Ever since I moved to ottawa, I have been a huge fan of CBC Radio. So I was thrilled yesterday to be invited for the 3rd time to appear on to talk about our new book, Lessons from the Identity Trail. Below is the text of Nancy Wilson’s introduction followed by a link to the podcast of our interview…

To some people the Internet is the world’s biggest commons … a global public square. For others, it’s a realm of shadowy, anonymous figures hiding behind online aliases. But anonymity is becoming less and less a feature of life online. We aired a clip with one perspective on that trend, posted last May on the website, Mobuzz.tv.

Taking responsibility for your actions on line may be just one way you relinquish privacy. Every day, millions of Canadians hop on the Internet to check their e-mail, chat with their friends on social networking sites, book a vacation or buy a gift. And each time they click on a purchase or post a picture, they give up a little bit of their privacy.

With this explosion of information technology – there are those who warn that our anonymity and our right to privacy is in jeopardy. That’s the premise of a new book called On The Identity Trail: Anonymity, Privacy and Identity in a Networked Society. Academics, governments and private corporations around the world contributed to the book, which examines how technology is changing the nature of our private lives, and what it means to be “anonymous.”

Dr. Ian Kerr is the lead author of the book. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. He was in Ottawa.

The book can be downloaded from the Internet for free, here.

The podcast of the interview is available here.