c Ever since the internet was created, most internet users have been concerned to some

extent about their online privacy(Schwabach, 2006). I believe that people who use internet

would most probably want to keep their information hidden away from public view. When

the internet was created, skeptics argue that it is just too open and too unsafe. Since online

data is available throughout the world, each and every person in the globe now expose

themselves to the rest of the global community. This, is too big of a risk to be taken for most

users. As a resort, they tend to µhide¶ their identification in order to stay away from the radar.

They started using fake names and putting in fake information of themselves in emails. this

has indeed gave birth to online anonymity. However, there is a lot of problems with online

anonymity and the abolishment of online anonymity would enable easier government

monitoring, uphold freedom of speech, and ensure racial harmony. Thus, maintaining

stability of the country.

What exactly is online anonymity? The definition of online anonymity is the act of

hiding information from the online public.In other words, disconnecting any sort of private

information away from the internet.Examples include staying anonymous in writings, emails,

and even online accounts. Historically, the concept of anonymity was associated with the

state of namelessness (Staples, 2007, p. 17). Anonymity has always been related to the fear of

being known to the public. Knowing that their identities are not known, this gives them the

bravery to speak up and at the same time, avoid the repercussions that come afterwards. In a

way, anonymity does bring both good and bad effects in the picture. As modernization took

place, anonymity evolved from just hiding names into hiding information. The internet is a

vast web if communication and indeed, information now becomes a very fragile asset. These

assets include social security number, passport information, marital status, date of birth,

property ownership, vehicle registration, driver¶s license number, credit card history and

surprisingly, facts such as iris shape and fingerprints. These information is now transferred
from the user to the internet database. It is then transferred into the other party. Hackers

usually take advantage of this situation by hacking into the database to gather valuable

information in order to get money. This type of 21st century crime is not new to us and has

indeed affected many. The biggest of online frauds in US history would be the case of Albert

Gonzalez.

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Cases like Gonzalez¶s case is pretty much what everyone dreads. As a result, people resort to

being anonymous and avoiding any sort of information to be given online. This act of

anonymity is particularly causing a lot of problems.

First of all, let¶s discuss on credibility. I trust that the perfect example to exhibit

anonymity¶s problem of credibility, would be the world¶s most famous online encyclopaedia,

Wikipedia. When it was created, the creator, Jimmy Whales wanted a site that can be a

medium in which users participate in writing articles in the site. However, in order to make it

easier and safer for users, Whales decided that it is best that the users stay anonymous. They

can participate in editing and composing articles but their identities will never be revealed to

the public. This gains the trust of the authors but indirectly depletes the credibility of

Wikipedia as a source of information. Today, articles from Wikipedia are no longer

considered reliable as the identity of the authors is vague. In this case, anonymity is indeed a

good thing for the users, but it poses potential problems in credibility.
 Èefore we analyse on whether there is a need to abolish anonymity, let us take a look

at an existing model of abolishing anonymity :sim cards. In the past, it was not compulsory

for sim card users to register their information along with their identification card numbers

into the sim cards that they use. At that time, only a fraction of the users chose to register

their sim cards. This posed a problem to the telecommunication industry as it is hard for them

to track down users if a lot of them are not registered. The Energy, Water and

Communications Minister in 2006, Datuk Seri Dr Lim KengYaik issued a statement

regarding this. He stated, : "  

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 *(IÈ AHIM, 2006) When the cabinet made it compulsory for

everyone to register their sim cards with their identification numbers, it made it so much

easier for telecommunication companies to track down their users.

I believe that in order to solve the problems that arise with online anonymity, the

same model should be implemented into the Malaysian online registering system; in

particular, e-mails. E-mails are probably the most used thing on the internet. E-mails are

related to every kind of registration; social networking sites, blogs, shopping sites, and the list

goes on and on. Pretty much everything online is related to registration with e-mails. Users

who would like to create accounts online need an e-mail to start with. My proposal is that the

government use e-mails the same way as the sim card model. egistration for e-mail needs to

be strict; users need to enter their identification card numbers. If this proposal is done, then it

would simultaneously solve the problem of false information for all the sites. Now, some

would argue that this proposal exposes the user¶s identity to the public. My answer is no, it

doesn¶t. When you enter your identification number, your information will be kept secret and
would not be exposed to the public. In a way, you can still remain anonymous to the general

internet population, but not the government.

