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No, but you're asking the wrong question. The right question WRT to free speech is whether there is any free speech which requires anonymity -- and the answer
by ezy 17y ago
No, but you're asking the wrong question. The right question WRT to free speech is whether there is any free speech which requires anonymity -- and the answer to that is obviously yes. Martyrdom should not be required to speak against those in power.
But, even that is beside the point. An internet id implies authentication to use the internet. Identification is a _secondary_ purpose of a driver's license -- the primary purpose is to control who can and cannot operate a motor vehicle. That's the problem. Not anonymity,
If you can't be authenticated, you can't speak on the internet -- that is precisely what he's proposing (you can consume but not contribute). It's very small step from that to controlling speech. And it's not even about anonymity -- If you can't get on, no one is going to hear you complain. And guess who holds the keys?
And furthermore, cert authorities for the things that need them already exist. So, he is obviously pushing censorship, whether he's too stupid to realize it (it's a microsoft talking head, after all) or not.
- lmkg 17y agoYou have a valid point that there are instances of free speech that do effectively require anonymity. The point of an actual driver's license is first to certify, and second to identify. However, if you give Mundie the benefit of the doubt, he was just using the wrong metaphor and didn't mean that some people wouldn't get the keys to the castle. Would an "internet license" that demonstrates your identity but has no entrance requirements and no way of being denied or revoked be as directly correlated with censorship?
- ezy 17y agoThe conditions you laid out are hypothetical. Yes, if we ignore the anonymity requirement for all free speech, and it was strictly identity only with no other requirements, it would less directly associated with censorship. But this hypothetical is begging the question... If everything were sweetness and light, we wouldn't have problems with a stricter license for access proposal either because there would be no fear of retribution, and no one would have a reason to speak out. But there is, and they do... So practically, even your proposal is broken. There is a requirement. You must identify yourself. So how do you do that? Well, you have to supply the proper "papers" -- and what authority will guarantee those? Oops, you've just handed the keys over again... And the best part? It does nothing to stop criminals, who would have no problem breaking the law again, to just fake the papers and get an id to use a conduit for... whatever. It just institutes another level of control, another mental and practical barrier, to cross for normal people who wish to speak their mind.