Demokratiska avatarer

Abstract

The possibility of using Internet as an arena for political deliberation is discussed by Mikael Sundström in Demokratiska avatarer [Democratic Avatars]. Internet allows user-anonymity, a feature that can be used and refined to force the participants in a discussion to focus on content and ideas rather than the sender. The systematic use of democratic avatars — a user-identity that protects the physical identity of the sender but at the same time reveals all messages that the user has sent — would purify the deliberation and allow dissentient opinions to be expressed without fear, while at the same time forcing the participants to be open and consistent in their argumentation.