Senator Ira I. Silverstein of Illinois introduced a bill on February 13th that would ban anonymous blogging/posting. According to wordage in the bill, a website administrator
"
shall, upon request, remove any posted comments posted by an
anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her
name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and
home address are accurate. Effective 90 days after becoming law."
As someone who posts anonymously to avoid employer conflicts, I'm completely against this legislature. If it were to become law, I would no longer be able to maintain my blog.
On the other hand, I can see why some would want to implement this type of measure. Those writing about finance, law, medicine, etc., would have to disclose their real name, thereby making it possible to verify their credentials. It would also put an end to cyber-bullying, which I believe was the catalyst for this particular bill.
I'd like to hear the communities' thoughts on this.
J Wayne
VisualFin.com | Financial education through the use of visuals
It would also put an end to cyber-bullying, which I believe was the catalyst for this particular bill.
I don't think it would make a large dent in cyber-bullying. For one, a lot of it comes from non-anonymous sources. A real bully isn't going to be thwarted by the victim knowing their name.
Second, a law isn't going to stop anyone committed to being anonymous. Spamming has been against the law for years and see how well that is working out. In about 15 minutes, I could create a whole new online identity with email, Facebook, etc. If those get shut down, I can have new ones in another 15 minutes. I wouldn't of course, but it's that easy.
I'm looking for editors, beta-readers, and some demographic research for my upcoming novel, Once Upon a Saturn Moon. If you like reading soft sci-fi thrillers, maybe with a touch of romance thrown in, you can find more information at http://seampublishing.com/once…..aturn-moon
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Post edited 3:46 pm – February 22, 2013 by JW @ AllThingsFinance
That's a good point Edward. Many bullies are face to face with their victims every day in schools. People have reached out to the senator asking him to disclose the particular event that has prompted this, but he's yet to point to one.
I suppose someone could create a new identity and even use proxy servers or a VPN to hide their real IP address, but most people don't know how to use those services.
J Wayne
VisualFin.com | Financial education through the use of visuals
I suppose someone could create a new identity and even use proxy servers or a VPN to hide their real IP address, but most people don't know how to use those services.
That's the whole point. It goes back to my argument against DRM. It hurts legitimate users but does little to stop people who intend to do real harm.
I'm looking for editors, beta-readers, and some demographic research for my upcoming novel, Once Upon a Saturn Moon. If you like reading soft sci-fi thrillers, maybe with a touch of romance thrown in, you can find more information at http://seampublishing.com/once…..aturn-moon
If You Can Read, You Can Cook – http://www.ifyoucanread.com | Think you can't cook? If you can read this sentence, then you can.
Post edited 4:50 pm – February 22, 2013 by michael @ financial ramblings
Famous last words, but this will never pass.
Edit to add: From the Chicago Sun earlier today… "Facing a free-speech outcry, an Illinois lawmaker decided Thursday to pull the plug on anti-bullying legislation he introduced to require website managers to pull down anonymous, hate-filled Internet posts if they were requested to do so."
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