Anonymity of online users: The issues raised by the death of an online British teenager.

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Online users are promised anonymity by some websites for using their websites contents including gambling and pornographic films. This promise of anonymity often leads these users to feel less inhibited to participate in such websites even though the activities being involved are risky or illegal. The users may include people who are criminally minded and not afraid of breaking the law but they may also include users who are normally law-abiding.

The incorporation of anonymity in the terms and conditions of a website serves as a contract between the website and its user. Providing the user does not violate such terms and conditions, the agreement shall remain binding between the website and the user. However, there has been an on-going debate about whether a website is obliged to violate this agreement and reveal the real identity of a user accused of committing an online crime.

This debate about when a website can divulge the real identity of its anonymous user becomes intensified last week following the death of a fourteen year old British girl, Hannah Smith. It was reported that Ms Smith committed suicide following cyber bullying she suffered at the hands of online users to the Ask.fm website. Ask.fm is a networking website based in Latvia that promises full anonymity to its users. Since the death of Ms Smith, it has been under immense pressure from people against online anonymity to reveal the identities of its users whose comments such as “go and commit suicide; you are not worthy of living” may have apparently contributed to the death of Ms Smith so the users can be shamed and possibly punished for their acts. Ask.fm has somewhat yielded to some of this pressure by promising to disclose the identities of the users implicated in the death.

However, Ask.fm will violate its terms and conditions of service for users to the site by disclosing the identities of the individuals who may have been involved in sending the disturbing messages to Ms Smith. One of the clauses in the terms and conditions of use for visitors to the Ask.fm states “You understand that in using the ask.fm service you may encounter content that may be deemed objectionable, obscene or in poor taste, which content may or may not be identified as having explicit language. The ask.fm service allows for anonymous content which ask.fm does not monitor. You agree to use the ask.fm service at your own risk and that ask.fm shall have no liability to you for content that you may find objectionable, obscene or in poor taste.” This clause clearly warns users to the website about the dangers associated with messages that they may encounter and provide for anonymity to users posting such messages. It is not clear whether Ms Smith was aware of this clause while signing up to the social media networking site.

Although web users who support full anonymity might consider the revealing of the real identities of individuals implicated in comments that allegedly resulted in the recent death of Ms Smith strange, there is already precedent for websites to reveal the identities of its anonymous users. Earlier this year, the real identities of two British social media network users, Dean Liddle and Neil Harkins, who were 28 and 35 years of age respectively, were revealed by twitter and Face-book for contempt of court. The two web users distributed photographs which purportedly depicted those of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson who were convicted for killing James Bulger. The British High Court imposed on Liddle and Harkins a nine month prison sentence suspended for 15 months for the acts.

The removal of online user anonymity can also be justified on the ground that people such as researchers and health professionals are under no obligation to maintain the anonymity of their participants or clients at all times. A researcher or doctor, who for example, identifies a specific threat to harm another person by a respondent to his or her questionnaire or patient in his or her care, is required by law to report such threat to the authority for appropriate action to be taken against the respondent or patient. Failure to comply with this requirement can render the researcher or doctor liable to complacency in the act. Unfortunately, respondents are never warned about this exception to anonymity of their identity prior to commencing any involvement with researchers or health professionals.

It is clear from this evidence that the anonymity of online users cannot be guaranteed at all times. Like in offline context, anonymity of online users can be breached at anytime by website providers when such users are suspected of participation in online criminalities. It is important to recognize this fact when participating in online activities anonymously.

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