Anonymity

We defend the right to be anonymous and reject all claims to restrict anonymity online. Anonymity enables our freedom of expression online, particularly when it comes to breaking taboos of sexuality and heteronormativity, experimenting with gender identity, and enabling safety for women and queer persons affected by discrimination.

Background

Virginia Woolf once said "For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." Anonymity has always supported women and queers in telling the difficult stories that could get them into trouble. But so crucial were those story-tellers to break the taboos around gender, sex, and sexuality! Today, the right to be anonymous is under threat. Governments don't like it. Corporations hate it. And so a discourse is promoted around linking anonymity to crime and criminalizing anonymity in order to make the internet safer from trolls (especially for women!). But as feminists, we know that we cannot give up our right to be anonymous for an illusion of safety. We must fight for the policies and tools that protect anonymity and pseudonymity!

The Tor network is a group of volunteer-operated servers that allows people to improve their privacy and security on the internet. Download their browser and check it out.