Over on Psychochild’s Blog, Brian Green has a fantastic four part series exploring the relationship between privacy and anonymity, and arguing against the idea that removing anonymity would address the problem – both because this means giving up privacy, which we value, and because it is not practical to do so. Highly recommended reading for game designers and anyone interested in online abuse and privacy:

• Part 1 looks at the relationship between privacy and anonymity, and the key questions about anonymity.
• Part 2 examines the harms entailed in removing anonymity.
• Part 3 makes the case for the impossibility for enforcing public identity and restricting anonymity.
• Part 4 looks at dealing with the problems of online behaviour, and the changes that might be required.

You can read some brief responses from me over at Only a Game, and I shall respond in full in about two weeks time with a piece entitled Lessons from the MUD. Watch this space!