Online anonymity in Brazil: identification and the dignity in wearing a mask
Artur Pericles Lima Monteiro · 2017
Professor Virgílio Afonso da Silva has been a key influence to me since the first day I had classes with him, as an LLB student, in 2009.His encouragement from those first days, his kind understanding and committed advice were crucial, not just in the research and writing of this dissertation, but in defining my strive for a professional career in academia.I have benefited a great deal from his guidance, and perhaps even more from the powerful example of scholarly commitment to research and teaching he sets for all of us.A towering figure, he is never hesitant in unreservedly engaging in debate with students and taking our ideas as seriously as he does for established faculty.I could not overstate the significance of this practical lesson, both as a model I hope to follow in my career and in refining our reasoning and argumentative skills.It has been a tremendous privilege to have worked in this dissertation under his supervision.I am indebted to him for all this, and also for pointing out the issue this dissertation addresses, in a moot court seminar arranged by the group on Law, Internet and Society (Núcleo de Direito, Internet e Sociedade -NDIS) at the Faculty of Law at the University of São Paulo, in 2013.I am sure my argument itself also owes a great deal to the manner he approached the question of anonymity in that seminar.I would also be remiss not to acknowledge how NDIS, then co-run by Dennys Antonialli and Francisco Cruz, shaped