On the Internet, nobody knows you're a Russian.

[FarCenter]

Published July 1993 in the New Yorker, and nothing has changed in the US.

In China it is illegal to post using other than your real name.

[Hortensis]

1. That last sounded strange and draconian to me until I remembered

that up until recently almost all communication in human history was face to face. Sure, people could give false names, spread lies through intermediaries, and some send written messages, but almost always we "owned" everything we said and its consequences.

Heard that an American Olympic skier who performed poorly received a blizzard of hate messages.

[FarCenter]

2. Using real identities tends to make people more polite and less duplicitous

But not entirely. I recall flame-fests on corporate email systems where everyone knew each other.

[Hortensis]

5. So true. We are people after all.

We wouldn't lose our character flaws when we lost anonymity, or even lose all the fun.

Not that I'm advocating, just discussing. Everything has its tradeoffs of costs and benefits.

[Ezior]

11. I thought about this (enforce using real names), too

The advantages are clear.

However, anonymous forum posts helped me a lot in my life. I've posted on gay teen forums and social anxiety forums.

So I'm torn. And to be honest, I don't want my real name to show up next to my posts on DU and similar forums. I'm not ashamed of my political opinions, but I don't want every random person to be able to read about them, then find out where I live and beat me up when I leave my home.

[unblock]

3. Of course, that wouldnt have helped here.

If they were willing hack computers, steal emails, and tamper with voter registrations and surely votes themselves, then I’m sure they would have no problem breaking a law about false online identities.

[FarCenter]

4. It would be much harder for them. Skinner would have a duty to identify posters.

China doubles down on real-name registration laws, forbidding anonymous online posts

China’s crackdown on Internet freedom is getting even more intense. Last Friday, the country’s top Internet censor announced a new set of regulations (link via Google Translate) meant to eliminate posts by anonymous users on Internet forums and other platforms. The Cyberspace Administration of China will start enforcing those rules on Oct. 1.

According to the new regulations, Internet companies and service providers are responsible for requesting and verifying real names from users when they register and must immediately report illegal content to the authorities. Tech firms, including Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, are under more pressure to serve as the government’s gatekeepers as China prepares for the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party this fall, which is expected to place new people in several key leadership positions.

Furthermore, a new cybersecurity law that went into effect at the beginning of June requires tech companies to store important data on servers within China. While this is supposedly meant to protect sensitive information, it can also make it easier for the government to track and persecute Internet users.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/27/china-doubles-down-on-real-name-registration-laws-forbidding-anonymous-online-posts/

[Dave Starsky]

6. Here's another classic from Penny Arcade in 2004.

[FarCenter]

7. Good one. Largely why Marshal McLuhan's "global electronic village" doesn't resemble a village.

[Wounded Bear]

8. Oh, it's a village, all right...

a village in a combat zone.

[tblue37]

9. Considering the way so many evil people go after others--especially women--online,

I think the lack of anonymity would tend to drive women off the internet, since they can be and sometimes are attacked IRL once trolls start attacking them online.

[nolabels]

10. It will be an episode of anal retention watching China trying to control internet usage

They think they are still in a closed system. The internet is a vast trove of information that is getting more indispensable every day. Wayward governments around the world will always be nervous when information is getting out that they cannot control

[FarCenter]

12. All governments will always be nervous when information is getting out that they cannot control

Information flows are limited by how fast people type, read, watch video, and listen to audio. And most of what they watch and listen to is highly redundant, consisting of copies held on web sites.

So I think that with the steadily increasing computational power it will be possible for governments to pretty thoroughly analyse communications. There are a whole array of countermeasures for things that the governments do not like.

The notions of early internet advocates that the internet will necessarily lead to a new age of great freedom are incorrect.

[nolabels]

13. We are in that great experiment now

As far as I can see it, people with internet access are only limited in the beliefs that they carry with them and of course, the things that are illegal and or things that would bring harm to them or others. It's hard for us to see this when we are sitting directly on top of it.

We are like in a big pool water while on the internet, an idea that works makes a ripple across it, and a really good idea makes many ripples.

Twenty years ago many would not believe the internet would be putting printed media out of business or solar power would be challenging fossil fuels. Mostly its because we have the freedom of internet that we can share ideas from. There are so many things that would not be possible without it now. There is no real need to be an outright subversive because when those big ripples come then those ideas behind them change things thus making it a mostly unneeded mode.

Sure, governments can make you think they have everything under control but in reality, they are all just along for the ride like the rest of us

[FarCenter]

14. So long as we copy & paste or retweet, organizations including governments can easily manipulate us

Because we are not propagating ripples of original thought, but just propagating what we are being fed in affinity groups.

[poboy2]

15. I'm a French model...

People believe what they want to believe.