Online Identity

 

Assignment 3 – Blog Post #3: Online Identity

By Janejira Sahachaiwatana

 

Identity is the fact of being who, or what a person or thing is. It is the concrete and defining feature who we are. Without identity, we have no way of telling the differences between each other. In other words, no way of explaining how I differ from my friends, family or complete strangers. Today, most people around the world have access to the internet, and have identities in the virtual world, and due to the explosion of online virtual communities, identity is losing its meaning.

Individualism and the freedom of expression may be the first reason that people form a new identity on the internet (Rak 2005). Online identity or internet persona is a social identity that internet users create while using online resources such as websites, application and social media platforms. There are no restrictions to form an identity on the internet, so a person can register an ideal identity, do whatever and say whatever they want on the internet. In present, it has been observed that many people create ideal identities that cannot be realized in the real world and pretend to be someone they are not. This blog post will discuss the issues that arise from an online identity and tackle those issues.

The intense identity aggregation of products like Google and Facebook is pushing users towards anonymous services. Using fake online identity or, in other words, online impersonation can expose users to serious threats including identity theft, exposure to scams and having your information used to exploit you. In Australia, over 120,000 people were victims of online identity theft (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016). OECD (2009) believes that establishing identity online making fraud easier and can be a major hurdle in the evolution and growth of online commerce. It is a problem that involving personal information. Cybercriminals usually steal the online identities of others for unethical and hidden purposes (Reyns 2013). They may steal others’ identities in order to obtain access to the victim’s resources (which allows them to use the victim’s credit to open accounts or make purchases, to steal money out of the victim’s bank accounts, etc.).

Catfishing is another issue facing online identity. Catfishing is known as portraying as someone else’s identity with the use of pictures and posts to trick someone into a relationship with one another. This can lead to misappropriation of likeness, emotional distress, sexual harassment, an unsafe situation, threatening to life or even death. This has happened with a lovely girl name Carly Ryan who fell prey to an online predator. In 2006, Carly thought she had met her dream boyfriend online. His name was Brandon Kane, an 18 years old musician from Melbourne. Brandon was in fact fictitious. Carly fell in love with Brandon after 18 months of online chat and phone calls. A year later, Carly was lured to her death by Garry Newman who pretended to be Brandon and trick her to the beach at Port Elliott in South Australia and murdered her (Sutton 2017). To commemorate Carly and promote online safety, the Carly Ryan Foundation was founded by Carly’s mum in order to create awareness and educate children and parents using the internet.

In conclusion, I believe that online identities are a freedom of choice as long as you do not harm anyone. However, fake online identity, catfishing, or online impersonation is not something one should do and be a part of because it can be very emotionally damaging to those being catfished. When facing an unsafe situation, people should talk to their parents, an adult, responsible figure or friends to figure out whether officials should be contacted. I strongly support the idea that online identity should represents nothing but the truth.

 

 

Resources:

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016, RISING PROPORTION OF AUSTRALIANS EXPERIENCED PERSONAL FRAUD, Australian Bureau of Statistics, viewed 29 April 2018, <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4528.0>.

OECD, 2009, Online Identity Theft, Electronic books, OECD Publishing, Paris.

Rak, J 2005, ‘The Digital Queer: Weblogs and Internet Identity’, Biography, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 166-182, viewed 20 April 2018, ProQuest database.

Reyns, BW 2013, ‘Online Routines and Identity Theft Victimization’, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 216-238, viewed 20 April 2018, SAGE Criminology database.

Sutton, C 2017, ‘Ten years after a violent sadist lured Carly Ryan, 15, to her death with a cruel trick her mother wants to warn others’, News.com.au, 26 February, viewed 30 April 2018, <http://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/ten-years-after-a-violent-sadist-lured-carly-ryan-15-to-her-death-with-a-cruel-trick-her-mother-wants-to-warn-others/news-story/c935d51a059cfe3f7872ba0c641f998f>.