New York Legislation Would Ban Anonymous Online Speech
May 23rd, 2012It’s time for some comedy.
Via: Wired:
Did you hear the one about the New York state lawmakers who forgot about the First Amendment in the name of combating cyberbullying and “baseless political attacks”?
Proposed legislation in both chambers would require New York-based websites, such as blogs and newspapers, to “remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post.”
No votes on the measures have been taken. But unless the First Amendment is repealed, they stand no chance of surviving any constitutional scrutiny even if they were approved.
Republican Assemblyman Jim Conte said the legislation would cut down on “mean-spirited and baseless political attacks” and “turns the spotlight on cyberbullies by forcing them to reveal their identity.”
Had the internet been around in the late 1700s, perhaps the anonymously written Federalist Papers would have to be taken down unless Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay revealed themselves.
“This statute would essentially destroy the ability to speak anonymously online on sites in New York,” said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney with the Center for Democracy and Technology. He added that the legislation provides a “heckler’s veto to anybody who disagrees with or doesn’t like what an anonymous poster said.”
Sen. Thomas O’Mara, a Republican who is also sponsoring the measure, said it would “help lend some accountability to the internet age.”
For me the problem isn’t about anonymity, IMO if you have something to say you should be confident enough to say it to whomever without hiding. The problem is how people who have these ideas are treated when their opinion/facts aren’t widely held in the field and/or does damage to the entities who control said respective fields. It is a very fine line and having been on both sides of the story it really boils down to people being ethical (whether it be an individual with his opinion/ability to seriously damage business/reputation with lies or a businesses ability to strong arm the individual/other companies into silence).
IMO too many of the younger people today have very little accountability. Based on first hand experiences there is little respect for other people’s belongings among the younger crowd. Add into that the removal of human emotion from war (drone strikes, etc), it can be said in general we are becoming a less accountable nation. It shows when police officers are not held responsible for their actions, many times being let off the hook completely. It is really simple, if everyone stopped “playing” the system in which ever little way they felt like and stopped rationalizing their actions we would be in a completely different place.