The concerns raised by Sharaad Kuttan on the use of pseudonyms in the letters column ('The perils of anonymity', June 7) should also take account of and balance against the following backdrop considerations.

Firstly, malaysiakini is not just traditional print but an Internet online media. The ethics of journalism (eg. insistence of standards of truth, objectivity and accuracy) although still relevant as ever have now to operate within the normal hazards and constraints of cyber/Internet culture (eg. false identities, lies or plagiarised information).

Checking and counter checking against these hazards/constraints compromises the main advantage of online - that of speed and immediacy of delivery.

Besides, on the Internet everyone is provider as well as consumer of content. With all kinds of information as well as disinformation proliferating cyberspace, as a consumer, the maxim of caveat emptor or 'buyers beware' assumes ever-greater importance. It is understood as a 'cyber norm' that the reader has to use his judgment to filter and evaluate even more under online as compared with other traditional medium(s). This applies even more to the editor who takes greater and often sole responsibility for publication of contents under pseudonyms.

Traditional press values then provide insufficient support for online journalism that has to take into account the inherent limitations of Internet culture. The 'new' ethics of cyber journalism is still evolving, being overtaken by the speed by which Internet has come of age in all areas of commercial, intellectual and cultural life.

Secondly, under Malaysian political milieu in which dissent is kept under watch, if not neutralised, the inherent weakness of anonymity and impersonalisation is also its strength. Anonymity not only offers a cloak for lies but in mitigating the fear from reprisals, helps the surfacing of the Truth against the lies of the establishment. Again, under cyber culture, readers have to learn to distinguish the truth from its imposter.

Thirdly, intellectual or cultural standards in public discourses are not necessarily compromised by use of pseudonyms. For some, masking the identity and reduced accountability shield against adverse social reactions or political repercussion and is the only condition for the baring of their enlightened souls, especially when one desires to take society to a higher point that it may not be ready as yet.

The world's literary and cultural landscape is littered with many writers and journalists ahead of their times who, in spite of using pseudonyms to serve their cause, had scrupulous regard for accuracy and truth. One such a case was the German political satirist and journalist Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935) whose pacifist and anti-fascist writings, marking a high point in German literary journalism, were published under four pseudonyms.

Fourthly, although accountability is much reduced by pseudonyms, it is however not entirely obliterated because there is always an electronic trail upon arduous investigations. And hence writers cannot relinquish entirely responsibility for the veracity and fairness of contents.

Having regard to the primary focus of malaysiakini familiar to its readers, I agree with the editor's note, and stance, that the advantages of allowing pseudonym use outweigh its negative abuse.