The Mask

QotW5: Online Identity

Introduction:

Ever since the dawn of the internet in the mid 1990s, it has taken many transformations over the past 10 years or so. Today, we depend on the internet way more than anything else. Apart from gathering information from the internet, computer-mediated communication is the ‘in-thing’ now; be it through mIRC, MSN Messenger, emails or via games. In order to communicate, we need an online identity. However, is this ‘online identity’ the same as our real identity?

Previously, the norm used to be “one body, one identity”, however now, “one can have, some claim, as many electronic personas as one has time and energy to create.” (Donath, 1996). Since the virtual identity is ambiguous, it is rather hard to spot the real from the fake.

Building Reputation:

One online identity that I am particularly familiar with other than emails is the social networking site, Friendster, since I have an account there.
Friendster is an internet social network service that was founded in 2002. It is based on the ‘Circle of Friends’ technique for networking individuals in virtual communities and demonstrates the small world phenomenon. Friendster was considered the top online social network service until around April 2004 when it was overtaken by MySpace in terms of page views, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. (Friendster, 2007). Most of the members on Friendster today are teenagers and young adults. These people usually try to keep in contact with their old friends or make new ones. Then again, there are strangers within the site who can always send you messages, reaching up to you.

In Friendster, reputation is basically built by two ways. Firstly, in an attempt to widen our social circle, we willingly put up our real name, age, birthdate, likes and dislikes, and pictures of ourselves. These data when collectively used provide others with a wholesome picture of who we really are. Another new feature of Friendster is the blog. Through the blog, readers can basically read you like a book, because bloggers tend to pen down their inner most feelings and thoughts.

Another avenue to establish reputation would be through the testimonials written by our friends. Apart from our parents, our friends know us best; they know who we really are and what our activities are like. Thus, our reputation, whether good or bad, is based on the testimonials we receive. Since we meet people online, the only way we can introduce ourselves to them is through our profile and testimonials.

Identity Theft:

Identity theft works especially well in online communities, where your identity is not known unless stated by the users themselves. In Friendster, since almost all your minute details are up for ‘display’, identity theft is made effortless. For example, ‘B’ is an identity thief. He comes across your Friendster homepage and browses through your information, testimonials and your friends. He then sets up another account with a different email, pretending to be you, adds all of your friends, and worse, talks to them while assuming your identity. Now, your identity has officially been stolen! If I can pass as you, I can wreck havoc on your reputation, either on-line or off. (Donath, 1996). There is nothing that you can do because he has got all your details at his fingertips. To make things awful, you might not even know that your identity has been stolen.

Another form of identity theft is Pseudonymity. It is a word derived from pseudonym, meaning 'false name', and describes a state of disguised identity resulting from the use of a pseudonym (also called nym). The pseudonym identifies a holder, that is, one or more human beings who possess but do not disclose their true names (that is, legal identities). (Pseudonymity, 2006).

Conclusion:

These days where tarnishing of reputation and identity theft is rampant, internet users should be very well aware of the dangers that could arise due to revealing too much personal information online. Basically responsible use of the internet should be encouraged in order to prevent unwanted distress.

References:

1. “Pseudonymity” (December 16, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 10:10, February 20, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudonymity#Pseudonymity_and_online_reputations

2. “Online Identity” (February 15, 2006) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 10:21, February 20, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_identity

3. Donath, J. S. “Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community” (November 12, 1996). Retrieved February 20, 2007 from http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

4. “Friendster” (February 13, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 10:30, February 20, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendster

QotW4: Internet Economies And You

Sharing The Gift

Gift economies. What are they? Seriously, I only heard of this phrase for the first time in class on Monday.

Introduction:

Ever since the mid 1990s, the internet started off, serving its primary function of imparting knowledge. However, 10 years down the road, and the internet has transformed itself into a mixed economy; where you either pay for things or get it free. “The commercialization of the internet has been marked by a constant rise in e-commerce enterprises and fee-based content and services along side traditionally free varieties.” (Veale, 2003).

“A gift economy is an economic system in which the prevalent mode of exchange is for goods and services to be given without explicit agreement” and “this occurs in a cultural context where there is an expectation either of reciprocation—in the form of goods or services of comparable value, or of political support, general loyalty, honor to the giver, etc.—or of the gift being passed on in some other manner.” (Gift Economy, 2007).

