<story><title>For Hackers, Anonymity Was Once Critical. That’s Changing</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/22/technology/defcon-hackers-privacy-anonymity.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>munin</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s hard to blow the whistle anonymously, people seem to react poorly to anonymous accusations. There is even an amendment in the US constitution that mentions this. And even today on the Internet, if there is reporting of anonymous accusations against someone or a company for wrongdoing, people will ask (on this very message board) &amp;quot;oh if it was real, why won&amp;#x27;t the accusers come forward and be named?&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>Tharkun</author><text>If anything, now that the internet has effectively become mankind&amp;#x27;s long-term memory, anonymity feels more important than ever. If you got into a regrettable flame war on some mailing list back in 2001, it&amp;#x27;s still out there, waiting to be used against you, out of context and in a different era.&lt;p&gt;People need to be able to make mistakes - or voice uncomfortable truths, blow whistles etc - without having to worry about repurcussions in some unknown future.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>AnthonyMouse</author><text>&amp;gt; And even today on the Internet, if there is reporting of anonymous accusations against someone or a company for wrongdoing, people will ask (on this very message board) &amp;quot;oh if it was real, why won&amp;#x27;t the accusers come forward and be named?&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;An anonymous accusation has no weight. But that&amp;#x27;s not what they&amp;#x27;re for. They&amp;#x27;re a suggestion to investigate something. Because if it&amp;#x27;s real then there should be &lt;i&gt;other&lt;/i&gt; evidence -- third party witnesses, documents, phone records, surveillance footage, a pattern of behavior where a more recent incident can actually be proven, etc.&lt;p&gt;No one should take them seriously as evidence but journalists should take them seriously as tips. And if the journalists following the lead actually find something that can stand on its own, it&amp;#x27;s only then (and not before) that you have a real story instead of an unsubstantiated anonymous accusation.&lt;p&gt;Anonymous tips are not &lt;i&gt;worthless&lt;/i&gt; -- they&amp;#x27;re actually really important -- they&amp;#x27;re just not &lt;i&gt;evidence&lt;/i&gt;.</text></comment>
<story><title>For Hackers, Anonymity Was Once Critical. That’s Changing</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/22/technology/defcon-hackers-privacy-anonymity.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>munin</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s hard to blow the whistle anonymously, people seem to react poorly to anonymous accusations. There is even an amendment in the US constitution that mentions this. And even today on the Internet, if there is reporting of anonymous accusations against someone or a company for wrongdoing, people will ask (on this very message board) &amp;quot;oh if it was real, why won&amp;#x27;t the accusers come forward and be named?&amp;quot;</text></item><item><author>Tharkun</author><text>If anything, now that the internet has effectively become mankind&amp;#x27;s long-term memory, anonymity feels more important than ever. If you got into a regrettable flame war on some mailing list back in 2001, it&amp;#x27;s still out there, waiting to be used against you, out of context and in a different era.&lt;p&gt;People need to be able to make mistakes - or voice uncomfortable truths, blow whistles etc - without having to worry about repurcussions in some unknown future.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sparkie</author><text>Uh, that&amp;#x27;s completely the opposite scenario that I&amp;#x27;ve seen over the past several years, where any accusation made against a white male are met by hoards of keyboard warriors quickly pointing the finger on social media, handing out a metaphorical death sentence before any trial has occurred.&lt;p&gt;The need to ask for somebody to go public before investigating their claims is so that you can attempt to discredit their claim by discrediting their person.</text></comment>