Yik Yak, After Complaints From Schools, Suspends Its Service In Chicago

The Chicago Tribune reports that Yik Yak, a mobile app that can (among other things) be used for anonymous communications, has drawn complaints from several local schools, who are unhappy that students can use it to bully or pester others. "'The problem, as you might imagine, is that the anonymity is empowering certain individuals to post comments about others that are hurtful, harassing and sometimes quite disturbing,' Joseph Ruggiero, head of the Upper School at Francis W. Parker School in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, wrote in an email to parents last week. ... In light of the controversy, Yik Yak's co-founder said the company was disabling the app in the Chicago area and will attempt to specifically prevent it from being used on high school or middle school grounds."

Goodbye Anonymous Cowards

[Buck Feta]

The trend towards de-anonymizing the Web (and other mobile communications), frankly, sucks. I don't want to sign into Facebook to comment on a Detroit Red Wings news article. I don't want to sign into Google+ to comment on a youtube video (only to have them tell me my name isn't real). I imagine and fear the day when our global unicast IPv6 address is tied to our DNA or some other biometric. Governments don't want us to be anonymous, to communicate without knowing who it is that's sending and who is receiving.

Re:Goodbye Anonymous Cowards

[SuricouRaven]

The current decline in anonyminity isn't driven by government. It's driven by corporate interests, for the sake of more efficient marketing and advertising.

Government and business interests can both oppress people, but in different ways and for different reasons. Sometimes they collude, and then we are screwed.