(CBS News) New York state lawmakers have proposed a ban on anonymous online comments.
Called the Internet Protection Act (A.8688/S.6779), the legislation would require a web site administrator to pull down anonymous comments from sites, including “social networks, blogs forums, message boards or any other discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages.”
Oh, great! I could, of course, wax lyrical about the control freak mentality of these arseholes, but I’ll let that go as read. No what really strikes home is the sheer ignorance of these people. The interwebs isn’t all based in New York. Consequently, the vast majority of it isn’t bound by laws passed in New York. if Michael Bloomberg instructed me to remove a comment from an anonymous commenter, he would be told very sharply what he could do with his instruction. I am not under his jurisdiction.
Among the bills’ sponsors are New York Assemblyman Dean Murray and Sen. Thomas O’Mara, who say the proposed law is to fight cyberbullying.
“Cyberbullying has become one of the great tragedies of the Internet age,” O’Mara said at a press conference. “Numerous national studies tell us that upwards of 40 percent of students have experienced some form of cyberbullying at least once, and they feel helpless in the face of it. Victims of anonymous cyberbullies need protection. We’re hopeful that this legislation can be helpful to the overall effort to deter and prevent anonymous criminals from hiding behind modern technology and using the Internet to bully, defame and harass their victims.”
Oh, pull the other one. This is all about control and not about bullying. I’ve had first hand experience of cyber bullying and stalking. It is relatively easily managed. Certainly it is not something that needs the dead hand of the state to be involved.
Critics of the bills claim the law will infringe upon free speech.
That’s a feature, not a bug. It always was. These charlatans do not want freedom of speech because those who are free to speak will expose them for what they are.
H/T Dick Puddlecote
I love the names they come up with for these rubbish laws.
Internet protection act. It sounds like they are helping but the act will do the exact opposite of protecting the internet.
Because “cyberbullys” are JUST the sort of people who will have a massive guilt trip, and use their REAL name, aren’t they?
And how the hell are they going to determine whether the ‘real name’ you comment under is genuine? Who are these people? Do they actually get paid for coming up with this shit? If I post a comment as Biggus Dickus, are they going to try to ascertain if that is my real name?
Words fail me…
How? Well they could sell you a licence containing a private ID or even better a readable strip and make it illegal to allow anyone to use a PC (ie companies, cybercafes etc) without verifying that licence. Home PCs don’t matter as they can come and get you on the basis of your IP address if your name is different to the registered person at that address. That would be a start.
@ nisakiman How come you’re bandying MY real name all over the place? Go and invent your own 😉 !
Biggus Dickus
How dare you try to pass yourself off as me! 😉
Ta for the link, LR. Such a silly idea, ain’t it?
This sort of ban might well become epidemic amongst politicians. . If only to protect the ****** (fill in your own righteous)
Well it is utterly unenforceable as the administrator has no way of verifying the identities of those who post to online forums. I post as “Stephen” but Longrider has no way of determining whether my name is really is Stephen or which of the many millions of Stephens in the world I am. The only way you could enforce this would be by having a worldwide and verified electronic credential that you must supply whenever you access the internet. Never going to happen, not even in David Blunkett’s wet dreams.
Do not bank on it.
Our new I.D cards (Ausweis) have chips in. You can buy a “reader” for the computer, so that you can “I.D” yourself when buying stuff, or doing the banking (What total fuckwit uses “online banking!?).
But, how long before, as with happened with the Ausweis, you have no choice but to use it, even just to log onto the web?
Ausweis is also supposed to be “voluntary”. Meaning you must have one, but you are not obliged to carry it with you.
HOWEVER, you want to take out a library book, buy a bus ticket (Month card), ask the job center or tax or insurance office a question, and you will soon see just how “voluntary” the Ausweis is.
Let alone getting stoped by the police/Ordnungsamt.
It will be the same with these readers, you just wait and see.
“Our new I.D cards (Ausweis) have chips in”
Why do you think that we in the UK fought so hard against identity cards?
Sounds almost as stupid as this idea from Germany:
http://torrentfreak.com/new-drm-changes-text-of-ebooks-to-catch-pirates-130616/
They are talking about subtle changes to the text of eBooks to make each download unique, with the intention of tracking anyone who “shares” it on the net. Unfortunately, as numerous comments point out, it will take very little effort to alter the files again, re-post and let someone else take the blame! That’s always assuming the authors don’t object to their works being tampered with.
These “guardians of the internet” really have NO idea how the damn thing works…
That is virtually impossible in German, as it changes the entire structure of the sentence/Paragraph. Which has a knock on effect on all the sentences/paragraphs around it.
Grammar, and therfore meaning would be lost from the origional authors intentions.
Stay safe, buy the paper version.