Online, good guys wear masks - Business - The Boston Globe

Google+ started allowing fake names in July; Facebook is also expected to relax its "real name" requirement

"But Judith Donath, a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, says it’s not quite that simple. Donath’s new book, “The Social Machine: Designs for Living Online,” argues that the ability to don a digital mask is vital to truly free speech on the Internet. “If you want to have a discussion about things that are very controversial or there’s a real danger of being traced, you need to have anonymity,” Donath told me in a recent conversation.

But doesn’t pure anonymity mean toxic speech? Not if you do it right, Donath says. Online communities have found that the solution is persistence. When people adopt a consistent fake persona and cling to it over time, they tend to become solid Internet citizens, rather than flame-throwing vulgarians."

Online, good guys wear masks - Business - The Boston Globe