Mark Zuckerberg's Sister: 'I Think Anonymity on the Internet Has to Go Away'
We all like to occasionally do things on the internet without our name being attached to it. Like giving rave reviews to young adult science fiction novels on Amazon, for instance. But Mark Zuckerberg's sister will have none of it.
Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook's marketing director, told a Marie Claire panel:
"I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away… People behave a lot better when they have their real names down. … I think people hide behind anonymity and they feel like they can say whatever they want behind closed doors."
The justification she gave for this is cyberbullying and harassment. Would cyberbullying really stop if we cracked down on anonymity on the internet? Well, Facebook is the main place online where you're not supposed to be able to be anyone but yourself: Cyberbullying never, ever, occurs there.
The anonymity-causes-cyberbullying argument is so bogus. Of course, Randi Zuckerberg couldn't say what she really means: anonymity on the internet has to go away because you can't make money off the personal details of someone you can't see. Google's Eric Schmidt could learn a few things about packaging creepy implications into family-friendly sentiments, but let's not take any Zuckerberg seriously when it comes to the online anonymity issue. They're vacuum cleaner salespeople telling you your carpet's filthy. [Huffington Post, image via Getty]