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I'm very interested about the "name" on the internet and privacy condition.  On a personal level, I have never thought of privacy as a problem, even as a young woman using the internet.  Brought up in a family of information-technologists, I have been taught that the internet can be a safe, more efficient way to find information.  I have not been disproved upon this, because I have been careful in not producing my address or social security number on the internet.  Unless someone is intent upon finding me, I don't really believe I'm endangering myself in any way, shape or form -- in any case, the internet is not the only way to find me, nor can it be the most efficient way.

I see another facet to using my name on the internet.  I try to publish only work I am proud of and can be held accountable for.  I am confident in what I choose to publish on the internet with my name, and therefore proud of it.  If I am challenged for it, by having published it, I dedicate myself to being involved in any conversation that results from it.  When I publish something, I accept the fact that there may be people who disagree with me.  I think that this is how new ideas must come about: people taking pride in their ideas and having conversations about them.  Is this not another facet of emergence?

The internet is just like a textbook, only more efficient.  It is a way of communication.  If the web had been around when Plato was alive, would not many more people have experienced The Republic?  I think it is a progressive tactic that can be put to good use.  We must be proud of our work and be willing to be criticized.

As we said yesterday, we have to be willing to be uncomfortable.  Uncomfortable, in this case, does not mean threatened -- it means ready to defend what you choose to publish under your name.