List Archive (Was: Re: p2p, anonymity and security)

[Dana S. Tellier]

OK...

    The only thing I'd like to add here is that I read somewhere--I forget
where or when, it might even have been in a former bout of this very same,
tired conversation thread, but I'm too lazy to search for it--that lots of
people seem to feel that the Internet is an anonymous place and should
*stay* that way, and you should always be able to remain completely
anonymous.
    Frankly, I disagree--and the author of the analogy did, as well.  I just
don't see how people can naively assume that the Internet is this grand
anonymous place where the rules of reality won't apply.  You have to give up
some of your privacy in real life, depending on the exchange of information.
On the Internet, though, all sorts of people feel that we should be ghosts,
flitting hither and yon, with nobody knowing who we are EVER.
    Anyway, I also think it rather foolish to think you need an
undeliverable e-mail address and all sorts of unnecessary protections on a
publicly-accessible list when I've had the same address nearly 5 years,
participated in numerous forums, mailing lists, websites, etc. and I get
*maybe* two pieces of spam mail a day.  Hitting Delete isn't too much effort
for *my* poor, overburdened fingers yet, but hey, I guess everyone has their
buttons.

 - Dana

P.S.  'Course, I'm so unreasonable that I think people who complain about
"list noise" should stop griping and hit the Delete key too, but I guess I'm
one of those "if you don't like it, change the channel" people.