Crush Liberalism

KY Republican legislator wants to ban anonymous Internet posting

From Kentucky:

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch 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.

Action News 36 asked people what they thought about the bill.

 Some said they felt it was a violation of First Amendment rights. Others say it is a good tool toward eliminating online harassment.

Represntative Couch says enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.

“Sure, my bill’s not enforceable, but at least I get to tell my constituents that I ‘did something’, now don’t I?”

Goodness knows that the p#ssies who lurk here wanting to spew their venom behind their veils of IP-based cowardice would disappear if something like this became law.  It’s clear that many people wear masks of bravado on blogs and in chat rooms, saying things online that they’d never say in person.  However, I’m going to do something I rarely do: I’m going to defend the moonbats.

OK, anonymity obviously doesn’t apply only to moonbats.  Most of us here don’t use our real or full names, and I don’t blame you.  For some of us, maybe it’s due to fear that our employers will punish us for contrary opinions from theirs.  In the case of you moonbats, you don’t have employers to worry about.  For others, maybe you’re in a line of work that deals with the general public and you cannot afford to alienate (or even remotely risk the possibility of alienation) potential customers, fans, etc.  For yet others, you don’t want to run the risk of having moonbats stalk you (trust me, my friends, that DOES happen).  And for yet others, you just want to use an online handle, period.

The point is that there are varying reasons for using anonymity online.  We can feel freer to express ourselves, and in the case of moonbats, free to express yourself in a way that illustrates your sheer stupidity and instability.  It’s not illegal to be a barking moonbat (yet).  Sure, cyberbullies and moonbats and a host of other miscreants abuse their anonymity by harassing, intimidating, annoying, etc.  However, what about the 90+% of online folks who do not do any of those things?  If Couch gets his way, the baby will be thrown out with the bath water.  I suspect that his hairbrained idea won’t become law, and even if it did, it would likely not pass constitutional muster.

March 11, 2008 Posted by crushliberalism | big government, privacy | 14 Comments