Gifts:

A gift exchange usually engages a feeling of compulsion felt by one party towards another; most of the time, the need to repay the gift. “Gift exchanges should not involve explicit bargaining or demands that the gift be reciprocated, but a relationship in which there is only giving and no receiving is unlikely to last. The contrast to a gift exchange is a commodity transaction, in which no obligation exists after the exchange is consummated – the bottle of water purchased at a convenience store does not create an obligation to buy something there again. A gift is also tied in an inalienable way to the giver. This is to say that gifts are unique.” (Kollack, 1999). In gift economies, people gain most, by boosting the span and diversity of their social networks.

Motivations for contributing:

One of main reasons that propel people to contribute towards the gift economy is the fact that they expect something, and will be given something rather useful and beneficial in return. This form of motivation is known as anticipated reciprocity.

Another motivation that is very important is reputation or recognition. One of the key ingredients of encouraging a reputation is to allow contributors to be known or not to be anonymous. "The following example, from Meyers (1989) study of the computer underground illustrates the power of reputation. When involved in illegal activities, computer hackers must protect their personal identities with pseudonyms. If hackers use the same nicknames repeatedly, this can help the authorities to trace them. Nevertheless, hackers are reluctant to change their pseudonyms regularly because the status associated with a particular nickname would be lost. "(Virtual Community, 2007).

A third motivation is that a person willingly contributes a useful piece of information because the act results in a sense of efficacy; a sense that they have some effect on the environment. "There is well-developed research literature that has shown how important a sense of efficacy is (e.g. Bandura 1995), and making regular and high quality contributions to the group can help individuals believe that they have an impact on the group and support their own self-image as an efficacious person. Wikipedia is a prime example of an online community that gives contributors a sense of efficacy. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia which uses online software to enable anyone to create new articles and change any article in the encyclopedia. The changes you make are immediate, obvious, and available to the world." (Virtual Community, 2007).

More generally, an additional possible motivation is the attachment or commitment one can have to the group. In other words, the good of the group enters one's utility equation. (Kollack, 1999). These days, people generally tend to respond or commend on the works of others, proving the contributors with a sense of belonging and motivation. For instance, blogs allow readers to leave their comments behind thus, sharing their views about a particular posting. At the same time, Amazon.com also allows other users to rate their product reviews, enabling future buyers to better understand what they are about to purchase.
Although all four motivations come under different headings, it is possible to say that they do overlap one another in certain aspects.

Criticisms of the “Gift”:

As selfishness become prevalent in the world today, one of the main concerns of the gift economy is that people would tend to “take” more than they “give”. This serves as a losing end to those who actively contribute to the economy because then their work would be “made use of” by the free-riders.

For example…

As for myself, I am a member of ‘ShoppingLifestyle Singapore’. This is a forum where girls actively participate; posting questions regarding any girl-related issues and the others would reply or comment back. In this forum, the more you participate, the higher your rank will be and hence, the more credible you will be deemed to be.

Apart from the forums, the site also provides tips ranging from fashion and style, to hair and makeup, skin and body, health and wellness, and even love and family. I found it to be really useful because you will tend to get not only information form your age group women but those who are senior and more experienced than you.

Conclusion:

I believe that in this internet age, the only way we can help others improve and at the same time improve ourselves is through sharing, and what better way to share than to do it online; through the gift economy!

References:

1. Raymond, E. S. “Gift Economy” (October 17, 2003) From FuturePositive. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://futurepositive.synearth.net/stories/storyReader$223

2. “Gift Economy” (February 4, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 15:24, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economies

3. Veale, K. J. “Internet Gift Economies: Voluntary Payment Schemes As Tangible Reciprocity” (November 11, 2003) From First Monday. Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_12/veale/

4. Kollock, P. (1999). 'The Economies of Online Cooperation; Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace" Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

5. “Virtual Community” (February 8, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 16:10, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community#Anticipated_Reciprocity

6. Pinchot, Gifford (1995). "The Gift Economy" Retrieved February 9, 2007 from http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

QotW3: Sharing, Copyright & Creative Culture

It Is Up To Us!

To all of you reading this entry, has anyone not downloaded any piece of information or any song illegally from the internet? I guess it is almost impossible to do so. With the vast amount of information that is up on the internet, obtaining them makes it just simpler by the day. All you need is a right-click and “save target as”.

