Jon Callas[SMTP:jon@callas.org]
On 8/1/02 1:14 PM, "Trei, Peter" <ptrei@rsasecurity.com> wrote:
So my question is: What is your reason for shielding your identity? You do so at the cost of people assuming the worst about your motives.
Is this a tacit way to suggest that the only people who need anonymity or pseudonymity are those with something to hide?
Jon
Not really. However, in todays actual environment, this is frequently true that those with something to hide use anonymity. While some people have maintained nyms for many years (I can't think of anyone maintaining explicit stong anonymity right now, actually - remember Sue D. Nym? ), and used them to talk about a variety of issues, it's pretty rare. It's rare enough that when a new anononym appears, we know that the poster made a considered decision to be anonymous. The current poster seems to have parachuted in from nowhere, to argue a specific position on a single topic. It's therefore reasonable to infer that the nature of that position and topic has some bearing on the decision to be anonymous. Since the position argued involves nothing which would invoke the malign interest of government powers or corporate legal departments, it's not that. I can only think of two reasons why our corrospondent may have decided to go undercover... 1. If we know who he/she/them were, it would weaken the argument (for example, by making it clear that the poster has a vested interest in the position maintained, or that 'AARGH! is the group effort of an astroturf campaign). 2. If the true identity of the poster became known, he/she/them fears some kind of retribution: * The ostracism and detestation of his peers. * The boycotting of his employer. * His employer objecting to his wasting company time on Internet mailing lists. Our corrospondent has not given us any reason not to infer the worst motives. This is, after all, a discipline where paranoia and suspicion are job requirements. Peter Trei Disclaimer: The above represents my private , personal opinions only; do not misconstrue them to represent the opinions of others. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo@wasabisystems.com