Who was “Sybil” in the “Sybil attack”?
Hi frens,
I have donated to Gitcoin Grants early this year, and since then become very interested in online identities topics.
But I’ve grown resistant to the term “Sybil attack”, especially after I found out the naming history.
What is Sybil attack? The attacker creates a large number of pseudonymous identities, to manipulate the system, for example, an online voting system.
But who is “Sybil”? It was named after a 1973 book about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett (pseudonym, though) for dissociative identity disorder, also referred to as multiple personality disorder. The story was controversial, but whatever ——
“Sybil” was the name of a woman.
Sybil, or Sibyl, is also a feminine given name of Greek origin given in reference to the sibyls, oracles of Ancient Greece.
So why naming a neutral technical term, with the name of a woman?
We should stop using the term “Sybil attack”!
What has been done before
In software industry, we have renamed several terms to avoid discrimination and bring inclusion.
Master/slave are now primary/secondary.
In a Git repository, the default branch is no longer “master” but “main” (GitHub / GitLab).
Whitelist/blacklist are now allowlist/blocklist.
What’s the big deal?
You may ask, Sybil was just a name. Do people really associate the name “Sybil” with femininity?
Language is a fascinating thing. It not only helps us convey our thoughts but also shapes our way of thinking.
That’s why we should continue to promote inclusive and unbiased language, to reshape the tool that we use.
Here’s another strong reason: in Chinese, “Sybil attack” has been translated as “女巫攻擊”, where “女” specifically means “female.”
What could be worse? Let’s come out with an alternative term. What about “Deceptive Identity Attack”?
Your friend,
Denken
P.S. Fun fact: Dissociative Identity Disorder is abbreviated as DID, same as Decentralized IDentifiers.