Abstract
While the formal legal protection of anonymity appears at an all-time high, developments in both the public and private sector show a growing number of legal and especially technical means to undermine it. The growing interest of people in using the Internet has had a key impact on the worldwide availability of personal information. Technological advances provide numerous opportunities to trace and track people down by companies interested in monetizing personal information. Measures such as the US Patriot Act, the European Cybercrime Convention and the European Union rules on data retention demonstrate that the exercise of the right to the anonymous exchange of information is under substantial pressure from governments. These developments have fueled the debates about how, by whom, and to what extent cyberspace anonymity should be controlled