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Action 36 News are reporting: Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal
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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.
Representative Couch says enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.
Brilliant idea ~ I'm just filling in my new MSN Hotmail account application in the name of George W Bush 4567890 or Hilary Clinton to cover me for legislation just like that
Are they quoting that they have 'saved the world' as well as the other one?
Nope. That H Klinton was selling viagara
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Originally Posted by medisrch
Uninforceable
More enforceable than you may think. I can quite legally track the IP address down to at least city level (sometime suburb) that a message was posted from and can get the name of the company that owns the server the message was posted from (a lot of spammers have been busted here because of that facility). BUT, we also have a privacy policy here as to what we do with that information. ISP's can track down deeper than just the IP address. While this has not happened yet, court orders may force both us and the ISP to hand over logs to track anonymous posters. All forums and ISP's will resist doing so.
Currently police forces worldwide have few problems finding individuals who use the internet for illegal purposes. Therefore if legislation was put into place & made law then potentially it could be enforced.
Remember high profile cases of paedophiles downloading child porn onto their pcs?
Personally I think most (though not all) laws are there to protect us.
Usually it is a few idiots that cause problems on the internet.
__________________
:)
twirly
Mandy Brooks
Brooks Podiatry
S64 0DE
Suffering a fondness for odd things.
Currently police forces worldwide have few problems finding individuals who use the internet for illegal purposes. Therefore if legislation was put into place & made law then potentially it could be enforced.
Remember high profile cases of paedophiles downloading child porn onto their pcs?
Bear in mind that those 'child pornograhers' know what they are doing and know how to cover their tracks by the use of proxies etc and still got caught. What hope is there for the rest of us?
I was just browsing the FAQ's wondering if we needed any changes and found this:
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Anonymous posters
Podiatry Arena has no problems with posters being anonymous and there is no rule against it. People are free to post as themselves or under a pseudonym - it is your choice (except that multiple accounts are not permitted and we can track IP addresses to monitor this).
However, please keep in mind that a number of posters do not respond to messages by anonymous posters, so even though you may use a pseudonym, consider signing your name.
If you are trying to argue a point, your case will be considered stronger if you identify yourself.
Thought you all might like to know that here in rural South Devon police are threatening to take fingerprints and DNA from bottles and cans thrown away by youths and after obtaining ID's prosecuting them!
They (the police) can't be bothered to attend burglaries ~ have filled the streets with pretend police officers holding hands so they don't get lost and have forgotten how to arrest people but they can afford to spend money on DNA tracing for litter offences!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is this traceability gone mad?
It seems to me that it either smacks way too much of Big brother or that the lunatics have finally taken control of the asylum
I'll now kick my soap-box away and go out into the garden and eats slugs and snails and any puppy dogs tails I can find :-)
In an increasingly litigous society, forums are going to be coming under pressure to reveal identities. We and most other forums will resist. A few forums have been served subpoenas that went no where.
Having said that, being able to track IP's helps us keep things under control here:
* see this thread on new dressings and what happens when new members all start asking about the same wound dressing have the same IP address
* there were some glowing positive comments in a thread from a new member about a particlular prefab brand ...it was so glowing that I was considering deleting it as self promotional spam ...but there is always that element of doubt it was genuine. What tipped the tables was the IP address was traced down to the same suburb that the prefab company was headquartered.
* in one the the us vs them threads to do with FHP's in the UK forum, we had a regular member sign up under another username to post in the thread just to beat up on another poster .... we can see in the backend what was going on as we had the IP address. Needless to say the username and post were deleted.
