From pg 42 of Being Digital Citizens by Evelyn Ruppert and Engin Isin:
The first concerns anonymity. Being anonymous in cyberspace has several complex meanings that are different from being anonymous or even making rights claims to being anonymous. It is not surprising that one of the most recognizable if troubling acts on the Internet is by citizen subjects called Anonymous. If we distinguish privacy from anonymity, we realize that anonymity on the Internet has spawned a new political development. If privacy is the right to determine what one decides to keep to herself and what to share publicly, anonymity concerns the right to act without being identified. The second concerns the velocity of acting through the Internet. For better or for worse, it is almost possible to perform an act on the Internet faster than one can think. The third concerns the extensity of acting through the Internet. The number of addressees and destinations that are possible for acting through the Internet is staggering. So, too, are the boundaries, borders, and jurisdictions that an act can traverse. The fourth concerns traceability. If it is performed on the Internet, an act can be traced in ways that are practically impossible outside the Internet. Taken together, anonymity, velocity, extensity, and traceability are questions that are resignified by bodies acting through the Internet.
Mark Carrigan 