On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog

Peter Steiner's cartoon, as published in The New Yorker

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" is an adage about Internet anonymity which began as a cartoon caption by Peter Steiner and published by The New Yorker on July 5, 1993. 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 listening to the first. As of 2011, the panel was the most reproduced cartoon from The New Yorker, and Steiner has earned over US$50,000 from its reprinting.

History

Peter Steiner, a cartoonist and contributor to The New Yorker since 1979, said the cartoon initially did not get a lot of attention. Later it took on a life of its own, and that he felt similar to the person who created the "smiley face". 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.

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

Context

The cartoon marks a notable moment in the history of the Internet. Once the exclusive domain of government engineers and academics, the Internet had by then become a subject of discussion in general interest magazines like The New Yorker. Lotus Software 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".

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, this information is privately held by the local access point and is not an intrinsic part of the Internet transaction.

It also shows how Internet communication is liberated from familiar constraints. Turkle elaborates: "You can be whoever you want to be. You can completely redefine yourself if you want. You don't have to worry about the slots other people put you in as much. They don't look at your body and make assumptions. They don't hear your accent and make assumptions. All they see are your words."

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. 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. The phrase also suggests the ability to "computer cross-dress" and represent oneself as a different gender, age, race, etc. 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".

According to Bob Mankoff, The New Yorker's cartoon editor, "The cartoon resonated with our wariness about the facile façade that could be thrown up by anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of html."

In popular culture

• 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 communicate effectively with people in their lives who find the courage to socialize on the Internet, protected by their anonymity.

• The Apple Internet suite Cyberdog was named after this cartoon.

• A cartoon by Kaamran Hafeez published in The New Yorker on February 23, 2015 features a similar pair of dogs watching their owner sitting at a computer, with one asking the other, "Remember when, on the Internet, nobody knew who you were?"

• It has been a frequently used joke in discussions about the Internet and has become an Internet meme iconic to Internet culture.

See also

• Dog with a Blog
• Impression management
• "The Canine Mutiny" – an episode of The Simpsons where a credit card is approved for a family dog
• Online identity

Further reading

• Jones, Christopher R. (2004). "Nobody knows you're a dog". In Land, Ray; Bayne, Siân (eds.). Education in Cyberspace. New York: Routledge. 105 pages. ISBN 0-415-32882-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)
• Nielsen, Jakob (1995). Multimedia and Hypertext: The Internet and Beyond. San Diego: AP Professional. 172 pages. ISBN 978-0-12-518408-3.
• Nakamura, Lisa (2002). Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet. New York: Routledge. 35 pages. ISBN 0-415-93837-6.
• Schneider, Edgar (2003). Living the Good Life With Autism. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. 44 pages. ISBN 1-84310-712-0.
• Turkle, Sherry (1997). Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster. 352 pages. ISBN 0-68483-348-4.

External links

• On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog, KnowYourMeme
• Peter Steiner's site
• Myth/Reality
• The Cartoon Bank online
• Nobody Knows I'm a Dog production