On the anonymity "versus" accountability debate

article by Kieran Sullivan, Risk Manager magazine, Ireland, September 2009

Decreased privacy is an unavoidable consequence in the drive to make the world a more secure, safer place, according to some analysts. In the on-line world, the conflict between privacy and security manifests itself in a debate between anonymity and accountability. This document seeks to examine this apparent dispute by describing the properties of anonymity and accountability in this context, presenting an instructive use case and extracting some insights in regard to the consequences for relevant stakeholders, should either of these two properties triumph over the other. At the end of this document, it is hoped that the reader will be better informed on this particular debate and, therefore, in a better position to make decisions about his/her on-line preferences and requirements.