Article source for : Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal
_"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority."_ ">>":http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=U10296
br. Mar 5, 2008 "story":http://www.wtvq.com/content/midatlantic/tvq/video.apx.-content-articles-TVQ-2008-03-05-0011.html :
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Kentucky Representative "Tim Couch":http://www.lrc.ky.gov/legislator/H090.htm [R] 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.
If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.
Representative Couch says he filed the bill in hopes of cutting down on online bullying. He says that has especially been a problem in his Eastern Kentucky district.
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br. Mar 5, 2008 blog "posting":http://polwatchers.typepad.com/pol_watchers/2008/03/bill-would-ban.html :
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Couch on Wednesday readily acknowledged that his bill raises First Amendment issues regarding free speech, *so he won't be pushing it*. But he wanted to call attention to the phenomenon of unkind and often untrue comments about people being posted online by Kentuckians hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.
"Some nasty things have been said about high school kids in my district, usually by other kids," Couch said. "The adults get in on it, too." Couch said he, too, has been the subject of anonymous online roasting, and while he doesn't enjoy it, he doesn't think there's much the legislature can do about it.
"I think right now (online posting) is pretty much just on its own. It's a machine that's going to go its own way," Couch said. "The state can try to pass some rules, but I don't really think it would do anything."
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So it's not even a serious bill by Couch.
h2. Internet Civility Bill
!http://radar.oreilly.com/bcclogo.gif!
The idea of government legislating against anonymous Internet postings has been introduced before.
March 15, 2006 Toledo Talk posting titled "Internet civility bill stalled ":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/16/2121 :
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[New Jersey] Assemblyman Peter Biondi [R] and his staff said they were trying to curb malicious exchanges on some local discussion boards when they introduced a bill requiring people to provide their real names and addresses before posting on public Web sites. The bill also stated that hosts could be sued for failing to disclose the identities of people disseminating false or defamatory information.
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h2. Govt. Controlling the Internet
Recent Toledo Talk threads about "actions":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/19/3364#48637 by dimwitted politicians to control the Internet.
* "Chat rooms could face expulsion":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/16/2793
* "No more Party Poker":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/7/3122
* "Net Neutrality":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/19/2393/54
* "Another feel good, do nothing law":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/19/3364#48637
* "House passes Internet nanny-state bill":http://toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/tt.pl/article/8454/House_passes_Internet_nanny-state_bill_409-2
h2. TFP Miller Column
Feb 25, 2007 Toledo Talk "discussion":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/27/3562 about a Michael Miller Toledo Free Press "column":http://www.toledofreepress.com/?id=4987 against anonymous Internet postings.
My thoughts from that February 2007 thread :
bq. About anonymous postings, I think it's simple. It's a matter of choice and freedom, and the responsibility belongs to the reader and not the poster. If you don't like anonymous postings, then you have the freedom of choice to ignore such postings. You have the freedom to move on. If user A wants to post his or her real name, place of employment, job title, shoe size, etc., that's user A's business.
bq. If you manage a Web site, and you don't like anonymous postings, then, obviously, it's your responsibility to correct the problem. Implement strict guidelines. Erect tough barriers to posting. Make use of the anti-anonymous-posting features in the software. If no such features exist, get a different software application.
bq. Maybe by posting anonymously, we get "additional info":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/27/3562#51279 that otherwise we would not have gotten. It's up to the reader to decide what to do with that info. Do you trust every thing you read in a newspaper or see on TV or hear on the radio? When you read [a newspaper] op-ed with no name attached, what's up with that? How do you know which person wrote what op-ed?
bq. Those of you opposed to anonymous posters need to get over it. It's not going to change, unless the Republicans get their way. If you want to reveal your real name, goody gumdrops for you. But quit forcing your beliefs on the rest of us.
bq. Maybe over time as people get more comfortable with posting on the Web, users will share their real identities. But let that happen naturally. Don't force the issue.
bq. And you can't be selective with your viewpoint on anonymous posters. You can't say, "Well, it's fine for that person to remain anonymous because she's nice, but that mean person needs to reveal his real name."
bq. What's the definition of "nice or "mean" or "offensive?" What's offensive to one person may be hilarious to me. Why is it that the person who is offended gets his or her way over the person who finds the rhetoric funny?
bq. I like the rawness of the Web message boards, warts and all. I would prefer to tolerate a few rouge posters than be shackled with anti-freedom regulations, requiring users to give personal information, which would deter people from sharing their opinions.
bq. If a site owner wants to require a user to give a Social Security number and a credit card number before posting, that's the site owner's choice. I require a valid e-mail address in order to create an account to post here. Some don't like giving their e-mail address, so they won't sign up. Fine. I require a valid e-mail address for sending a confirmation e-mail to the user in order to activate the account. This is done to reduce spammers and drive-by posters.
bq. Multiple of times here, I've recommended reading the following, concerning digital communities:
* the book "Design for Community":http://tinyurl.com/37384u
* the Web essay "Building Communities with Software":http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswithSo.html
* and most importantly, if you have any interest at all in digital communities, read this 1997 Wired article "The Epic Saga of The Well":http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.05/ff_well_pr.html. Shenanigans in digital communities have been occurring for a long time.
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