* etc
We have a privacy policy we take very seriously. HOWEVER, as part of what you agree to when you join is this statement in the rules:
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Considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is impossible for Podiatry Arena to review all messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that Podiatry Arena does not actively monitor the contents of all posted messages and is not responsible for any messages posted. Podiatry Arena does not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and is not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of Podiatry Arena or any entity associated with the Podiatry Arena. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. Podiatry Arena has the ability to remove objectionable messages and will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if it is determined that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately, in fact, we may not edit or delete posts that break our rules at all. We have many time constraints on us and cannot guarantee that we will be able to edit or delete posts that break the rules/user agreement. If you do not agree with this then do not view or register for Podiatry Arena. Although this Discussion Forum does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we at Podiatry Arena reserve the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Podiatry Arena, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited (the makers of the bulletin board software), and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s). We at this discussion forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you. Use of the site is at the discretion of the Administration of Podiatry Arena, and that any use may be terminated by the Administration at any time.
CNET are reporting: U.N. agency eyes curbs on Internet anonymity
September 12, 2008 4:00 AM PDT
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A United Nations agency is quietly drafting technical standards, proposed by the Chinese government, to define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications and potentially curbing the ability of users to remain anonymous.
The U.S. National Security Agency is also participating in the "IP Traceback" drafting group, named Q6/17, which is meeting next week in Geneva to work on the traceback proposal. Members of Q6/17 have declined to release key documents, and meetings are closed to the public.
The potential for eroding Internet users' right to remain anonymous, which is protected by law in the United States and recognized in international law by groups such as the Council of Europe, has alarmed some technologists and privacy advocates. Also affected may be services such as the Tor anonymizing network.
"What's distressing is that it doesn't appear that there's been any real consideration of how this type of capability could be misused," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C. "That's really a human rights concern."
Nearly everyone agrees that there are, at least in some circumstances, legitimate security reasons to uncover the source of Internet communications. The most common justification for tracebacks is to counter distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks.
But implementation details are important, and governments participating in the process -- organized by the International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency -- may have their own agendas. A document submitted by China this spring and obtained by CNET News said the "IP traceback mechanism is required to be adapted to various network environments, such as different addressing (IPv4 and IPv6), different access methods (wire and wireless) and different access technologies (ADSL, cable, Ethernet) and etc." It adds: "To ensure traceability, essential information of the originator should be logged." ...
Personally I think most (though not all) laws are there to protect us.
Twirly, Naive in my opinion, and again, in my opinion, a very female viewpoint. Laws are made by the rich and pwerful to protect the rich and powerful and control the masses. Especially applicable to the presernt labour government, ironically! And I'm not even paranoid.
While I don't agree with anonymous posting, I do agree with the right to post anonymously. The point about bullying can be reversed, peolple post anonymously for fear of bullying or persecution for their opinions, beliefs or points of view. How would you feel about not having the right to vote anonymously. What if you you lived in zimbabwe how would your opinion change about that then. What if you lived in an oppressive regimne (in a country or a company or a society or a family) and wanted to let people know about your life but not wanting to be easily identified. Internet cafe's and public terminals allow this to happen without identification. Governments and large companies have enough data on individual already, let us at least have the illusion of anonymity and autonomy.
Luv Dave
PS are you now doing this
__________________
Descartes seems to consider here that beliefs formed by pure reasoning are less doubtful than those formed through perception.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to David Smith For This Useful Post:
I do agree with the right to post anonymously..... peolple post anonymously for fear of bullying or persecution for their opinions, beliefs or points of view.
That is true and i support the right to post anon for the reasons Dave outlined. It also includes those who feel that their current/future career prospects could be jeopardised by voicing opinions. Which is of course perfectly understandable.
However, it is evident (on other unmoderated sites) that some, but not many, abuse this right by posting anon to cowardly hurl abuse at others.
Cheers,
Bel
Last edited by blinda : 14th September 2008 at 11:10 AM.
Twirly, Naive in my opinion, and again, in my opinion, a very female viewpoint. Laws are made by the rich and pwerful to protect the rich and powerful and control the masses. Especially applicable to the presernt labour government, ironically! And I'm not even paranoid.
