"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" is anadage andInternet meme aboutInternet anonymity which began as a caption to acartoon drawn byPeter Steiner, published in the July 5, 1993 issue of the American magazineThe New Yorker.[1][2] The words are those of a large dog sitting on a chair at a desk, with a paw on thekeyboard of the computer, speaking to a smaller dog sitting on the floor nearby.[3] Steiner had earned between $200,000 and $250,000 by 2013 from its reprinting, by which time it had become the cartoon most reproduced fromThe New Yorker.[4][5] In 2023, the original was sold atauction for $175,000, setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a comic.[6][7]
Peter Steiner, acartoonist and contributor toThe New Yorker since 1979,[8] has said that although he did have an online account in 1993, he had felt no particular interest in the Internet then. He drew the cartoon only in the manner of a "make-up-a-caption" item, to which he recalled attaching no "profound" meaning, seeing that it had received little attention initially. He later stated that he felt as if he had created the "smiley face" when his cartoon took on a life of its own, and he "can't quite fathom that it's that widely known and recognized".[1]
On October 6, 2023, the original artwork was sold at aHeritage Auctions sale of illustration art for $175,000.[6][7]
Once the exclusive domain of government engineers and academics, the Internet was by then becoming a subject of discussion in such general interest magazines asThe New Yorker.Lotus Software founder and early Internet activistMitch Kapor commented in aTime magazine article in 1993 that "the true sign that popular interest has reached critical mass came this summer whenThe New Yorker printed a cartoon showing two computer-savvy canines".[9]
According toBob Mankoff, thenThe 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 ofhtml."[10]
The cartoon symbolizes the liberation of one's Internet presence from popular prejudices. SociologistSherry 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."[11] This was a view that Steiner says he shares.[6]
The cartoon conveys an understanding ofInternet privacy that implies the ability to send and receive messages—or to create and maintain a website—behind a mask of anonymity.Lawrence Lessig suggests that "no one knows" becauseInternet protocols require no user to confirm their own identity. Although alocal access point in, for example, a university may require identity confirmation, it holds such information privately, without embedding it in external Internet transactions.[12]
A study by Morahan-Martin and Schumacher (2000) oncompulsive or troublesome Internet use discusses this phenomenon, suggesting the ability to represent one's self behind the mask of a computer screen may be part of the compulsion to go online.[13] The phrase may be taken "to mean thatcyberspace 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 byJohn Gilmore, a key figure in the history ofUsenet.[14] The phrase also indicates the ease of computercross-dressing: representing oneself as of a different gender; age; race; social, cultural, or economic class, etc.[15] In a similar sense, "the freedom which the dog chooses to avail itself of, is the freedom to 'pass' as part of a privileged group;i.e., humancomputer users with access to the Internet".[15][16]
The cartoon inspired the playNobody Knows I'm a Dog by Alan David Perkins. The play revolves around six individuals, unable to communicate effectively with people in their lives, who nonetheless find the courage to socialize anonymously on the Internet.[1]
A cartoon by Kaamran Hafeez published inThe 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?"[18]
^Elmer-DeWitt, Philip; Jackson, David S. & King, Wendy (December 6, 1993)."First Nation in Cyberspace".Time. Archived fromthe original on February 5, 2009. RetrievedMarch 21, 2009.
