On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog

Peter Steiner's cartoon

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" is an adage which began as the caption of a cartoon by Peter Steiner published by The New Yorker on July 5, 1993.^[1][2] The cartoon features two dogs: one sitting on a chair in front of a computer, speaking the caption to a second dog sitting on the floor.^[2][3] As of 2000^[update], the panel was the most reproduced cartoon from The New Yorker, and Steiner has earned over US$50,000 from its reprinting.^[1][4]

History

Peter Steiner, a cartoonist and contributor to The New Yorker since 1980, said the cartoon initially did not get a lot of attention, but later took on a life of its own, and that he felt similar to the person who created the "smiley face".^[1] In fact, Steiner was not that interested in the Internet when he drew the cartoon, and although he did have an online account, he recalled attaching no "profound" meaning to the cartoon; it was just something he drew in the manner of a "make-up-a-caption" cartoon.^[1]

In response to the comic's popularity, he stated, "I can't quite fathom that it's that widely known and recognized."^[1]

Context

The cartoon marks a notable moment in Internet history. Once the exclusive domain of government engineers and academics, the Internet was now a subject of discussion in general interest magazines like The New Yorker. Lotus 1-2-3 founder and early Internet activist Mitch Kapor commented in a Time magazine article in 1993 that "the true sign that popular interest has reached critical mass came this summer when the New Yorker printed a cartoon showing two computer-savvy canines".^[5]

The cartoon symbolizes an understanding of Internet privacy that stresses the ability of users to send and receive messages in general anonymity. Lawrence Lessig suggests "no one knows" because Internet protocols do not force users to identify themselves, although local access points such as a user's university may; but this information is privately held by the local access point and not part of the Internet transaction itself.^[6]

A study by Morahan-Martin and Schumacher (2000) on compulsive or problematic Internet use discusses this phenomenon, suggesting the ability to self-represent from behind the computer screen may be part of the compulsion to go online.^[7] The phrase can be taken "to mean that cyberspace will be liberatory because gender, race, age, looks, or even 'dogness' are potentially absent or alternatively fabricated or exaggerated with unchecked creative license for a multitude of purposes both legal and illegal", an understanding that echoed statements made in 1996 by John Gilmore, a key figure in the history of Usenet.^[8] The phrase also suggests the ability to "computer crossdress" and represent oneself as a different gender, age, race, etc.^[9] On another level, "the freedom which the dog chooses to avail itself of, is the freedom to 'pass' as part of a privileged group; i.e. human computer users with access to the Internet."^[9][10] In 2007, the cartoon was used to illustrate how the 17-year-old founder of a website could be mistaken for a seasoned Internet professional, and as a metaphor for the program Wikiscanner that is able to link anonymous editors of Wikipedia to the organization owning that IP address.^[11] There may also be relevance to the possibility of using the internet for pedophilia.^[12]

Influences

The cartoon has inspired the play Nobody Knows I'm a Dog by Alan David Perkins. The play revolves around six different individuals unable to effectively communicate with people in their lives who find the courage to socialize on the Internet, protected by their anonymity.^[1]

The Apple internet suite Cyberdog was named after this cartoon.^[13]

An Internet social search phenomenon in China, known as "human flesh search", coined the sentence "On the Internet, everybody knows you're a dog", due to the human effort-collaborated exposure and mass distribution of personal information.^{[citation needed]}

See also

Internet portal

• Essjay controversy
• Impression management
• Online identity
• Passing (sociology)
• Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Fleishman, Glenn (December 14, 2000). "Cartoon Captures Spirit of the Internet". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080120190643/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/14/technology/14DOGG.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=f0518aafeccf36fd&ex=1183089600. Retrieved October 1, 2007. 
2. ^ ^{a b} The New Yorker (1993). "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - reprinted for academic discussion. Title 17 U.S. Code. http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/idog.html. Retrieved October 2, 2007. 
3. ^ EURSOC (2007). "New Privacy Concerns". EURSOC. http://eursoc.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/1938/New_Privacy_Concerns.html. Retrieved October 2, 2007. 
4. ^ Glenn Fleishman (October 29, 1998). "New Yorker Cartoons to Go on Line". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E4D7113CF93AA15753C1A96E958260. Retrieved October 2, 2007. 
5. ^ Philip Elmer-DeWitt, David S. Jackson, Wendy King (December 6, 1993). "First Nation in Cyberspace". Time Inc.. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979768-2,00.html. Retrieved March 21, 2009. 
6. ^ Lessig, Lawrence (2006). Code: Version 2.0. Basic Books. p. 35. ISBN 0465039146. 
7. ^ Morahan-Martin, J., & Schumacher, P.(2000).Incidence and Correlates of Pathological Internet Use among College Students. Computers in Human Behavior, 16, 13-29.
8. ^ Jordan, Tim (1999). "3 The virtual individual". Cyberpower: The Culture and Politics of Cyberspace and the Internet. Routledge. p. 66. ISBN 0415170788. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Trend, David (2001). Reading Digital Culture. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 226–7. ISBN 0631223029. 
10. ^ Ryan Singel (2007). "Fraudster Who Impersonated a Lawyer to Steal Domain Names Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud". Wired — CondéNet. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/09/fraudster-who-i.html. Retrieved October 2, 2007. 
11. ^ Crikey.com.au (2007). "Wikipedia and the PM -- the trail is still hot". Crikey.com.au — Private Media Pty Ltd,. http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070903-Wikipedia-and-the-PM.html. Retrieved October 2, 2007. 
12. ^ Taylor, Maxwell; Ethel Quayle (2003). Child Pornography: An Internet Crime. Psychology Press. p. 97. ISBN 1583912444. 
13. ^ Ticktin, Neil (February 1996). "Save Cyberdog!". MacTech 12 (2). http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.12/12.02/Feb96PublishersPage/index.html. Retrieved 3 September, 2011. 

Further reading

• Jones, Christopher R. (2004). "7 Nobody knows you're a dog". In Land, Ray; Siân Bayne. Education in Cyberspace. Routledge. 105 pages. ISBN 0415328829. 
• Nielsen, Jakob (1995). Multimedia and Hypertext: The Internet and Beyond. Morgan Kaufmann. 172 pages. ISBN 978-0125184083. 
• Nakamura, Lisa (2002). Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. Routledge. 35 pages. ISBN 0415938376. 
• Schneider, Edgar (2003). Living the Good Life With Autism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 44 pages. ISBN 1843107120. 

External links

• Peter Steiner's Website
• Myth/Reality
• The New Yorker Cartoon Bank online
• Nobody Knows I'm a Dog production