While I don't agree with anonymous posting, I do agree with the right to post anonymously. The point about bullying can be reversed, peolple post anonymously for fear of bullying or persecution for their opinions, beliefs or points of view. How would you feel about not having the right to vote anonymously. What if you you lived in zimbabwe how would your opinion change about that then. What if you lived in an oppressive regimne (in a country or a company or a society or a family) and wanted to let people know about your life but not wanting to be easily identified. Internet cafe's and public terminals allow this to happen without identification. Governments and large companies have enough data on individual already, let us at least have the illusion of anonymity and autonomy.
Luv Dave
PS are you now doing this
Ah, naive.
Guilty as charged M'lud.
You see Dave I tend to view others through lovely rose tinted specs.
However, I am very fortunate that I was brought up to have the courage of my convictions & to proudly stand by my opinions but more importantly to appreciate the opinions of others. Also I would hope I am a big enough person to have the ability to happily have my views challenged & even changed on occasion. (DTT you reading this?)
I disagree with you RE: your comment
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Laws are made by the rich and pwerful to protect the rich and powerful and control the masses.
Not all laws surely? There must be a few that you believe are there to protect individuals & prevent total anarchy.
I also feel slightly unnerved by the following:
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in my opinion, a very female viewpoint.
Is this because my world is not black & white but more a rainbow of pastel shades with enchanting frills around the hem?
Ah, now here you may have something:
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While I don't agree with anonymous posting, I do agree with the right to post anonymously.
One of my favourite qoutes:
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Rousseau, the French philosopher and champion of liberty was hunted and pursued from one place to another because of his opinions. When Voltaire, another philosopher and writer heard of it, he invited Rousseau to come and live in his house. When Rousseau finally arrived, Voltaire said, "I do not agree with a word you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it".
We should have the right to our opinions & as such I appreciate what you say RE: anon posting (not that I agree with it either.
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The point about bullying can be reversed, peolple post anonymously for fear of bullying or persecution for their opinions, beliefs or points of view
. There are varied definitions on bullying. Those I have experience of are not of those poor persecuted souls but when spineless individuals make comments/accusations on open forums in the knowledge that they can malign an individual without fear of being openly identified. My opinion only of course but to me it smacks of 100% opinion & zero intellect.
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How would you feel about not having the right to vote anonymously. What if you you lived in zimbabwe how would your opinion change about that then. What if you lived in an oppressive regimne (in a country or a company or a society or a family) and wanted to let people know about your life but not wanting to be easily identified.
A different scenario entirely. I feel fortunate to live in a country where I may hold an opinion & express my beliefs without the fear of violence. There are limits on this also though. These are uncertain times & there are opinions which are best expressed with caution regardless of where on the planet you may be.
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Governments and large companies have enough data on individual already
Agreed.
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let us at least have the illusion of anonymity and autonomy.
Is it not an illusion anyway? I feel fairly sure if the 'powers that be' wish to really find out who? What? Where? Then 'they' already have the means to do just that.
Finally,
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PS are you now doing this
Never
X Mand'
__________________
:)
twirly
Mandy Brooks
Brooks Podiatry
S64 0DE
Suffering a fondness for odd things.
I'm beginning to think that it is not necessarily a good idea for many of the posters on Podiatry Arena to remain anonymous.
There seem to be a number of non foot health professionals signing up and posting and I also think that there are some posters who hide behind their pseudonyms when posting.....which IMHO is not very professional.
I think that this is a marvellous site which certainly helps me in my practise of podiatry and there would be more credibility afforded it if all the professional members were not anonymous...
Maybe this is worth debating...
Maybe I'm rambling... (there's a pseudonym in that- the rambler!)
Cheers,
Brad Randazzo
P.S. I know my username is a pseudonym- it is part of my email address which I used for signing up, for some reason the address became my username and I had to ask admin to shorten it.
I also think that there are some posters who hide behind their pseudonyms when posting.....which IMHO is not very professional
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this point. The truth of the matter is that many people are perhaps slightly anxious of putting their name to a post for all to see, particularly when you know the quality of professional that will read it (Craig, Kevin, Simon, Eric, the list goes on...)
This is through no fault of their own (this has been covered on another thread) but their reputations demand respect - and whether right or wrong some people are just damn scared to get into discussions with them.
