Jane’s project involves researching the philosophical foundations of the terms privacy and anonymity. Jane will be exploring what these terms mean, how they are used, and in what contexts they are used. As these terms are often used interchangeably her goal is to separate these terms by exploring how various philosophers understand and use the terms. The ultimate goal is to delineate the various meanings of the terms privacy and anonymity. While her will primarily focus on philosophical uses of these terms, Jane will also look at historical, anthropological, literary, and feminist uses of these terms. Furthermore, she will be looking at the notions of identity to determine which notions relate to privacy and anonymity. Ultimately, Jane goal in researching the term identity is to understand how it relates to privacy and anonymity.

Understanding the philosophical foundations of the terms privacy and anonymity is important as it will help to understand the underlying assumptions about those terms. As a result, when reviewing the literature on privacy and anonymity, researchers will be in a better position to provide a more thorough critique. Furthermore, by understanding the philosophical foundations of these terms it serves to elucidate and clarify our own understanding of these terms. Also, by looking at various conceptions of identity, Jane will be in a better position to understand how others conceive of the terms identity, privacy, and anonymity and what concerns society about these concepts. For example, why is it that we value privacy? why do we sometimes choose to be anonymous? If we understand the philosophical foundations of these terms it can provide insight to what we value about these concepts.