“A copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted by government for a limited time to protect the particular form, way or manner in which an idea or information is expressed. Copyright may subsist in a wide range of creative or artistics forms or "works", including literary works, movies, musical works, sound recordings, paintings, photographs, software, and industrial designs. Copyright is a type of intellectual property.” (Copyright, 2007)

The most common form of copyright today is the peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing of files; mainly MP3s. P2P is “a type of network in which each workstation has equivalent capabilities and responsibilities. This differs from client/server architectures, in which some computers are dedicated to serving the others. Peer-to-peer networks are generally simpler, but they usually do not offer the same performance under heavy loads.” (Webopedia, 2005). When an artiste releases a music album and you only like a few songs, you are definitely not going to waste about $20 buying the whole album. What is easier than downloading them in a matter of seconds, and it’s totally free! Programmes such as LimeWire and Morpheus make downloading such files really effortless.

A case study done in Canada last year states that the apparent reasons for the dip in music sales are the lenient copyright laws and the online sharing of music files. “Net music sales in the country dropped by $23.36 million, or four per cent, to $608.71 million in 2005, according to the Canadian Recording Industry Association. While sales stabilized in 2004, they've been declining steadily for almost a decade. At the same time, P2P file-swapping continues to grow.” (Chartattack, 2006). Although Canada is the seventh largest music marketing in the world with a broadband internet penetration of only 25%, the Organisation For Economic Co-operation And Development has stated it as having the highest online piracy rate for the year 2004/2005.

Ever since the evolution of Discmans into MP3 players and iPods, P2P sharing is gaining its popularity and importance in the virtual world.

The main purpose of copyright laws is to “ultimately benefit the public by promoting "the progress of science and useful arts;" that is, learning and knowledge. The means of this promotion is in the creation of laws that give creators exclusive rights to their creations for a limited time.” (Ovalle, 2005). With these copyright laws properly in place, content creators can enjoy monetary gains, which in turn serve as an impetus for them to expand their creativity. Simultaneously, we, the public benefit since these works are available to us free-of-charge once the limited time has elapsed. However, we need to bear in mind that the copyright laws are naturally intended to rule out a balance between the interests of the authors and the interests of the public.

Copyright is nothing without its limitations, and some of the well-known ones are expiration, orphan works, fair use, and parody.

Expiration, “one of the most obvious and important limitations to copyright is that it is not perpetual and expires after a set amount of time. The length of a copyright on work created during or after 1978 is the life of the author plus seventy years. For works of corporate authorship, the term is 95 years from date of publication or 120 years from date of creation, whichever is shorter.” (PlagiarismToday, 2006).

Out of the four limitations, the most exploited one would be ‘fair use’. This is because, “there is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission.” (U.S Copyright Office, 2006). Hence, using this to their advantage, the public copy almost everything and anything.

So is there anyway for both the creators and the public to be in a win-win situation? This is something that both parties need to figure out. Although a substantial number of people have been caught illegally downloading music, millions of others have been giving the slip. Trying to grab hold of everyone is almost impossible. Thus, creators and the public should work hand-in-hand to come up with a program that will take into consideration the interests of both groups. The more you upload, the more people will try to download them!

References

1. Carlos Ovalle. “Why Copyright?” (2006) From Information In Cyberspace. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/%7Ei312co/2.php

2. Kevin S. Brady. “Copyright FAQ: 25 Common Myths and Misconceptions” (2004) From GoldenGate Internet Services”. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://users.goldengate.net/%7Ekbrady/copyright.html

3. “Remix culture: a rights nightmare” (2007) From Catapult. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/indepth/s1645533.htm

4. Jessica Litman. “Sharing and Stealing” (November 23, 2003) From Social Science Research Network. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=472141

5. “Peer-to-Peer Architecture” (2007) From Webopedia. Retrieved February 1, 2007 form http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/p/peer_to_peer_architecture.html

6. “Internet Piracy And Lax Copyright Laws Contribute To Lower Music Sales” (March 13, 2006) From Chartattack. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2006/03/1311.cfm

7. “Limitations of Copyright” (April 24, 2006) From PlagiarismToday. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/your-copyrights-online/limitations-of-copyright

8. “Fair Use” (July, 2006) From Copyright: United States Copyright Office. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

9. “Copyright” (February 2, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 13:12, January 3, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright