Upending Anonymity, These Days the Web Unmasks Everyone

Not too long ago, theorists fretted that the Internet was a place where anonymity thrived.

Now, it seems, it is the place where anonymity dies.

A commuter in the New York area who verbally tangled with a conductor last Tuesday — and defended herself by asking Do you know what schools I’ve been to and how well-educated I am? — was publicly identified after a fellow rider posted a cellphone video of the encounter on YouTube. The woman, who had gone to NYU, was ridiculed by a cadre of bloggers, one of whom termed it the latest episode of Name and Shame on the Web — via joe-burd.newsvine.com