“A Failed Coup Attempt with Folk Songs (Part III): Anonymity and the Anonymous in a Culture of Sharing” presented by Gürses
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Sniff, Scrape, Crawl: Part 1
Presentation Title:
- A Failed Coup Attempt with Folk Songs (Part III): Anonymity and the Anonymous in a Culture of Sharing
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Panel: Sniff, Scrape, Crawl: Part 1
In dystopian debates on digital privacy, it is suggested that privacy can only be protected if we hide our personal information or practice control over it. Underlying this important political and technological turn is the fact that “my data = i”. Following this line of thought, computer scientists, companies and other dedicated persons from civil society have proposed a number of tools to unlink or manage the relationship between the “i” and the data bodies that individuals leave behind. These can be categorized under the title “anonymity tools” or “identity management” tools. If used correctly, the former guarantees to some degree the anonymity of users traces, while the latter provides the individual with “control” over traces left behind. We are not new to anonymous traces and the attempts to control what we leave behind. “Anonymous”, for example, is also a term used to refer to works without authorship or of unknown origin. A popular form of anonymous works are folk songs. They are melodies that travel, which get a new life blown into them every time they move in time or space. Interestingly enough, the lack of authorship and origin invokes questions of authenticity and evidence, as it is shown in the film “Whose is this song?” from Adela Peeva. This also becomes evident in the film “I Love Alaska” where the query poetry of an “anonymized user” becomes the script of a film at the edge of fiction and non-fiction. Anonymous has also been revived recently as the label of a digital anarchist movement, questioning the boundaries between the physical and digital. In my paper I will look at the strengths and weaknesses of anonymity in each case, both as a technology as well as a strategy. I will also delve into its relationship to control, meaning how it evades and replaces different forms of control.
