This is a big article, so I'm just going to pick out one piece of it: > "If we do that to ourselves," Lanier says, "it'll be very hard or slow or impossible to

This is a big article, so I'm just going to pick out one piece of it: > "If we do that to ourselves," Lanier says, "it'll be very hard or slow or impossible to change back. If the Internet gets stuck in place with something like permanent anonymity, that changes culture and personhood and society and culture forever. It's a big deal." I think a good middle ground here is not anonymity, but pseudonymity. Someone with a pseudonym is still a person with a reputation and a single face. You can ban a pseudonym from a forum if that person is a useless troll. You can get to know other people by their pseudonyms. And at the same time, pseudonymity gives people most of the good parts of the freedom that's usually associated with anonymity. People can speak more freely than they'd be able to do if they had to put their real name on everything. People who were abused as children and never talked about it to anyone can find support from friendly semi-strangers behind the mask of a pseudonym. People with unusual philosophical or political views can air them without worrying about becoming pariahs. People who are in some closet or another can speak with other people who understand. There's a lot of good that comes from pseudonymity. And yes, it is a huge change in society, that we have this additional kind of public identity; I just think it's a good change.