We read:
"Imagine if the police knew exactly what you do online: All the porn sites you scan secretly, the vitriolic comments you leave on blogs, the number of hours you spend playing Farmville.
In Denmark, police have recommended to Parliament that it create laws that make it impossible for citizens to surf anonymously. According to Danish-language blog Computerworld Denmark, the proposal is intended to help investigate terrorism.
In the proposal, locations providing open Internet, like cafes and libraries, would have to confirm a user's identity, with some form of official ID, before letting them get online. Companies may also have to register and verify users' identities before providing access, as well as retain records of user logs.
Danish law already requires that ISPs store user data for at least a year, as an anti-terrorism measure. The proposal suggests that with such information, police would be able to see who exactly is on the network, where they go, and who they talk to.
Such a move would have serious privacy implications. But another problematic facet of the proposal is in the nature of online identity itself. 4Chan founder Christopher Poole recently defended web anonymity against those, including Facebook, who believe real-world identity and web identity should be one.
"Anonymity is authenticity," said Poole. "It allows you to share in an unvarnished, unfiltered, raw and real way. We believe in content over creator."
Source
Banning anonymity would have a chilling effect on much internet speech. For some people, it is simply not safe to identify themselves.
6 comments:
Somewhat counter-productive if it lets terrorists know who are their real enemies or even their critics, and we all know how islamists like to target their critics, and not with polite replies!
In years past, I would have thought something like this to be impossible in the U.S., but in light of events over the last few years, perhaps we should take a warning from this.
Nothing the govt has ever done has diminished our freedoms and liberties as much as the use of "terrorism" (and political correctness) as a way to control the people.
Chilling thought.
Anonymity is also useful when you espouse ideas that are no longer considered publicly acceptable.
Where would several of the Founding Fathers have been if they'd had to publish under their real names?
Now the most oppresssive regimes in the world can play the same game and dismiss all their opponents as "terrorists".
OMG, odumass would love a law like that.
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