Any US legislation to ban anonymity online will be unconstitutional, will not work, and most importantly will put many marginalized/vulnerable people at risk
There's an idea that pops up every so often among people who are upset about misinformation online but don't actually understand … Tweets: @amac , @kareshy_zen , @mmasnick , @senatorshoshana , @kfogel , @jeffjarvis , and @dispositive Tweets: Alexander Macgillivray / @amac : A good @mmasnick summary of what is wrong with anti-anonymity legislation: a) it won't work b) it will hurt people & c) it is unconstitutional. @jilliancyork calls a focus on anonymity as the problem online the “White man's gambit.” I have found that to be quite true as well. https://twitter.com/... Kareshy / @kareshy_zen : All banning anonymity does is create more resources for bad actors to engage in destruction for those they don't like. The troll doesn't need to reveal their identity on social media to harm people. They can detach and create new identities whole cloth. https://twitter.com/... Mike Masnick / @mmasnick : Okay, I wrote a big post on why all the people suddenly calling for an end to anonymity are wrong. It (1) doesn't work (2) solves for the wrong problem and (3) most importantly, puts many vulnerable people at risk. Also, it's unconstitutional. https://www.techdirt.com/... @senatorshoshana : Ban anonymity online? It's unconstitutional. It doesn't work. It creates real harms & puts marginalized and vulnerable people at risk. https://www.techdirt.com/... @mmasnick explains Karl Fogel / @kfogel : I just donated $100 USD to @TechDirt. That site is a treasure, folks. I find myself citing @mmasnick's posts there more often than I refer to almost any other place on the Web. Two recent examples: https://www.techdirt.com/... and https://www.techdirt.com/... Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : In their interests, passions, and righteous campaigns, @mmasnick and @jkosseff are brothers of other mothers. I'm a cousin who agrees with them a lot. https://twitter.com/... Gautam Hans / @dispositive : Mike does a great job summarizing many of the problems with this proposal. I repeat: anonymity 👏🏾 is 👏🏾 essential 👏🏾 to 👏🏾 protect 👏🏾 those 👏🏾 without 👏🏾 power. https://twitter.com/...