The Internet as an identity-prison - Yikes!

Here's a thought: the Internet binds identity into discreet and separate units, rather than engendering a more fluid and unbouded sense of identity. That's what Lisa Nakamura reckons, against people like Sherry Turkle. Lisa suggests that some sections of the web, such as the web portal interface, make assumptions about users' race and identity. The 'clickabke-box' format means that you must choose one from many, which may not account for one's heterogeneous interests. Excite, for example, lumps gender, sexual orientation, religion and age together with race. Significantly, 'white' is not a category: it is apparently the default.
There is some truth to what Nakamura says, but I think that she downplays the importance of the 'windows' format. I would argue that what we have is predominantly an 'Ironic Essentialist' structure of consciousness, where one follows different identity models in different windows, with a certain self-consciousness. It is about playing a role well, in the right context. In this way, we are able to experience and understand different identity-roles, and see differing positions relativistically. In this way, every discreet identity model becomes an ironic tool to employ.
Sam