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Be a Responsible Netizen

YouTube prides itself on being able to offer a whole array of statistical information to its users about each other through its ‘Insight’ feature. It seemed, however, less endeared to the idea of sharing similar information with Viacom, inc. According to an article from The Associated Press:

Lawyers for Google Inc., which owns YouTube, said producing 12 terabytes of data — equivalent to the text of roughly 12 million books — would be expensive, time-consuming and a threat to users’ privacy.

YouTube have hit back at Viacom on the site’s own blog, though concedes it has to comply with the court’s rulings. YouTube hint that Viacom’s demands may infringe on user privacy, Viacom maintains YouTube has done little to curb the problem of copyright infringement. Clearly these two commercial entities will be locking heads for a long time to come. Perhaps both viewpoints are valid. At any rate this entry isn’t about making a case for either YouTube or Viacom. This entry concerns someone you may know much more intimately; this entry is about YOU.

As much as many people would like to pretend their activities online were an anonymous affair, they really aren’t. You are identified by your IP Address and your Internet Service Provider. Data is transmitted - and recorded - at every point of contact; by your computer, by your internet service provider, and by the sites you frequent. And of course a quick WhoIs Search will reveal who any domain is registered to and their contact details.

I don’t tell you this to scare you. It seems doubtful that unless you are doing something particularly illegal that anyone will care enough to dig into your browsing habits. But the point remains that you have a digital fingerprint. While there may not be a ‘paper trail’ per se to follow there is certainly an electronic one. And if we learnt nothing from Spiderman, it was surely that, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

The next time you leave a comment on a video or a blog post, stop for a moment and ask yourself if you would still post what you have written if it had your name on it. Your real name. Not a user name. Not a pseudonym. Not an alter-ego. But your legal name. Would you be happy to be associated with the comment if its author could be easily identified?

Most users on YouTube don’t use their real name, but it is worth noting some do. A notable example is the enigmatic Ian Crossland. Ian rose to fame under the handle of Crossmack, but resolved to start posting under his own name IanCrossland. At the time he most certainly didn’t endear himself to many other users who failed to follow his example. To Ian, it seemed a moral imperative to identify himself by his own name instead of ‘hiding’ behind online monikers.

Clearly this approach isn’t for everyone. Indeed most security resources insist we shouldn’t provide too much personal information online, and some websites even outlaw the practice in their terms of services agreements. But the point remains you must be responsible for your actions online in the same way you are in quote-unquote ‘real life.’ The distinction between ‘online’ life and ‘real’ life is one many users make, though it is not a meaningful distinction to the legal systems of the world. People have been sued for defamation as a result of MySpace blogs in the same way people have been sued for defamation as a result of making statements to more traditional forms of media.

This collection of technologies, this intangible ’space’ we call the Internet is shared by millions. We need to find ways to coexist with others. Hopefully the legal ramifications help you appreciate this as something more than a lofty ‘touchy-feely’ sentiment.

Oh… and for the record: I post on YouTube under the name of JohnOfJordan though frequently include links to my personal blog which identifies me under my real name John Lacey.