Discussion

Digital effigy

“As we use information systems... data is collected about us. … This data …can be transported very easily and therefore traded and collected together and it can form what might be called a digital effigy of ourselves that other people can read and act upon” (Monk, 1998).

In every day life we connect with systems on a daily basis. Credit cards record information on purchasing habits, travel and location. A security camera may photograph you. Any time you buy something it is possible your details will end up on a database. Your information can be scrutinized, categorised, passed on (with or without your knowledge) for profit or marketing purposes.

The Internet has created a global database that stores and allows easy use of personal information. Digital effigies have been created that are continually being updated, used and possibly abused.

There are issues relating to this digital data collection. How long is it kept and for what reason, is it legal? Does it infringe your personal rights?

Virtual Identity

 “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”  (Turkel 1995). 

“In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a … definition of identity…The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter… The inhabitants of this ...space are ... free from the body’s unifying anchor” (Donath, 1999).

In the virtual world you are who you want to be and anonymous.  You are not  inhibited by your physical appearance, race gender or any disabilities. Virtual identities are created out of your imagination. If you are female you can assume a virtual male identity, be any age, and from any social background. 

For many this ability to create identities separate from their real life self is liberating and allows them to socialise on line in a way that would be impossible in the real world. “As more people spend more time in these virtual spaces, some go so far as to challenge the idea of giving any priority to [real life] at all” (Turkel 1995).

Whilst this anonymity and freedom can be beneficial, and most surfers are now aware that a person’s virtual identity may be different from real life, it can still come as a shock when a long term, virtual confident, turns out to be of a different gender. A "woman", who over a number of years, had given advice to other grateful women within a chat room, only to be unmasked as a man. This news was greeted with shock by many women who felt they had been violated (Stone, 1991). 

There are also dangers associated with virtual identities, with many unsavoury individuals masquerading behind them with the aim of luring vulnerable people into meetings. Fortunately however, awareness of this is growing, and there are now several websites similar to that provided by Thames Valley Police providing guidance and help to children using chatrooms.  (ThamesValleyPolicy.UK, n.d).]       

Biotechnology

Advances in biotechnology have altered another view of identity. With our understanding that a Cyborg is derived from a merging of a system and an organism, this suggests one merged entity.  However, Cartwright (1997) describes how an executed prisoner’s body was donated to medicine, cut into thin slices, and detailed 3D images of all the anatomical structures of the body then compiled.  The point made is that this project produced two separate identities – the preserved human slices and the derived 3D digitised images, both created from an organism and technology, and both referred to as separate identities. There is another example of this creation of separate identities in biotechnology.  An ultrasound scan of an unborn baby is described as a Cyborg foetus and that prospective parents relate to this ultrascan as if it would a separate entity from the unborn baby itself (Mitchell and Georges, 1998).               

Go on to Conclusion