QotW5: Online Identity, Reputation, Deception

IDENTITY IDENTITY….YIKES!!!!

Well known to all, the internet has undergone tremendous transformations from the time it was launched. Together with its astounding abilities were the online social networks formed. Networks like Friendster, Blogspot, Flickster, etc are hard to miss by. Nevertheless, just like the masked ninja (in the picture), they are many in the virtual communities hiding out to combat illegally instead.

I recall an incident where my friend Jia Wei contacted me screaming that her laptop had crashed due to some kind of virus. Someone out there had sent her a spam email with a virus attached. In between her sobs, I understood her clueless mindset of what and how this had happened. Unfortunately, till today she is still in the dark about the identity of her perpetrator. I am sure many of you out there are able to relate with this situation to a certain extend. Jia Wei was and still remains to be a dedicated member of some of the main social networks (mentioned above). After researching further on identity thefts and listening to the speech by our guest speaker in Com242 class, I am pondering upon the possibility that the ‘perpetrator’ may not be an unknown face after all.



Wikipedia mentions online identity to be a “social identity”. In my opinion, online identity is something we create for ourselves to institute a validity to our individuality online. As for me, I have a ‘Friendster’ account (online identity). Millions of people out there are engaged in ‘Friendster’. It is easily accessible and accounts can be created in a jiff. Recognizing the explosion in the membership, administrators of ‘Friendster’ are consistently upgrading and promoting the site and its capabilities.

Reputation?

My reputation in ‘Friendster’ is constructed via my user name, my pictures and all the nitty-gritty details I have revealed about myself in the profile section. I further establish status through the messages sent to contacts, ‘shout-outs’ and bulletins posted.
All of these become my investment into this social network for others to know more about me.


Identity theft

In ‘Friendster’ email addresses are used to add contacts onto your list. Through this process, a potential hacker can obtain your email add and send you a surprise gift (virus-phishing). One email is all it takes to complete the task.

Furthermore, the information presented on your profile is substantial to provide the perpetrator the necessary details to begin his quest. Sometimes, people post their numbers in the hope of making new friends. However, this act itself causes their downfall.

These so called ‘friends’ made online can learn more about your personal life to the extent of getting your credit card numbers. They may carry this out indirectly by ringing you up and posing to be a bank officer or someone of superior relevance. Once the required details areobtained, it would not take long before these ‘masterminds’ begin their ‘free purchases’.

Another issue is pseudonymity (1996). It is anonymity that hides a person behind an online persona via a username. This is common online. Many internet users have a number of different identities they use online. These allow them to explore different aspects of their persona, interests or hobbies. Nevertheless pseudonymity is also the key to membership systems as well, as it allows members of the community to learn to identify other members they like or dislike based upon their behaviors and personality (1996). Pseudononymous systems strike a balance between people’s needs to obscure their identities online, while still allowing them to build reputations in those usernames. These systems have been shown to work very well for an online community.

Unfortunately the misuse of the above mentioned also results in identity thefts. Perpetrators with the intention of deceiving you can easily disguise themselves through weird usernames and pictures just to learn more about you and then eventually become you!

Here’s an example of an actual incident to illustrate the simplicity of pseudonymity. Back in my college days, I had some friends who created a ‘Friendster’ profile just to check on another classmate. To make the account realistic, these guys uploaded pictures of a girl found on the net and used a fake name. Therefore, they basically created a fictious character- five guys assuming the identity of a girl for selfish reasons.


Conclusion

As you can see, online identities can be easily created to engage in illegal dealings. Maintaining a reputation is also something challenging with your identities being under ‘attack’. Sometimes it is done for fun (like my friends) and sometimes the member also has serious consequences to face (credit card transactions).

‘Friendster’ does provide a certain amount of privacy for its members. For example, members can select if they want their profile to be made viewable by the public or their own contacts. You are even allowed the liberty to delete ‘disturbing’ individuals or report on them to the administrators. However, even though these security measures are available, they are useless if people do not make use of them to their advantage- I certainly have turned these measures to my advantage :p

References:

Donath ,Judith S. ( 12 November 1996) Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, MIT Media Lab. Retrieved on February 15, 2007http://smg.media.mit.edu/people/Judith/Identity/IdentityDeception.html

Uslaner, E. M. (April 2004) Trust online, trust offline. Communications of the ACM, 47(4), 28-29. Retrieved on February 7, 2007, from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=975817.975838

Bellovin, S. M. (December 2004) Spamming, Phishing, Authentication, and Privacy. Communications of the ACM, 47(12), 144. Retrieved on February 7, 2007, from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1035159&coll=GUIDE&dl=ACM&CFID=1375041&CFTOKEN=81344821