App users shouldn’t rely on promises of anonymity
The University of Idaho campus is alive with yammer about Yik Yak.
This anonymous social application allows users to post thoughts to a bulletin board, where other users vote them up or down. Part of what makes Yik Yak unique is that it’s designed specifically for college campuses, and posts are made visible by the user’s location.
As with any opportunity to say things in a public forum without consequences, the app shows potential to go awry. People in the Moscow area, presumably most of which are fellow Vandals, have utilized Yik Yak to share deep insights such as, “dumb whores in the hallway … shut the hell up,” and “If Obama was the president of Kenya, he would be their first white president.”
The anonymity of such apps can offer someone a false sense of reassurance that hateful comments will die on the Internet. However, Yik Yak is only a recent addition to the legion of apps that promise anonymity — many of which have failed to keep their privacy promises.
Secret, an app that markets its ability to send anonymous messages between family, friends or the public, was shown to have a security flaw in August which allowed some users’ secrets to be matched to their identity if their email address was known.
Snapchat, an app popularized on the belief photos sent would disappear forever, eventually had to change the app description after the Federal Trade Commission told the company to stop misleading users about the app’s privacy.
In Secret’s case, the recent security hole was one of more than 40 that have been identified and fixed. The high number of potential security breaches uncovered should be disconcerting to anyone who trusts an app to keep their anonymity.
Apps such as Yik Yak, Secret and Snapchat seem to offer a haven for free thought and anonymous self-expression. The problem is that anything posted on the Internet or sent through a cell phone rarely stays private. If multiple apps have shown the potential for secrets to become public knowledge, it’s better to not take unnecessary risks as a user.
Everyone should post anonymously with the ability to be held accountable for their actions. Don’t make a post something that could ruin your future.
–AE