Original story
Internet Weekly 2.4.2002
Matti Virtanen changes name - cites Internet as cause
Helsinki 1.4. The Finnish politician and former actor Matti Virtanen has changed his name to Kaino Virtanen. The reason for the move is that his former name caused considerable difficulties on the Internet. Matti Virtanen is about as close to John Smith as you can get in these latitudes.
Virtanen’s new first name, Kaino, is a nickname carried over from his days on the stage. Playing with an alternative meaning of the word that translates as “bashful”, it recalls an incident where he refused to appear naked in a sauna scene in a television drama series.
According to Virtanen, a politician on the Net requires a clear and stable personality image.
“The personality analyses of Internet search engines have difficulty distinguishing between Matti Virtanens. I don’t want my own profile to be muddied and unreliable, as it will take in the features of several other Matti Virtanens out there. As a political figure, it is extremely important that my actions appear honest and consistent, in order that voters feel able to put their trust in me.”
Three other Matti Virtanens have already distributed to the media via mass e-mailings their own views on their fellow-Virtanen’s decision. They announced that they would even benefit from the politician’s change of name. Matti Virtanen of Vantaa wrote: “The man has ruined our good name.” Matti Virtanen from Pielavesi went further: “He’s probably just trying a clumsy clean-up job on his former political blunders, and he’s throwing the lot on the necks of us other Matti Virtanens.” A third Matti Virtanen observed laconically from Turku that: “Now perhaps we might be able actually to talk about something useful for a change in our discussion group.”
A large part of Internet chat and discussion groups are now moderated through personality analyses, which have spread rapidly in recent months. The best-known search engine is based on the Scientist Monitor software developed at Carnegie-Mellon University. This was devised initially for the assessment of scientific papers for publication. The software designers subsequently found employment with the Alta Vista Corporation, and developed the program to produce a personality analysis version suitable for individuals. Personal Monitor reached the market last year, and sales have astonished industry experts. Alta Vista estimates that there are already around 20 million users worldwide. The basic principle of the software package is that it makes personality assessments of individuals and stores them in memory. Users can seek out the chat and discussion partners they wish by reference to analyses in the software databank.
Personal Monitor has also prompted considerable unrest and criticism among Internet users. Opponents charge that the discussion-group computers are full of all kinds of questionnaires duplicated by the program on people whom nobody has ever heard of. They claim that the groups are becoming useless, as there is no longer any time or space for conversation. A second complaint is that personality analyses - in particular those showing unfavourable traits - have often leaked into the public domain through the actions of malicious individuals or jilted lovers with grudges.
The program’s designers have acknowledged the problem. They have promised to alter the next version, now in beta-testing, so that it will no longer send out unprompted questionnaires about people.
Davis Killick, the European Union Ombudsman on Data Security, could only shrug his shoulders: “Naturally we shall step in promptly in cases where information on individuals is collected and stored systematically, but this does not appear to be the case here. I said many years ago that people should be on their toes for this sort of thing. The Internet is a vast agglomeration of self-made publications. A publication, or material collected from a publication, is not a personal file, even though the user may be able to analyse the data given in such a publication. It’s perfectly possible for a newspaper to be stored and saved to memory. It is perhaps a little too far-fetched to imagine that we can deny people the right to write or deny anyone the right to analyse what others have written.”
“This is where the global village has taken us, and we have to live with it”, Killick continued. “We live under the same conditions as people in a small village of old: everyone can hear stories about everyone else, and the rumours go round. One must simply learn to be more careful about what one says and writes, and try to correct the false information that is travelling around the various nets. As a crumb of comfort to those worried by this issue, I can say that the malicious spread of false information by this means is fortunately going to become an offence that lawmakers and judges will be able to act against more easily in future.”
Roughly one-third of the Finnish population takes part in general discussion and conversation groups online, and search engines can be used to find direct or indirect information on one Finn in two.
In spite of the current unsettled climate, some optimistic social scientists believe that the global village created by the Internet will bring much that is good. They argue for example that conceptions of shared responsibility and honour will gain ground in what has become a powerfully mammon-worshipping culture, with gain as the primary motivation. On the other hand, the EU Parliament has for instanced witnessed a number of extremely impassioned speeches both in favour of increased protection of individual privacy and on behalf of greater freedom of information.
Toteuma-arvio 2026
Toteuma lyhyesti
- Ilmiön toteuma: 4/5
- Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: kyllä; arviointi-ikkuna on 1997–2007
- Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: kyllä, erittäin vahvasti
- Ilmiön ydin: ihmisen verkkomaine ja löydettävyys vaativat yksilöllisen digitaalisen identiteetin, jotta samannimiset henkilöt eivät sekoitu toisiinsa.
Hakukoneet, käyttäjätunnukset, varmennetut profiilit ja henkilöbrändäys ovat tehneet ongelmasta todellisen. Ihmiset käyttävät taiteilijanimiä ja yksilöllisiä verkkonimiä, vaikka virallisen nimen vaihtaminen tästä syystä on harvinaisempaa.
Johtopäätös: ydin digitaalisen identiteetin erottuvuudesta toteutui vahvasti.