The abolishment of online anonymity enables the government to monitor the current

Malaysian internet users more efficiently. With information stored in the e-mail provider¶s

database, the government can easily monitor the current Malaysian internet users. Online

anonymity poses problems in government monitoring. Monitoring of internet users has never

been an easy task for the government. However, when online anonymity is practiced, the

government faces a huge problem in finding the identities of users. We need to bear in mind

that although the internet is a de facto platform of international freedom of speech, cyber laws

are not international. Most internet users neglect the fact that cyber laws are indeed, local.

Cyber laws are created based upon region and country. Different countries rely on different

cyber laws. For example, it may be okay for internet users in some countries to download, but

if you try to download in the United States, then immediately you¶ll receive a warning letter

from FÈI(McCullagh, 2011).The main reason cyber law is not international is because each

and every country has it¶s own cultural and societal issues that it needs to monitor. As a

result, governance of the internet has to also be at the national level.This, is exactly the

reason why online anonymity should be abolished. As it is made compulsory for citizens to

enter their identification numbers during registration of emails, it would also allow data to be

safely catalogued and viewed by the government in times of need. Thus, online anonymity

should be abolished on the basis of government monitoring.

Abolishment of Online Anonymity upholds freedom of speech as depicted from the

constitution. In article 10 in the federal constitution of Malaysia, it states that :

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Now, let¶s take a look into the Malaysian cyber law. The Malaysian cyber law is a relatively

new law when compared to other countries such as the United States. Up to date, the current

Malaysian Cyber Law constitutes 7 acts. Those acts are The Digital Signature Act 1997, The

Computer Crimes Act 1997, The Copyright (Amendment) Act 1997, The Telemedicine Act

1997, The Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, The Communications and Multimedia

Commission Act 1998, and The Electronic Commerce Act 2006(Law, 2007). The Malaysian

Cyber Law comprises of mostly laws regarding business and commerce. As you can see,

none of these laws are related to individual privacy or even anonymity. Article 10 of the

constitution was never defended by the Malaysian cyber law.This fact makes it even easier

for criminals to work around the system. In our contemporary system, users can just register

their emails with fake information and fake names. These emails can later be used to log into

social networking sites such as blogs. The user can later post up any article with issues

related to sensitive issues such as race and religion. This is not just a worst-case scenario. In

actual fact, cases like these has been occurring all-year round. I once had a debate on

Facebook with a Malaysian who just can¶t accept the Muslim¶s ritual of animal sacrifice

during EidulAdha claiming that it is pure torture. Cases like these are serious and can
jeopardize the harmony that we savour in Malaysia. The thing is, none of the cases similar to

this can be brought into court because of online anonymity; people use fake information

about themselves in order to escape from being caught. If online anonymity is to be

abolished, loopholes in the cyber law can be diminished and ultimately, the freedom of

speech as depicted from the constitution can be uphold.

Lastly, the abolishment of online anonymity helps in maintaining racial harmony,

sovereignty of kings, and federal security.If anonymity is not abolished, then we are indeed

putting national harmony at risk. The current method used by the government to solve

problems related to this issue is to track the IP address of the person . In 2007, a Malaysian

singer with the nickname of µNamewee¶ posted a video mocking the national anthem of

Malaysia. His video, entitled µNegarakuku¶ hit a controversial storm to the country.(Lee,

2007)Nameweeor his real name, Wee MengChee, was bombarded with hateful remarks from

the Malaysian community. The government identified Namewee by finding his IP address

which located him in Taiwan as he was studying there. Unfortunately, no action could be

taken against Wee MengChee as he was overseas at that time and not bounded by the

Malaysian law. This is a simple case where identification is possible as he featured in the

video as himself and his IP address was not manipulated. However, the government¶s method

of tracking people using IP address would not be efficient if the user knows how to

manipulate his IP address. In fact, this method would also fail if users tend to use wireless

internet at public and open places such as cyber cafes. We can understand very clearly that

the government¶s mechanism has a lot of loopholes. If online anonymity is to be abolished,

then we no longer have to worry about enforcement of the online law. People will now be

tied by information in which only the government knows. This way, any acts of disrupting

national harmony can be handled in a very systematic manner. Thus, it is clear that the
abolishment of online anonymity helps in maintaining racial harmony, sovereignty of kings,

and federal security.

As a conclusion, we can clearly see that there is a huge problem in the contemporary

online anonymity. The government¶s mechanism is also full of loopholes in monitoring the

Malaysian internet users. With the proposal mentioned above, I believe the problems related

to anonymity can indeed be solved. Although online anonymity may not pose a really huge

problem to today¶s government, the loopholes in the current cyber law does give room for

future internet users to commit acts of crime against the government and get away with it. I

believe that my proposal is indeed a necessary proposal and it must be conducted to maintain

the stability of our country.

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