September 24, 2008
Anonymous:
On Democracy and Discourse in the Internet Age
Danielle Allen
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Minutes of the Second Meeting of the 67th Year
At 10:15 A.M. President George Hansen called to order the meeting of the Old Guard held at the Friend Center. This was the second meeting of our 67th year. Don Edwards lead the invocation. Ruth Miller read that pert of the minutes relevant to last week’s talk by Professor Julian E. Zelizer on the Election of 2008 and Historical Perspective. Jerry Friedman then introduced his guest Hugh Allen, M. D. of ScottsdaleArizona and Jim Livingston introduced his guest Gloria Erlich. Charles Stenard moved the admission of seven (7) candidates for membership and they were elected by acclamation. The names of the new members are: Michael Kaplan, Ike Kohn, David Malford, Bruce Schragger, Patricia Taylor, John Timony and Ted Vial.
There were 98 members present at the meeting. The president announced that George Tyson Maroon and Gordon Mack had recently died and asked for a moment of silence in their memory.
Bob Varrin then introduced the speaker, Danielle S. Allen. The title of her talk was “Anonymous: On Democracy and Discourse in the Internet Age.” Professor Allen is a professor at the School of Social Science in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She is a political theorist who has published widely on democratic theory, political sociology and the history of political thought. Her curriculum vitae is impressive and too voluminous to be repeated here. It includes two PhD’s, one from Harvard and the other from Cambridge University and several books, numerous articles, book reviews, invited lectureships and various awards grants and fellowships.
Professor Allen began by saying she would address the question of how the Internet affects relations among social or political groups. She said there is confusion with respect to this. Professor Allen referred to anonymous communications and gave as an example the recent gossip to the effect that Obama is a Muslim. However, the speaker stated that effective democratic discourse requires frankness and openness in discourse and are ideals of a democratic system. In support of this, the speaker referred to John Stuart Mill and Hamilton in the Federalist papers, among others. However, the anonymity provides a method of escaping control and accountability and is a problem of politics and ethics. A Harvard Law Review article by Justice Brandeis and Samuel Warren was critical of anonymous gossip in the public sphere. This led to the legal right of privacy and also to the establishment of professional standards applicable to the press.
Professor Allen pointed out that the Internet has democratized political communication. However, it enables communication to be made in private and therefore not subject to the same possibility of safeguards as is public communication. Public communication based on anonymous sources may lead to an abuse of power. Moreover anonymity is a way to escape control and accountability. If claims are made anonymously and falsely, then the person making such claims is harming the public sphere. Professor Allen conclude by raising the question whether the ethics of journalism should be more widely required and whether protocols of identification of individuals and factions should be required.
The thrust of professor Allen’s talk was that anonymous communication, which is based on undisclosed sources, is consistent with the frankness and openness require by democratic discourse in the public sphere.
The speaker concluded her remarks at 11:14 AM and a question period followed.
In response to questions during the question period, the speaker said that the maxims or sound bites are of value in that they are memorable and can embrace a world view. She also, in response to questions, stated that a value of the Internet is that it gives opportunities to spread democratic values but pointed out statements made in the public sphere should not be made upon unexamined beliefs and sources. One problem with blogs is that no one is doing any fact checking. However, organizations such as fastcheck.org and similar organizations are necessary and such organizations are growing.
Respectfully submitted,
Eugene M. Haring
There were 98 members present at the meeting. The president announced that George Tyson Maroon and Gordon Mack had recently died and asked for a moment of silence in their memory.
Bob Varrin then introduced the speaker, Danielle S. Allen. The title of her talk was “Anonymous: On Democracy and Discourse in the Internet Age.” Professor Allen is a professor at the School of Social Science in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She is a political theorist who has published widely on democratic theory, political sociology and the history of political thought. Her curriculum vitae is impressive and too voluminous to be repeated here. It includes two PhD’s, one from Harvard and the other from Cambridge University and several books, numerous articles, book reviews, invited lectureships and various awards grants and fellowships.
Professor Allen began by saying she would address the question of how the Internet affects relations among social or political groups. She said there is confusion with respect to this. Professor Allen referred to anonymous communications and gave as an example the recent gossip to the effect that Obama is a Muslim. However, the speaker stated that effective democratic discourse requires frankness and openness in discourse and are ideals of a democratic system. In support of this, the speaker referred to John Stuart Mill and Hamilton in the Federalist papers, among others. However, the anonymity provides a method of escaping control and accountability and is a problem of politics and ethics. A Harvard Law Review article by Justice Brandeis and Samuel Warren was critical of anonymous gossip in the public sphere. This led to the legal right of privacy and also to the establishment of professional standards applicable to the press.
Professor Allen pointed out that the Internet has democratized political communication. However, it enables communication to be made in private and therefore not subject to the same possibility of safeguards as is public communication. Public communication based on anonymous sources may lead to an abuse of power. Moreover anonymity is a way to escape control and accountability. If claims are made anonymously and falsely, then the person making such claims is harming the public sphere. Professor Allen conclude by raising the question whether the ethics of journalism should be more widely required and whether protocols of identification of individuals and factions should be required.
The thrust of professor Allen’s talk was that anonymous communication, which is based on undisclosed sources, is consistent with the frankness and openness require by democratic discourse in the public sphere.
The speaker concluded her remarks at 11:14 AM and a question period followed.
In response to questions during the question period, the speaker said that the maxims or sound bites are of value in that they are memorable and can embrace a world view. She also, in response to questions, stated that a value of the Internet is that it gives opportunities to spread democratic values but pointed out statements made in the public sphere should not be made upon unexamined beliefs and sources. One problem with blogs is that no one is doing any fact checking. However, organizations such as fastcheck.org and similar organizations are necessary and such organizations are growing.
Respectfully submitted,
Eugene M. Haring