Laura Bryan Section 004

1. FOR: Banning Anonymous Comments Laura Bryan Section 004

2. “On the Internet, Nobody Knows You’re A Dog” • Because of this Anonymity: • People will say and do things anonymously that they would not say or do directly because they know that by being anonymous, they will not be reprimanded. • Comments may be more vulgar, hurtful, finger-pointing, controversial, vile, etc. This cartoon is an illustration of how people (or in this case, animals) may not be who they say they are or may disguise their true identity on Internet websites.

3. Cyberbullying and Anonymous Comments • According to Robin Kowalski, professor of psychology at Clemson University, 48% of middle school students who were cyber bullied did not know who their aggressor was. • Anonymous commenting allows cyber bullies to hide their true identity and therefore gives them the opportunity to say almost anything to their victim for the mere fact that they will not be held accountable for their actions. • According to a 2009 survey for The Associated Press and MTV, out of those aged 14 – 24, 50% had been victims of cyber bullying. • Behind a computer screen, people may be compelled to express their feelings a great deal more honestly than they would if they were within direct contact with the other individual.

4. *This study was conducted by researchers at the cyberbullying research center.

5. FormSpring • Anonymous cyber bullying has been on the rise lately due to the creation and emergence of a website entitled FormSpring.me. • This website allows people to leave anonymous messages and ask anonymous questions to other individuals. • Susan Mclean, a cyber-safety officer and speaker at Generation Next, says that the site is becoming very problematic and prone to abuse. • Mclean explains that kids and teens do not go on FormSpring.me to say nice or positive things, but instead to write very negative things that could highly upset the individual who has the site. • Missy Wall, director of Teen Contact, a Dallas-based teen hotline, says “This site is essentially an anonymous way for teens to bully each other, and the danger in that is it, over time, becomes overwhelming”. • Patty Aftab, founder of StopCyberbullying.org says “Kids actually get together in groups and decide which phrases would be the most hurtful to their intended victim”.

6. Formspring and suicide • Alexis Pilkington, a popular 17 year old and a well-liked athlete, committed suicide after being brutally cyber bullied. • Before her death, Alexis received nasty, anonymous messages on her FormSpring site. • Shrinks believe cyber bullying leads to more suicides than actual bullying because the anonymity leaves the victim to assume that she or he is being universally attacked and is disliked by many people.

7. YouTube Video on the Dangers of FormSpring and Anonymous Commenting on The Internet

8. College ACB • College ACB stands for “College Anonymous Confession Board”. • It is a website that allows students from colleges across the US to post gossip, rumors, discussions, etc, about people in their college…and they do this anonymously. • Students can rank fellow students (by name) on how they measure up in a lot of categories including “Who’s the Ugliest?”, “Who’s the biggest?”, and “Who’s the Hottest?” The Mission of College ACB: For students to “vent, rant, and talk to college peers in an environment free from social constraints and about subjects that might otherwise be taboo.”

9. College ACB and Suicide • After hearing the news about the tragic death of Tyler Clementi, the University of Rochester began to take preventative action against the website use. • While administrators were looking into their specific University on the site, they found explicitly racist, sexist, and homophobic language. • A member of the student advisory board said, “I want to say that [those words] do not represent our campus community, but I do feel that [students] can be racist and sexist sometimes”. • Tyler Clementi was an 18 year old student at Rutgers University. • He committed suicide on September 22, 2010 after being subject to anti-gay bullying on the College ACB website.

10. Anonymous Comments on News Sites • Because of controversy questioning whether or not anonymity should be allowed on a news site, The Washington Post plans to revise its comments policy. • By this, they want to make it mandatory for commenters to use their real names. • The New York Times has moved toward requiring that people register with the site before posting comments. • Arianna Huffington, a founder of the Huffington Post says, “Anonymity is just the way things are done. It’s an accepted part of the Internet, but there’s no question that people hide behind anonymity to make vile or controversial comments”. • Journalists say that anonymous comments enhance instances of cruelty and bigotry.

11. Some Examples of Anonymous Commenting • In a letter to the editor of Madison.com that asks for anonymous commenting to be banned on the site, Anne Morgan Giroux sites a few examples that stuck out in her mind: • She read an article on special education and saw people with disabilities called “lazy” and “useless”. • She read an article on a gay pride march and read disturbing and violent comments. • These comments are downright rude and are avoidable if we do not allow anonymous comments on news stories.

12. BAN ANONYMOUS COMMENTING NOW! • If people were only able to post comments by utilizing their own individual identity, cyber bullying and bigotry would be reduced. • Not only would cyber bullying be reduced because of this, but also vulgar and controversial comments on websites and judgments of others on websites such as CollegeACB.com and Formspring.com would be reduced as well.

13. References • Burgess , Anna . "Destroying Reputations: as easy as ACB." ufts Observer. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://tuftsobserver.org/2011/02/destroying-reputations-as-easy-as-acb/>. • "Cyberbullying Research Center - cyber bullying examples, cases, laws, articles, stories, presentations, videos, facts, statistics." Cyberbullying Research Center - cyber bullying examples, cases, laws, articles, stories, presentations, videos, facts, statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.cyberbullying.us/>. • "Cyberbullying Statistics | PureSight | Cyberbullying." Parental Control | PureSight. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.puresight.com/Cyberbullying/cyber-bullying-statistics.html>. • "Enable Cookies | GazetteNET." GazetteNET | News and Information from Northampton, MA by the Daily Hampshire Gazette. THE DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.gazettenet.com/2010/08/14/website-new-frontier-cyberbullying?SESS14c5002892>. • "GazetteNET." Website a new frontier in cyberbullying. The Hampshire Gazette , n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.gazettenet.com/2010/08/14/website-new-frontier-cyberbullying?SESS14c5002892b>. • Giroux, Anne Morgan. "Anne Morgan Giroux: To increase civility, ban anonymous comments." Madison.com . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_21db7b36-c222-54ef-bd67-ee73ed5f9e56.html>. • Healy, Meg. "College ACB website raises acceptance issues across UR | Campus Times." Campus Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.campustimes.org/2010/10/14/college-acb-website-raises-acceptance-issues-across-ur/>. • Kowalski, Robin M., and PhD |. "Cyber Bullying - Psychiatric Times." Psychiatric Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1336550>. • Mclean, Susan. " susanmclean — Generation Next." Generation Next: Understanding the unique health and wellbeing challenges facing our young people-and how they can be met!. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.generationnext.com.au/blog/?category_name=susan-mclean>. • Parez-Peaa, Richard. "News Sites Rethink Anonymous Online Comments - NYTimes.com." The New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/technology/12comments.html>.