Dr. Claude Mariottini has an interesting story about pseudonymity on the internet that he is somewhat personally involved in.
Interestingly, it has to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the son of a professor at the University of Chicago who used other people’s names to post at blogs in defense of his father’s position.
This from Mariottini’s blog:
According to a news release put out by the New York County District Attorney’s office, Raphael Haim Golb was arrested today on charges of identity theft, criminal impersonation, and aggravated harassment. Gold is the son of Norman Golb, a professor at the University of Chicago and a specialist in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
According to the news release, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced that Golb was arrested for creating multiple aliases in order to engage in a campaign of impersonation and harassment against scholars who opposed his father’s views on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
As a general rule, I am opposed to anonymity or pseudonymity on the internet (or anywhere else for that matter). That’s not to say that I have never done it. However, over the years I have changed my view on this. I have concluded that if I don’t want to attach my name to it, perhaps I should not be saying it.
There may be, from time to time, an exception that I would make, but it is rare. More often than not, I just close the browser and realize I won’t change the world by making a comment on a blog. I certainly would never do it using the name of a real person, as this man did.
Some forums and blogs allow people to register under fake names, or anonymous identities. I am not a proponent of that, and where I have had opportunity to make my view known, I have done so, though I am often in the minority.
I won’t die on this hill. But anonymity on the internet is a dangerous thing, in my view.
And apparently in the eyes of the Manhattan district attorney as well.
2 comments:
I agree. I used to hear stories about years ago that some things on the Internet were not true, but I think as time moved on that people gave up that foolishness and falsehoods are no longer allowed and people gave up trying to be "cute" by usine false identities. I really don't think this is a problem in the modern Internet. This is no longer an issue as we as the Internet has matured.
About the only falsehood I'm aware of on the Internet is the unfortunate increase in the Reformation Theology. I wouldn't even call that a falsehood because to lie means you are deliberately telling a mistruth. I think the surfeit of Reformed theology sites is the result of self-delusion and poor teaching practices and that the people putting them out really think they are telling the truth, misguided and as messed up as they may be. In their ignorance the are purporting to put forth truth, even though we all know it's a false teaching.
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