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I also hoped to answer a difficult question: do the features of anonymity and connectivity free the darker sides of our nature? And if so, how?
For every destructive subculture I examined there are just as many that are positive, helpful, and constructive.
“Trolling” has today become shorthand for any nasty or threatening behavior online.
The Meowers began setting up other Usenet groups (including alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk, alt.non.sequitur, and alt.stupidity), from which they started to invade other groups by posting ridiculous, Monty Pythonesque posts, preventing anyone else from posting or entering into a discussion. This technique, now known as “crap-flooding,” is still very popular among trolls.
According to other academic studies, between 65 and 93 percent of human communication is nonverbal: facial expression, tone, body movement. Put very simply, our brain has evolved over millions of years to subconsciously spot these cues so we can better read and empathize with each other. Communicating via computers removes these cues, making communication abstract and anchorless. Or, as the web comic Penny Arcade has it: “The Greater Internet Fuck-wad Theory”: “normal person + anonymity + audience = total fuckwad.”
Creating our own realities is nothing new, but now it’s easier than ever to become trapped in echo chambers of our own making.
the whole, the cypherpunks were rugged libertarians who believed that far too many decisions that affected the liberty of the individual were determined by a popular vote of democratic governments.
If the state considers you to be a legitimate target for security investigation but can’t track your online activity using an anonymous browser, they’ll put a bug in your bedroom instead.
Outsiders, radicals, and pariahs are often the first to find and use technology in shrewd ways, and the rest of us have much to learn from them.
