An Analytical Note: How the Internet Has Changed Our Personal Reputation

Abstract

The internet and other new technologies have changed personal reputation fundamentally, as seen in many similar cases regarding online defamation and privacy invasion. These changes include: a) digital reputation becomes the prevailing form of personal reputation with new characteristics; b) traditional reputational networks have been updated to online networks; c) therefore the ways for individuals to establish, maintain and defend reputations are altered in the new environment; and d) many social functions traditionally played by personal reputation have been challenged by the development of digital reputation. This article tries to provide a brief analysis of such changes and sound the warning bell. We, as citizens of the new Database Nation, have to be fully aware of such changes in order to avoid potential harms while enjoying the benefits of the information age.