Another point (which may be limited to the UK) is that the Podiatric profession is a relatively small community and if you got a name for yourself on a forum like this (for being a smart ass, saying ridiculous things or maybe just being a bit of a tit) then believe or not it may be seen to have ramifications in your professional life.
I have never been a fan of anonymous posting. It seems to bring out the worst in some people when they lack the normal social inhibitions that peer pressure enforces.
However people should also feel free to post anonymously without fear of prosecution or retribution. Not quite such an important factor on a professional messageboard.
I prefer not to post anonymously and prefer it when I know whom I am talking to online. I think it does add credibility when you post under your own name. I accept that some people prefer not to do so and consider their posts in that light.
__________________
********************************
Steve Manning
Director - Runner - Podiatrist Intraining Running Centre Intraining Running Injury Clinic
33 Park Road Milton Qld 4064 AUSTRALIA
07. 3367 3088 www.intraining.com.au
footman@intraining.com.au
The reason being that a precursor to Podiatry Arena, then venerable Jiscmail (?), was a place where I posted freely under my own name.
Until one day when I started receiving vitriolic emails from another health professional with an axe to grind against the opinions I raised. This has gone on to cause significant professional issues in the long term - all over a bloody lousy professional discussion forum. Unfortunately electronic discussion boards tend to stay around forever, and can be misinterpreted and cause unintended consequences.
Since then, I have learned a valuable lesson about the adverse effects of the internet, and I am wary to put my name to anything. If the forum rules were to change here, I would find another place to spend my free time.
LL (Thanked 67 Times in 53 Posts)
__________________
***************************************** Remember, it's just a foot.
I don't see any reason why "tags" or "fake names" can't be used on a website such as this. If people choose to be anonymous, then it is their right to do so.
However, as for me, I am much more likely to take time out of my busy day to reply to the poster that has at least given me the courtesy of using their real names at either the top or bottom of their posts. I will purposely avoid replying to posts from those individuals that are completely anonymous (with a few rare exceptions, LL).
I consider the anonymous poster on Podiatry Arena to be quite analagous to the anonymous phone caller or anonymous speaker standing on a soapbox on a street corner. All these individuals somehow expect us to take them seriously, or want our help or advice, but don't think that anyone deserves the simple respect of properly identifying who they are before they start asking questions or giving us their opinions.
__________________
Sincerely,
Kevin
**************************************************
Kevin A. Kirby, DPM
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Applied Biomechanics
California School of Podiatric Medicine at Samuel Merritt College
Anti-hate-speech campaigner seeking source of postings
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The Kingston owners of a far-right website have been ordered to identify eight people who anonymously posted defamatory material about Ottawa anti-hate-speech campaigner Richard Warman.
In a ruling this week, Judge Stanley Kershman of Ontario Superior Court ordered Mark Fournier and Connie Wilkins-Fournier, owners of the Free Dominion website, to disclose the names.
Warman is suing the Fourniers, alleging they have "falsely and maliciously published and circulated" claims that Warman had posted racist words on the Internet. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Warman told the court the Fourniers had documents that would assist in identifying the names and locations of the eight "John Doe" defendants who made the allegedly defamatory postings, including their e-mail addresses and IP addresses.
The Fourniers argued that people who posted to message boards did so with the expectation of anonymity and made statements they would not make in "real life" with family, friends or co-workers.
However, under the rules of civil procedure, defendants in lawsuits are obliged to disclose all relevant documents in their possession, Kershman noted.
He cited a recent Ontario Court of Justice case in which the judge found there was "no reasonable expectation of privacy" in information connected with an individual's IP address.
Accordingly, he ruled, the Fourniers' "paramount obligation" was to follow the disclosure rules.
He ordered them to disclose the names to Warman within 10 days and awarded $5,000 in costs.
Interesting commentary from the legal blogger Jack of Kent on the possibility of courts enforcing providers to disclose the identity of bloggers (and forum users) who may post potentially damaging comments.
Anonymous forum posting may be made illegal
Anonymity
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