How Fast Would That Empty The Blogosphere?
Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.
The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.
Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.
[link]
Such a thing is not enforceable, I mean, how can the government expect every website operator to verify the legitimacy of the name of every poster who wanders by – it shows more total ignorance about how the Internet operates than concern about on-line bullying.
And even if it did somehow pass people would simply pack up and move their hosting accounts to a state/country that wasn’t quite so idiotic.
Trackposted to Rosemary’s Thoughts, Faultline USA, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Leaning Straight Up, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I’d support that, but only on an amendment that everyone, everywhere be forced to swear, on pain of death, that they are telling the truth.
Now THAT would empty the internet.
Thank God my my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Balbulican, saw fit to grace me with their real name.
If they really wanted to help deal with Cyber-bullying, they would end the public school system.
And I am so grateful that my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cadwallader T. Shmohawk, passed their family name and genetic material to me. Honest. I swear. Can I go now,. I have to change my driver’s licence.
One of my personal favorites: legislating good behavior.
What — if I told people my real name, the earth would move? Or something?
My real name isn’t really my real name anyway. It’s partly the name my parents dreamed up, and then it’s the way that the feds and I decided to cope with my marriage after the provs screwed that up. I much prefer my blogging franchise name. Srsly: what is the difference?
Now, would that be the Manchester Shmohawks, or the Dibbley-on-Thames Shmohawks?
Right, the internets always does what the government wants….
Is this guy new?
What a facsist.
Many people take a handle or just post as anonymous because of work/employment situations. If you are a hard core New Democrat working for a hard core Harperite … could be problems. The Levant’s of the world talk a good talk concerning ‘free speech’ … but my experience has been that speech ain’t free. To say something that goes against the tide can have consequences. When an aggressive ‘majority’ decides that it is going to quash the voice of a minority, where is freedom of speech?
So .. with a name like mine … I can say what I believe (for now).
((and for the record, I have been called a
‘dog’ many times – and I am left handed))
Leftdog, I’m with you. Having previously been in sales and now in HR, I don’t want to mix my politics with my job, because I have no idea about the politics of my colleagues and/or bosses. Yes, I live in Alberta, but dammit, somebody somewhere in this city is voting both Liberal and NDP and it sure as hell isn’t me!
Granted, a bit of googling and an IQ over 80 and you could figure out who I am, if it’s that important to you, but I’m banking on it not being that damn important to anyone. So far, so good, aside from Anonalogue, who I believe should have called himself “Anomaly” as in my experience, that’s really what he was.
Talk about bullying? How would you like growing up with a surname like “Treehugger”? I have been tied to more trees than I can count back in the high school days. Sometimes I would like to change it but I just can’t bear to do that to my Dad, Arbutus, and my Mom, Hemlock.
I’d go for this if government officials were no longer allowed to speak to the press on condition of anonymity…or if “journalists” could no longer use anonymous sources.
Not only would the Blogosphere empty, so would the Internet. Porn Stars would have to use their real names, no? Then there would be no other content on the Internet, or so I’ve heard.
Maybe I am being a bit naive but I can’t think of one reason why any would want to make anonymous comments.I look it at like this,why would I say or write anything that I wouldn’t sign my name to?
But that said to pass laws over this is absurd,its idiocy of the first magnitude.
p.s love the new design,so professional looking much much better than the old design
“Represntative Couch says enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.”
Aw, fercrissake.
Walking to the moon would be a challenge.
This would be on a par with getting politicians to tell the truth.
I always cursed the day that my father, Sir Dawg, saw fit to give me “Dr.” as a first name. His father had done something similar to him, so this was a case of the cycle of abuse, I guess. School was unbearable. “Wanna play Dr.? Haw haw haw.” I still get that a lot.
Maybe I am being a bit naive but I can’t think of one reason why any would want to make anonymous comments.I look it at like this,why would I say or write anything that I wouldn’t sign my name to?
Yeah, but would you tie your address to it?
It’s one thing to legislate that all websites will require you to add your real name and address before you comment. How are you going to verify this? And what controls are there for the websites who take your name? What sort of security parameters have they invested to ensure that your data isn’t harvested by spammers or identity theft operations? Neither Movable Type nor Wordpress have the infrastructure installed, and a security leak could compromise several websites before the patch circulates widely in the blogosphere.
And for the website owner: a $500 fine for every anonymous comment on your blog that receives a complaint? Forget about it. I’m out of here.
And if this goes up to the webhosts, they may decide that blogs aren’t worth having on their networks. They’re already complaining about the memory loads involved and some, like GoDaddy, make it very difficult to operate Movable Type on their servers.
Now, would that be the Manchester Dawgs, or the Dibbley-on-Thames Dawgs?
A stranger today in an after meeting talk identified me as “Saskboy”. I guess that’s my name, other people use it to identify me.
No, I’m not ‘the Professor’.
J Bow said…”Yeah, but would you tie your address to it?
It’s one thing to legislate that all websites will require you to add your real name and address before you comment. How are you going to verify this? And what controls are there for the websites who take your name? What sort of security parameters have they invested to ensure that your data isn’t harvested by”….
I was talking more in general terms,and of course any such law requiring name and address is ridiculous not only for privacy reasons but all the issues you raised also.
Indeed the very idea that an elected official,indeed any thinking person for that matter,is just to bizarre.The pitfalls and impossible mechanics of such a law are as plain as the nose on ones face.
Correction sorry about that…..
Indeed the very idea that an elected official,indeed any thinking person for that matter,is just to bizarre.The pitfalls and impossible mechanics of such a law are as plain as the nose on ones face.
SHOULD READ……
…Indeed the very idea that an elected official would propose such a thing,indeed any thinking person for that matter,is just to bizarre.The pitfalls and impossible mechanics of such a law are as plain as the nose on ones face.
Well, y’see, you can clear the tubes that carry the internets faster if everybody’s got their name on thar words. That thar’s the way the internet will know how to get the words BACK to you, for downloading, see? Right now, they’re using some kinda crazy math thinger, and havin’ the post office lookit all up with squirrels with math books in a big factory. Ser’sly.
… Actually, I once had a client get mad at me for not installing the latest version of the internet on his machine. In the days before Google-cache. Someone was dissin’ him online, and he wanted to sue them: but the site was gone & the way-back machine didn’t have it.
Hell, they may have just written him a word doc, or he’d misremembered the site. The computer confused him.