Microsoft Live has no respect for users privacy choices

I am a member of a small private blog that discusses matters of a highly personal nature. There are a couple dozen members. The blog was hosted on spaces.live.com, which recently upgraded its services/UI. As part of this upgrade, the ability to comment anonymously on blogposts was removed. Anonymous comments can be abused by spammers, I get that, its why I moderate comments here on the Hideaway. But on a blog with restricted membership I think the threat of spam is about nil. Is having a system intelligent enough to respect user privacy in that situation too much to ask for though? Lemme see… IF blog has restricted membership ALLOW blog owner to SELECT whether or not to allow members to comment anonymously. Yeah, that's some wicked complicated logic. But whatever, new policy moving forward, I can live with that. Sucks as people are less likely to comment and engage in supportive discussion - I know I'll think a little more carefully about what I comment since I am personally identified - but at least I know that going in.

But no, it isn't that easy. Because Live went and applied the policy retroactively so all the anonymous comments posted in the past NOW EXPOSE THE COMMENTER'S NAME. Thankfully the blog owner noticed this and shut the blog down completely. Apparently un-selecting the 'use my profile' box and entering a pseudonym for your comment is entirely unsupported now AND they were tracking commenters identity on the back end anyway, so now with no warning what-so-ever to users, the privacy choice users made to un-select that box has been reversed.

Did I mention I'm pissed off?

I will NEVER, NEVER use a Live blog/mashup/cloud offering again. I'd ditch the email too if I didn't need it for my gamertag. Asstards.



~Elphie

Why anonymity is necessary

Because in some parts of the world, dissenting opinions can get you put in prison.

From the New York Times:

...Yahoo has come under particularly sharp criticism. Human rights groups say that Yahoo has helped identify at least four people, including the journalist Shi Tao in 2004, who have since been imprisoned for voicing dissent in cyberspace.

In other parts of the world, you can lose your job. oh wait, that's right here... If you are hard core about protecting your anonymity, here are a few tips from the EFF.

~Elphie

AAAAAAAAARGH!!

From the headlines... Bloggers call for a code of manners? Call for an end to anonymous commenting? (remember, people think anonymity is the enemy here)

I agree, bloggers should be able to delete comments from their blogs without facing accusations of censorship - IF the comments are offensive or pure flame-bait without merit. Censorship happens when you delete comments that merely disagree with you. I don't think rampant comment censorship is spawning the Blog Civility movement though.

I'm with Scoble, the proposed 'code of manners' is not something I'm willing to sign on for. Not because I'm pro-harassment, but because I'm anti-regulation, and the crazy social pressure that is resulting from it. What's more, I'm not willing to post their stupid 'Anything Goes' logo on my site, because that suggests that I recognize their program's legitimacy in policing the manners of the blogosphere. Bullshit. And yes, Mr. O'Reilly, I'd be willing to say that to you in person.

Bloggers are not so freaking special that they need a code of manners to govern their conduct. Civility cannot be regulated into existence. What we need is some basic courtesy in the world. Disagreements are disagreements. You don't post photos of the people you dislike in violent or sexually explicit ways, you don't drag their families into it, you don't make threats. Grow up people. It's called the Golden Rule. Check it out.

annoyed,
~Elphie

not everyone who owns a ski mask is a criminal

ok, so that is a ridiculous blog title. but it illustrates the dangerous oversimplification we tend to fall into when discussing societal issues.

Mike Rothman says anonymity is for cowards. To borrow a quote, I call bullshit on that. Anonymity is nothing more than a technique to promote privacy and safety. Do cowards use it to threaten and intimidate others? Yes. Do criminals use it to carry out illegal action? Yes. But that doesn't make everyone who tries to protect their privacy a coward or a criminal. People have a right to share their opinions without advertising their personal information to the world. Many people don't want their personal opinions to be misquoted or presented as if they are officially representing their employer – should they be forced to stay out of the public discussion of a topic as a result? Anonymity has often been used by people who fear retribution from those who disagree or disapprove of their statements or philosophies. All these people deserve anonymity and to not be called cowardly.

Being anonymous is a choice, one that becomes even more attractive when you see what has happened to Kathy Sierra. If she blogged anonymously, she might not feel in as much danger as she does now. Am I blaming her? Absolutely not. She has a right to speak her mind openly without being threatened and abused, and the people who have harassed her should be held accountable. I can't imagine being in her position, I'd be terrified out of my mind. But that is one of the reasons that I try to retain some anonymity.

The Kathy Sierra situation has ignited the blogosphere in a way that HD Moore and his new tool Torment haven't. Earlier this month HD announced a rough set of tools that allows anyone operating a Tor server to attempt to track the source of network data. Moore's goal in creating the tool was to track criminals such as child pornographers, and he says he plans to turn the tools over to law enforcement to use. Can his tool be mis-used and the personal privacy of legitimate Tor users be compromised? Yes, sort of. (read the entire article to see some of the limitations of the tool). Is everyone who uses Tor a criminal? No, that is not what anyone is saying here - and if you are, then shame on you for oversimplifying a complex social issue.

Until we establish a utopian nirvana where anyone can trust everyone, and honest disagreements don't result in retribution/bloodshed, there will always be a need for anonymity. The key is to find ways to work together to protect innocent users while making it possible to catch and stop the people who have figured out how to leverage anonymity and privacy tools for criminal or abusive purposes.

~Elphie