interaction, one that is not affected by geography. Many people have since formed communities and forums that are based on their common interests such as sports, technology gadgets etc. These forums enable people who share a similar interest to discuss issues on a common platform with no regards for their physical location of their members worldwide. (Lackaff, 2003)

However, with this rapid advancement in technology, many problems have also surfaced. Given the unprecedented abilities of the internet, data can now be easily moved around and altered!(Massum and Zhang, 2004) This means that one can easily change the content that they see online or even alter the information that has been posted by others. This problem then boils down to the question of one's reputation on the internet and how one is actually able to maintain his or her own online identity.


An online identity that I am going to discuss about, is something that I have come into contact before. For all basketball and NBA enthusiasts, I am sure this website realgm.com (www.realgm.com) will definitely ring a bell in their heads. Realgm is a website where all basketball enthusiasts come to get their daily dose of the latest action and information on the happenings in the basketball world. In such a site like this, a forum cannot be excluded because this is the best place where basketball fanatics can gather and discuss about their common passion.

A forum like the one I mentioned above is the best place to establish one's reputation and online identity. This is because the individual can choose to be annonymous and develop their reputation based on the quality of their ideas and comments rather than on their wealth and social status. (May, 1994) The reputation and their online identity are often the motivating factors that push people to actively participate in forums and online communities. (Donath, 1996) As mentioned above, I would like to talk about this particular member that participates actively in the "Charlotte Bobcats" forum. He goes by the user-name "fatlever" and is a significant contributor to the forum. If one were to scroll through the entire forum, one will find that he is a moderator for the forum and provides good comments and insights to many of the basketball games. His reputation has been built based on his intelligent and interesting remarks and it is further enhanced when he contributes information that is admired by the group which he participates in. In this sense, I would personally say that "fatlever" has a certain reputation in the Charlotte Bobcats' forum. As "fatlever" follows the games religiously, has constant access to these games, he has become a significant contributor and is touted to be extremely knowledgeable in the basketball scene. Other members in the forum take his comments very seriously and many even ask for his opinion on issues such as the upcoming game score, the most valuable player (MVP) , the biggest surprise and disappointment etc. A check on the profile of "fatlever" shows that he has been a member since June 2001, posted 5491 posts so far and an average of 2.63 posts per day. This shows his high level of participation and reputation that he has in this forum.

However, with the advancement in the virtual world, a host of other problems such as identity theft have been born. This is the simple fact, "if I can pass as you, I can wreck havoc on your reputation either online or offline." (Donath, 1996) One can always take someone else's online identity and ruin the reputation that has been built by the other party. In the virtual world where face-to-face communication is absent, it is so simple to be able to pass off as someone else after getting hold of the person's user-name and password. According to reports, there has been a sharp increase in online and computer-based identity theft through means such as the use of keyloggers. The number of keyloggers have increased by a startling 250% between January 2004 and May 2006. Keylogger is a malicious software that tracks the typing activity of a computer and captures the passwords and private information of the user.(Prince, 2007) In the case of "fatlever", his reputation on the Charlotte Bobcats' forum might be tarnished if someone manages to get hold of his user-name and password and then assumes his identity to post information that is irrelevant to the forum discussion. This can be easily done if "fatlever" is a careless individual and accidentally reveals his personal information and details online. More than often, careless actions such as forgetting to close your login page with your personal details after usage at a public computer terminal will grant others access to your user-name and password. A person with the personal information of "fatlever" can then assume his online identity and start posting information, and others will think that the posts have come from "fatlever" himself. In this scenario, there is a high possibility that the reputation of "fatlever" will be tarnished after people start posting comments under his user-name.

In conclusion, one must be aware that our identity and reputation in the virtual world is build on information that we reveal online, rather than matter in the physical world. (Donath, 1996) Therefore, just as it is easy to compose information and build our reputations online, we must be aware that it is just as easy to commit identity theft and ruin one's online reputation completely.

References:

Donath, Judie(1996). "Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Lackaff, D. (2003). "Norm maintenance in online communities: A review of moderation regimes unpublished master's (preliminary) thesis, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://lackaff.net/node/20

Massum, Hassan and Zhang, Yi-Cheng (2004). "Manifesto for the Reputation Society" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue9_7/masum

May, T (1994). "The Cyphernomicon: Cypherpunks FAQ and more" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.oberlin.edu/%7Ebrchikind/cyphernomicon/

Prince, Brian (2007). "Report shows spike in Online Identity Theft" Retrieved February 21, 2007 from http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2084453,00.asp.

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