17 Dec
2003
17 Dec
'03
11:17 p.m.
The Zimmerman prank---I'm sure not funny for him---hardens my line further against anonymity online.
You can't get rid of anonymity such as this without also getting rid of pseudonymity. The first use of a pseudonym is as good as anonymous, because it has no past history. If the user of this pseudonym never again uses the name, then it has no future history. A one-time pseudonym is an anonym. An arbitrary string of letters only become a name if it is presented as a name and if it has persistence. Identity is a persistence through time of a source, be that a source of speech or a source of action. Without persistence there is no identity, but rather only unconnected assertions in a formal (and sterile) symbolic system. Eric