"QotW5: Online Identity, Reputation, Deception"

Unlike our national identity cards, online identities may not carry even an ounce of truth in it. Everything from the name, race, date of birth, sex, address and blood group can be made up. Unfortunately, since there are just too many Andreas out there, I had to make up another name – andreosity, to open my Yahoo email account. Nevertheless, wherever possible, I would rather use my real name online (eg. Friendster, Blogspot).


Speaking of Friendster, even though I have a Friendster account, I would never make it on their list of active or loyal users. I personally feel that Friendster was designed primarily to feed our egos. From there, we see and show others how “popular” we are, simply by the number of “friends” we have there. Not to mention the ‘testimonials’ section, where I must admit I have ever resorted to reading through when I needed some ego boosting myself. The testimonials I have received remind me of how wonderful, talented, beautiful, appreciated and well loved I am (blah blah blah…. Get a life, Andrea). And honestly, who really cares what my favorite shows, songs or books are, which by the way have not changed since 2003, when I started the account to quell my boredom at the workplace.


Despite there being millions of cyber users who have online identities, many are still oblivious to the risks of identity theft. According to Schneier, B. in Mitigating Identity Theft, the term "identity theft" itself is an oxymoron. “Identity is not a possession that can be acquired or lost; it's not a thing at all. Someone's identity is the one thing about a person that cannot be stolen.” He adds that the real crime here is fraud, more specifically, impersonation leading to fraud. For example, a criminal impersonates a victim online and steals money from his account. No one's identity is stolen, but identity information is misused to commit fraud.


Schneier also stresses that the crime involves two very separate issues – (1) privacy of personal data, and (2) the ease with which a criminal can use personal data to commit fraud. Personal privacy is important for many reasons, one of which is impersonation and fraud. As more information about us is collected, correlated, and sold, it becomes easier for criminals to get their hands on the data they need to commit fraud. And to illustrate the second issue, is the simple case of applying for a credit card in someone else’s name. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in September 2005 that there had been 27.3 million cases of identity theft in the last five years. And overall, this crime cost U.S. citizens $52.6 billion in 2004 (Forbes.com, 2005).


In Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, Donath, J.S. discusses another aspect of identity – identity deception.

To avoid falling into the web of deceit, Donath advises that it is vital to distinguish between institutional and commercial accounts. Institutional accounts are online addresses from universities, research labs and corporations; they are given to people because of an association with the institute. However, unlike the institutional accounts, commercial accounts do not imply any affiliation; they simply mean that the user has signed up for the service.


“The account name is thus an important, but limited, form of online identification. It is important because it is ubiquitous: all postings must have the account name in the header. It is a key marker of individual identity: although there is not always a one-to-one mapping between an account name and a real world person (accounts may be shared, some people have several accounts), the account name is generally perceived to refer to a single person (or persona). And it may provide some contextual information about the writer, information that, while quite sketchy, may be the only such cues in the posting” (Donath, 1996).


For a tighter safety measure, the domain name needs to be evaluated within the culture of the net and of the organizations that provide access.


Learning of these pitfalls in the virtual world only makes me more hesitant to increase my involvement there. In fact, I’m even considering closing my Friendster account very soon…lest I make a tempting prey.


REFERENCES

Donath. , J, S. (1996, November). Identity and deception in the virtual community. MIT Media Lab. Retrieved on 6 February 2007, from
http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html


Hooked on Phishing (2005). Forbes.com. Retrieved on 6 February 2007, from http://www.forbes.com/business/2005/04/29/cz_0429oxan_identitytheft.html

Schneier, B. (2005, April). Schneier on Security: Mitigating Identity Theft. Retrieved on February 6, 2007 from http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/04/mitigating_iden.html