Imaginary Anonymity

    At present, a very often discussion is being raised on strengthening control over Internet users. This is argued by the spread of piracy, pornography, spam, and many other reasons. Human rights defenders advocate for users, since the adoption of such a decision violates human rights, and the users themselves do not want total control over them. This article will discuss what anonymity is, for whom it is beneficial and what will happen if you get rid of it. This article does not provoke action, but is purely judicious in nature.

    Checking anonymity today is quite simple, you can do this using the resource whoer.net, in order to understand why such resources are necessary, you need to know what is meant by the word "anonymity" on the modern Internet.

    A user who visits the Internet is only formally anonymous. The main user ID on the network is the ip address. The provider can easily record all user actions and store the received information for a long time. Free email services not only record logs and fully track e-mail traffic, but also analyze your correspondence (using special algorithms) to show you the most suitable advertisements. If for some reason your correspondence is of interest to special services, then your mailbox will always be under their control. This also applies to IM services, social networks, forum posts, etc. All Internet portals with a large audience collect and analyze information about their users on an ongoing basis and unobtrusively offer you advertising, which may interest you. All this already includes control, while the user does not even suspect him.

    Imagine what happens to a user when visiting an online store. It is enough to look at information about a product, for example, a Samsung TV, then by going to this online store in a month, the user will definitely be offered a discount or a special promotion on the Samsung TV, which ends the other day and if the user does not hurry, then something irreparable will happen :) At the same time, the user will think how lucky he is that he went to this resource again, since he wanted to buy this thing for a long time. At the same time, the owner of the online store will calculate the profit from the sale and, undoubtedly, will once again be convinced of the correctness of the acquisition of an expensive tracking system for potential consumers. And cleaning cookies or deleting temporary files will no longer save you. Control systems have long been used,

    Undoubtedly, there can be a huge number of examples; we considered only the most obvious options.

    But examples of how advanced users use the ability to be anonymous, and almost all of these examples are purely destructive:
    • ubiquitous distribution of legally protected content. A huge number of users using P2P networks illegally download software, music, books, films and bring huge financial losses to copyright holders. You must understand that by downloading a movie or a book, the user violates the law, while this neglect of the law is also transmitted to children. Think about how a child will grow up when he watches every day how his parents go to crime every day;
    • the threat to children increases, as easily accessible information appears that can adversely affect their health, psychological and moral condition. Many resources advertise alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. The network contains many resources of radical associations and organizations, sects, who are trying to find supporters of their ideology. Similar examples can be listed for a long time;
    • the spread of spam, spyware and a variety of viruses, from which no network user is safe;
    • the threat of cyber terrorism, which also cannot be ignored. An example of this is the Japanese terrorist organization Aum Shinrike, which launched a terrorist attack in the Tokyo metro in 1995. Before the attack, a system was created that intercepted police radio stations, made it possible to study police mail and tracked the movement routes of police crews. Of course, such situations do not occur very often and there are only a few, but as practice has shown, the threat exists realistically.
    Let’s ponder who benefits from the modern “anonymity” and the current situation as a whole, and who will be more likely to be hit by tightening control and censorship?

    First of all, tightening control is unprofitable for criminal communities that use the Internet for their own selfish purposes. Secondly, it is unprofitable for developers of antivirus software and programs, since they receive impressive revenues from the sale of programs that seem to allow them to fight with malicious programs. Thirdly, OS manufacturers will suffer, as they regularly offer consumers to buy new software, arguing that the old has become vulnerable and does not withstand modern threats. Also, businessmen who track the movement of users, which is illegal, would also suffer from increased control, as well as manufacturers of prohibited goods that sell it via the Internet. Undoubtedly, representatives of the gambling business will also fall into the group of dissatisfied people for tightening control who have long realized that the Internet is the best platform for generating revenue from human weaknesses. Also, this group will include radical organizations for which the Internet is the best platform for searching for co-religionists. Many people will be surprised, but it is not profitable for government officials who receive money for struggling with the problems that currently occur on the network. Therefore, toughening is not beneficial for everyone except ordinary users of the network who want to live quietly, as the principles of morality and ethics require, but without relying on the morality of the virtual world. Many people will be surprised, but it is not profitable for government officials who receive money for struggling with the problems that currently occur on the network. Therefore, toughening is not beneficial for everyone except ordinary users of the network who want to live quietly, as the principles of morality and ethics require, but without relying on the morality of the virtual world. Many people will be surprised, but it is not profitable for government officials who receive money for struggling with the problems that currently occur on the network. Therefore, toughening is not beneficial to everyone except ordinary users of the network who want to live peacefully, as the principles of morality and ethics require, but without relying on the morality of the virtual world.

    Undoubtedly, each user has a question, how can one solve the problems? There are many options for solving the problem, and it is difficult to predict which option will be used.

    The most effective and fairly simple method of solving the problem is a small protocol upgrade, thanks to which network devices will identify users from where they would not access the Internet and identify services wherever they are located, and the information will be stored in any base. Therefore, when switching to a resource, it will report what data you need to provide to go to it, and you have the right to provide this data or refuse to go to the resource, that is, it turns out that everything is transparent. Viruses and spam will disappear immediately, as there will be no platform for their development. Moreover, all this can already be applied today and quite fruitfully used within the existing Internet network, rather than waiting for a variety of effective Internet development to appear.

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