Anonymity: who, what, how, why? We tell you everything!
Let’s start with the basics. “Said of someone whose name is unknown“: this is how the Larousse defines the word “anonymous”. If it seems obvious, things get complicated as soon as we talk about anonymity on the internet. The meaning and scope of this notion vary according to the field of analysis: legal, IT, societal, etc. Contrary to some clichés, this vast subject concerns all citizens in terms of respect for privacy.
To say that this issue is debated is an understatement. For some, online anonymity is a modern-day scourge; For others, faced with the technical and legal means of identifying Internet users, anonymity does not exist. Rather rare online, anonymity is often confused with pseudonymity. The latter refers to the use of one or more nicknames chosen by an Internet user to express himself on a particular online space. Pseudonymity does not deliver any civil information about an individual, while allowing him to be recognized and followed, for example on a blog or social networks.
In any case, one thing is certain: for Qwant, respect for the privacy of users and the confidentiality of their searches are essential guarantees. We do not keep users’ search history and we do not do advertising tracking. Users are therefore anonymous to us, in other words strangers.
Like any complex notion, anonymity generates many misconceptions. Here are three of them, which it is time to nuance.
1. “The “private browsing” function guarantees your anonymity”
Activable from any browser, the “private browsing” option does not save some of your information when visiting websites, including passwords, cookies, history, etc.
Enough to go completely unnoticed online? Not really! The CNIL recalls that private browsing does not make invisible, especially with the websites visited, which may continue to collect certain information, such as your location. The feature also does not prevent information from being shared between your internet service provider and your computer. In short, browsing private doesn’t stop you from sharing your data.
2. “Browsing online anonymously makes you aggressive”
Would the removal of online anonymity lead to a decrease in the aggressiveness of exchanges? This is false, according to several studies. After analyzing more than 530,000 comments published on a petition site, researchers at the University of Zurich have drawn the following conclusion: during heated online debates, individuals who express themselves under their real names are more aggressive than anonymous Internet users.
A study of American Political Science Review, using American and Danish data, points to the limited impact of anonymity on the tone of a discussion. “A person predisposed to aggressive behavior in real life will choose, in the same way and online, offense and trolling as a deliberate strategy to exist in the eyes of his contemporaries.“, summarizes in this regard Slate.fr.
3. “Anonymity does not interest younger generations because they expose their lives on social networks”
In January 2022, on World Data Protection Day, Snap Inc. published a survey of more than 13,000 young people from 11 different countries, including France. 81% of users surveyed consider the issue of online privacy ” important”, but only 65% consider themselves ” satisfied” with the current state of their digital privacy. This report highlights a difference in priorities according to age: if millennials (25-40 years) say they are mainly worried about “monitoring their online activity”, Gen Z (13-24 years) is especially anxious about “the possibility that other people share its content without its knowledge”.
These results, illustrated by increasing practices such as the use of private accounts or emoticons added to photos to hide faces, have been echoed in an investigation of the magazine The Atlantic. Under-25s surveyed say they are tired of the pressure required to keep a “good image” online, and the risks associated with too much exposure. “There’s just no good reason to use your real name online anymore.“, the article argues.
Online privacy deserves better than shortcuts or false lawsuits. At Qwant, your online searches are up to you. And not just your searches: thanks to the new free tool Qwant VIP – Very Important Privacy, visited websites cannot track and store the digital actions of Internet users. This web extension, which is installed from the home page of qwant.com or on browser stores (Mozilla Firefox, Edge etc.), blocks most tracking and advertising cookies. It thus guarantees respect for the privacy of users, on all sites and applications visited, beyond the Qwant Search and Qwant Maps search pages. It’s up to you!
