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Towards the Preservation of a Key Feature of the Internet : Policy and Technology for Cyberspace Anonymity 1

The Internet is no longer a place that users can visit anonymously. Every time they go on-line, they will leave electronic footprints that may expose their location, favorite websites, products they like, and surfing habits in general. An individual, corporation or government could use this information to compromise the identity of users who could be eventually prosecuted, stigmatized or, at the very least, embarrassed if their activity is monitored and made public. Anonymity is as necessary in the Internet as it is in real life. There exist on-line groups that support people who have been victims of violence, child abuse, or AIDS, and support discussion communities for handicapped people, single mothers, and minorities, to cite a few examples. For people who use the Internet to obtain information concerning a particular topic but do not want to admit their ignorance or do not want other people to know what they are searching for, it is desirable to have systems where they can freely and anonymously post their questions. In order to encourage open and meaningful discussions on the net, it is necessary to protect the identity of its users by providing them with a level of anonymity that makes them feel comfortable at posting personal opinions and sharing their experiences. The possibility of not being identified on the Internet (anonymity) may have also some serious consequences. For users that try to break into systems either for espionage purposes or pure curiosity, the anonymity of cyberspace allows them to go unnoticed visiting websites and servers using public software to cover their on-line trail. This becomes a challenge to law enforcement. Identifying the origin of a connection is not an easy task due to the design and very nature of the Internet – although new protocols will make this easier to perform. It is a fact that anonymity is a feature of the Internet that has attracted millions of users. Restricting it would limit its growth and potential benefits. If users know that their activity is being tracked by their company, government or any other people, they would change and reduce their Internet use and will not be as open to post personal information or to support other people for the fear of being identified. This paper discusses the problems of Internet anonymity and available technologies. It proposes the use of a dual-access Internet structure that ensures anonymity for suitable and legal purposes and that enforces user authentication when it is needed. The interaction of these two parts is key to the success of the model. A system will be able to prevent anonymous activity by validating the identity of the parties before completing a transaction. The regulation behind this model is distributed and not centralized. Practices from real life are applied to this kind of Internet activity and legal action can be taken overseas through international agreements once a preliminary investigation has proved that someone is responsible for a certain crime committed in cyberspace. 1 This research was sponsored in part by the Center for Intelligent Systems (CSI) of ITESM. In proceedings of the 7 International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation (ICTPI ’03). Monterrey, Mexico, June 10, 2003.