Thoughts from Shutoutman

An online identity allows a person to create somewhat of a “second self,” and in order to maintain that identity, he or she must follow very similar rules to that of real life. To build rapport for an online identity, one must display the qualities of: trust, honesty, integrity, and to a degree, intelligence, much like that of a normal human being functioning in society. Once these qualities are displayed over time, whether it is through blogging, IMing, e-mail, commercial transactions, etc., an online identity assumes its own “personality” that people begin to recognize.

One online identity that I own, which I feel best portrays the term, is my eBay account which is listed under the username “Shutoutman.” Writes Donath, “There may be a clear and straightforward mapping from an account name to a real-world individual - or it may be deliberately opaque.” Created when I was just 13 years old in 1999 and certainly not opaque at the time, my account name was cleverly titled after the fact that I was determined to become a professional hockey goaltender. This account name has been my eBay identity and reputation for the entire duration of my use of the site. Though I do not use eBay as much I used to, whenever I do want to buy something, I have a nice cushion to return to in the form of my feedback. Feedback works as a give-take feature (and unwritten eBay rule) in which once a transaction is completed, buyer and seller are supposed to give each other a grade or comment about how well the other held up their end of the bargain. As a user buys or sells more items on the site, they can build up a positive rapport with other users by completing their transactions quickly and building a good “reputation.” It is very easy to have your username become trustworthy on the site, as many people will leave comments such as, “Excellent Job! Fast Payment! Highly Recommended!” Of course, reputation is something that one must maintain and monitor constantly in order to be beneficial to the user. Reputations are an “uncertain affair,” which can last for eternities for some but are destroyed by one single incident for others (Masum and Zhang, Trade).

Having stated how reputation can dissolve as quickly as overnight, there is always the possibly of “identity theft,” which involves the unauthorized use of your identity by someone else. As more information is collected on an individual, the easier it is for someone to impersonate that person and commit fraudulent moves online (Schneier). With eBay, it is very important that no one ever obtains your password. With your username and password, anyone could buy anything and refuse to pay for it, thus destroying your reputation in the form of inevitable negative feedback. Furthermore, when eBay first began, it lacked an intermediary that could handle the money transaction between buyer and seller. Therefore, the buyer (who always pays first), was putting his or her trust in the seller not to take the money and never ship the item. Fortunately, eBay has paired up with the identity-theft-fighting PayPal, which is a service that functions as a medium between buyer and seller (a la credit card companies). This way, no buyer or seller ever has to show one another any personal information besides a shipping address. PayPal handles the money transaction, thus reducing the risk of any stealing of information for personal gain.

Building a trustworthy reputation online is always helpful, and can be greatly beneficial, especially with commercial transaction sites such as eBay. While many new technologies and websites are popping up that effectively fight identity-theft, it is important for one to be smart about personal privacy on the Internet, as even a small form of carelessness can lead to disaster.



References:

Donath, J.S. Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community. (1996, November 12). Communities in Cyberspace. Retrieved February 21, 2007, from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Masum, H. and Yi-Cheng Zhang. Manifesto for the Reputation. (2004, June 15). First Monday. Retrieved February 22, 2007, from http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue9_7/masum/#m5

Schneier, B. A Weblog Covering Security and Security Technology. (2005, April 15). Retrieved February 22, 2007, from http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/04/mitigating_iden.html