Why do people seek anonymity on the internet?: informing policy and design

Authors:
Ruogu Kang;Stephanie Brown;Sara Kiesler
Affiliations:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Venue:
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Year:
2013

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Abstract

In this research we set out to discover why and how people seek anonymity in their online interactions. Our goal is to inform policy and the design of future Internet architecture and applications. We interviewed 44 people from America, Asia, Europe, and Africa who had sought anonymity and asked them about their experiences. A key finding of our research is the very large variation in interviewees' past experiences and life situations leading them to seek anonymity, and how they tried to achieve it. Our results suggest implications for the design of online communities, challenges for policy, and ways to improve anonymity tools and educate users about the different routes and threats to anonymity on the Internet.