Anonymity and the Law
Dec. 23rd, 2008 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
paserbypYou have a right to anonymous political speech, less of a right to anonymous commercial speech, and no right to hide behind anonymity to commit crimes. Laws to implement this have to be well-crafted, but that's reasonable; there is the potential for those laws to violate real rights. Personally I probably believe more strongly in freedom of commercial speech anonymously than the law allows, but I'll allow that there's a balancing act there and that there are considerations that aren't present for political speech.
Not everyone's so classically liberal about this; Eugene Kaspersky (who believes in eponymy, if not anonymity) recently said he wished that identity (and legal jurisdiction) on the Internet were far more concretely defined. To be sure, he doesn't think this is really possible, just desirable: "I would start by ensuring that every user has a sort of Internet passport: basically, a means of verifying identity, just like in the real world, with driver's licenses and passports and so on."
Yes, it's true that anonymity is dangerous, but as an American I have to say that Kaspersky's vision is scary. Kaspersky is thinking of security problems like malware and denial of service attacks, not political speech, but at some level a virus and an essay are both just content. You can't protect the anonymity of one without protecting the other. I'd like to be able to track down malicious actors on the Internet better, but I don't like where Kaspersky is going with this.
The temptation to call anonymous speakers, especially in politics, dangerous or cowards is great. Sometimes I think it's warranted. But the answer to it is not to violate their privacy, it's to call to attention their anonymity, as it often does diminish their argument. Anonymous arguments can still have great weight, as did those of Publius. It is a shame that, as a technical matter, anonymity on the Internet also facilitates impersonation and perhaps other crimes, but those have always had their old world analogs.
It would be perverted indeed for us to limit a freedom that helped to found our republic through peaceful debate. Let people put out their information and let the people decide, well or badly, what they think of it.
Larry Seltzer
For details: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Anonymity-is-a-Problem-and-an-American-Tradition/1
Not everyone's so classically liberal about this; Eugene Kaspersky (who believes in eponymy, if not anonymity) recently said he wished that identity (and legal jurisdiction) on the Internet were far more concretely defined. To be sure, he doesn't think this is really possible, just desirable: "I would start by ensuring that every user has a sort of Internet passport: basically, a means of verifying identity, just like in the real world, with driver's licenses and passports and so on."
Yes, it's true that anonymity is dangerous, but as an American I have to say that Kaspersky's vision is scary. Kaspersky is thinking of security problems like malware and denial of service attacks, not political speech, but at some level a virus and an essay are both just content. You can't protect the anonymity of one without protecting the other. I'd like to be able to track down malicious actors on the Internet better, but I don't like where Kaspersky is going with this.
The temptation to call anonymous speakers, especially in politics, dangerous or cowards is great. Sometimes I think it's warranted. But the answer to it is not to violate their privacy, it's to call to attention their anonymity, as it often does diminish their argument. Anonymous arguments can still have great weight, as did those of Publius. It is a shame that, as a technical matter, anonymity on the Internet also facilitates impersonation and perhaps other crimes, but those have always had their old world analogs.
It would be perverted indeed for us to limit a freedom that helped to found our republic through peaceful debate. Let people put out their information and let the people decide, well or badly, what they think of it.
Larry Seltzer
For details: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Anonymity-is-a-Problem-and-an-American-Tradition/1
