On September 4th, 2011, Eric Pfanner wrote for the New York Times on a new twist in the internet anonymity debate: real name policies.  Real name policies require web users to provide their real names in order to post on websites.  The article mentions how South Korea enacted a real name policy in response to the suicide of a popular actress who had been bullied via the internet.  However, the South Korean government decided to abandon the policy after hackers stole 35 million user's identification data (which they had been required to supply in order to verify their identities).

However, the article notes that there have been growing calls for restrictions on Internet anonymity.  Specifically, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrick cited the case of Norwegian terrorist suspect Anders Behrig Breivik who had blogged under the user name "Fjordman."  Furthermore, Google executive chairman Eric E. Schmidt told a media conference in Edinburgh that “The Internet would be better if we had an accurate notion that you were a real person as opposed to a dog, or a fake person, or a spammer.”

However, Mr. Pfanner goes on to argue that, all in all, real name policies are a lousy idea.  Online anonymity is essential for political dissidents and corporate whistle-blowers; real name policies would severely limit that anonymity.  Further, although cyberbullying and online death threats are an unwanted byproduct of internet anonymity, arrests made of members of the notorious hacking ring Anonymous demonstrates that authorities already have tools for rooting out anonymous trolls when they really want to.

In the end, Mr. Pfanner points out that "The real world is often messy, chaotic and anonymous. The Internet is mostly better that way, too."

The source article can be found here.

On September 4th, 2011, Eric Pfanner wrote for the New York Times on a new twist in the internet anonymity debate: real name policies.  Real name policies require web users to provide their real names in order to post on websites.  The article mentions how South Korea enacted a real name policy in response to the suicide of a popular actress who had been bullied via the internet.  However, the South Korean government decided to abandon the policy after hackers stole 35 million user's identification data (which they had been required to supply in order to verify their identities).

However, the article notes that there have been growing calls for restrictions on Internet anonymity.  Specifically, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrick cited the case of Norwegian terrorist suspect Anders Behrig Breivik who had blogged under the user name "Fjordman."  Furthermore, Google executive chairman Eric E. Schmidt told a media conference in Edinburgh that “The Internet would be better if we had an accurate notion that you were a real person as opposed to a dog, or a fake person, or a spammer.”

However, Mr. Pfanner goes on to argue that, all in all, real name policies are a lousy idea.  Online anonymity is essential for political dissidents and corporate whistle-blowers; real name policies would severely limit that anonymity.  Further, although cyberbullying and online death threats are an unwanted byproduct of internet anonymity, arrests made of members of the notorious hacking ring Anonymous demonstrates that authorities already have tools for rooting out anonymous trolls when they really want to.

In the end, Mr. Pfanner points out that "The real world is often messy, chaotic and anonymous. The Internet is mostly better that way, too."

The source article can be found here.