TL;DR
- Pseudonymity allows everyone to choose an identity that serves a purpose.
- People have been using pseudonymity to protect their identities and shift the focus to the main topic.
- Pseudonyms help people feel protected and comfortable when dealing with context collapse concerns online.
Introduction
Pseudonymity has become an increasingly popular topic due to the rise of social media platforms nowadays. On social networking sites, people prefer to use false names to protect their identity and freely express their opinions online without the fear of being publicly shamed.
In this article, we will discuss some examples of pseudonymity, and how we can benefit from it.
What is pseudonymity?
The term “pseudonymity”, means the state of using or being published under a pseudonym—a false or fictitious name. Since both anonymity and pseudonymity work to conceal a subject’s true identity, they are similar. The use of pseudonyms, however, allows one to maintain a reference to the subject’s real identity.
Additionally, adopting a pseudonym in online forums entails using a variety of fake identifying characteristics, such as a name and a title, for interaction and, to some extent, identification.
The case of pseudonymity
The use of pseudonyms to protect ideas has been practiced throughout history since the invention of the printing press. The followings are some of the popular examples of pseudonymity.
Crypto transactions
When you create a crypto wallet, a unique address is generated that can be used to transfer or receive crypto and is public on the blockchain. Since your public address can be linked to your real name through financial forensics, this address gives you pseudonymity rather than anonymity.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The famous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is another well-known example of pseudonymity.
If Nakamoto had founded Bitcoin using his true name, there would undoubtedly be dangers of assault and intimidation to suppress the concept. However, by utilizing a pseudonym, the spotlight was quickly focused on the ground-breaking technology and use of the leading cryptocurrency.
Why do we need pseudonymity?
Users can speak with one another in a relatively anonymous manner thanks to pseudonymity. In addition, pseudonymity promotes user privacy, decentralization and permits free speech without concern about security.
1. Privacy
Pseudonyms effectively give users a sense of privacy to handle context collapse concerns online. Internet users are adopting the usage of avatars and pseudonyms while communicating with others online rather than sharing their legal names and personal images on social media.
2. Freedom of expressions
There are also many viable reasons to segment one’s identity online that have nothing to do with harassing people or acting uncivilly in comment sections. Pseudonymity simply acts as a social shield so that people can freely raise their voice about certain situations that they do not usually feel comfortable speaking about in the public.
Protecting the speaker’s interest, by preserving their pseudonymity, can greatly motivate them, as well as other people, to speak their mind, and therefore will facilitate the dissemination of more information.
For example, many people want to share political views without having an impact on their careers.
3. Decentralization
Additionally, Srinivasan, a former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and the former chief technology officer of Coinbase, believes that pseudonymity is crucial to decentralization because it allows users to choose the identity they want to present rather than being constrained by something that has been assigned to them.
Some products featured pseudonymity
There are many levels of anonymity, but very few websites and services truly offer it. For instance, Facebook compels users to use their true names. The user’s pseudonym and IP address may be displayed along with location data on some forums and other venues, making it possible to reasonably determine who they are.
However, websites like 4chan and Reddit are some of the typical platforms that truly offer pseudonymity for its users. The following are some of the websites that allowed users to utilize pseudonyms:
1. Reddit
Reddit is an American social news aggregation, content voting, and discussion website. As of March 2022, Reddit ranks as the 9th-most-visited website worldwide.
On Reddit, a social media platform in which users post and vote on their favorite content in specific topic subreddits, identity appears simple but involves a wide range of practices that occupies much of the space in between being fully anonymous and thoroughly identifiable.
Unlike many other social media sites, people can browse Reddit without creating an account and sign up with an email, username, and password.
2. 4Chan
4chan is an anonymous imageboard website. The site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime to video games, television, politics, and many more.
What makes 4chan special is that it does not require users to register their accounts. Instead of having your real name and photos displayed in your profile, you can create any identity you want.
3. Ready
Ready – a secure, versatile messaging application- enables users to register and authenticate their account with only a crypto wallet address. New users do not need to provide any of their personal information like phone numbers or real names.
During the time spent in Ready, no personal data from the users is collected. Ready gives its users the option to display pseudonymous names. Users will be identified through such names, and the crypto addresses will be used for communication activities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as the links between individuals and information on social media platforms grow along with their use, the need for pseudonymity arises. Pseudonymity acts both as a tool for people to utilize their freedom of expression while also protecting their identity against the toxicity of social media’s harassers.
