Is it time to remove anonymity online?

The only possible way it could work is if your online persona and access was directly linked to your real word self by registering at some kind of government agency that issues online IDs.

Frankly i don't want to live in China so ill put up with being called a Fat idiot now and then.

As many have said Threats and abuse can be dealt with by police on a case by case basis, just like normal.

I suspect there will be a push to find out some peoples names and addresses and make high profile cases of them.

If you're not intelligent enough to understand your online activity can have real world effects then maybe you could do with a slap anyway?
 
Stumble Bum said:
Would you rather be posting on these forums with your real name on show for all?
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Depends but there is a site called that already, Facebook and twitter. Then so many forums has their Facebook and twitter profiles linked on public display for many members of forums. It aint hard to track who they are.

Besides, if we really have freedom of expression why do so many Universities turn away speakers saying it's hate speech or something related to fascists... The sad thing is freedom of expression is twisted on so many levels nowadays. It's only freedom if it's agreed upon.
 
Just get rid of social media and go back to using aliases, even if you use real identities there are still people who will scream abuse at others and the more they are cancelled by the intolerant left the less they have to lose by doing it in the future.

I think the bigger problem today is corporate media and political groups grifting as anti-racism, taking a few isolated incidents out of millions of people and making a huge mountain out of a molehill.
 
V F said:
Depends but there is a site called that already, Facebook and twitter. Then so many forums has their Facebook and twitter profiles linked on public display for many members of forums. It aint hard to track who they are.

Besides, if we really have freedom of expression why do so many Universities turn away speakers saying it's hate speech or something related to fascists... The sad thing is freedom of expression is twisted on so many levels nowadays. It's only freedom if it's agreed upon.
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Exactly, people can quite easily track someone down using the info on those sites. You don't need much.

In the old days the internet was mostly geeks and smart people, now it's the masses. They have no idea about cyber security. For like 10 years it was trivial to hack Facebook accounts. But only a few months ago they had pretty much their entire database stolen again, that is still floating around and downloadable. Right now you can find anyone who is on Facebook if you know where to look, also their phone numbers, contacts/friends etc.

https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/worlds-biggest-data-breaches-hacks/
 
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When people can have their livelihoods and safety threatened by simply disagreeing with a pressure group’s message; then removing anonymity removes their ability to voice their perfectly legal opinions.
 
BowdonUK said:
After reading another story about racist abuse online, is it time that anonymity is removed?

Back in the day I was against removing anonymity. But these days I'm not sure. Sadly people are exploiting it to cause so much trouble that it's becoming more difficult to defend it.

What do you think?
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Turn that right the way around, do you really want everything you post online to viewable to everyone. You post your opinion on an issue that is contentious, lets say a political issue. Your very vocal about it but there is a change of government a few years later they pass a law permitting employers to dismiss anyone who head the view you voiced on line a few years earlier? How about if your neighbours turn on you because they don't like your opinion? You may not realise it but you could find that a lot of people would take offence to your post here and drive you out of your home.
 
It would still be possible to use nicknames online. But every account would need to be verified via a bank card or something similar. This would be helpful that if someone is causing trouble then people would easily be able to ban them as they would know the bank account they have signed up with. As we move to a cashless society the availability of bank card usage will become easier to use. It would be like when some companies charge a fee which they then charge back to you to verify your over 18.

The downside of this though is that it would become easier to block certain opinions out totally. It would also give a lot of power to the banks who might know which places you have been banned from. I think down the line it might even play in to peoples credit score, similar to China with their social points system.

I can see both sides of the debate. It's a very tricky problem to eject the 'trouble causing' people as who is deemed a trouble causer would be subjective to the people enforcing the rules.
 
I must me naïve, because I thought there was no such thing as total online anonymity. My own Twitter and Facebook is in my name and is clearly me. Here on ocuk my email address is on file somewhere and the email provider has my name and address. So if I were to post something heinous and criminal, I would expect it to be reported to the police and for them to come knocking.

If it is the case that people use fake details to set up an email address and then use said email address to set up a social media account and then start posting hateful messages, don't the email providers have a responsibility here?
 
bainbridge said:
I must me naïve, because I thought there was no such thing as total online anonymity. My own Twitter and Facebook is in my name and is clearly me. Here on ocuk my email address is on file somewhere and the email provider has my name and address. So if I were to post something heinous and criminal, I would expect it to be reported to the police and for them to come knocking.

If it is the case that people use fake details to set up an email address and then use said email address to set up a social media account and then start posting hateful messages, don't the email providers have a responsibility here?
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No, why would it be an email providers job to identify someone? That would be the social media sites responsibility. You don't need to give fake details for an email address, some providers like ProtonMail don't ask for any details.
 
I've just seen some of the messages and a lot just looked like bots and were just spamming monkey emojis, they're probably Chinese bots to further undermine the west and the solution we're given? oh yeah Chinese Communist Party style attacks on the right to privacy and online ID and a further march towards their social credit system/digital totalitarianism which has been gaining speed since they unleashed COVID on the world.
 
In some ways it could deter some, but they'll still be trolls that couldn't care less about causing trouble and hurling abuse online, they'll be the same people that think nothing of upsetting people in real life. It could cut down online abuse, but only if done properly and what is to stop someone from using someone else's online account? I wouldn't trust Google with my copies of my ID, NO WAY!
 
mmj_uk said:
I've just seen some of the messages and a lot just looked like bots and were just spamming monkey emojis, they're probably Chinese bots to further undermine the west and the solution we're given? oh yeah Chinese Communist Party style attacks on the right to privacy and online ID and a further march towards their social credit system/digital totalitarianism which has been gaining speed since they unleashed COVID on the world.
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I thought we liked China? Or was that just Russia?
 
fendi said:
these platforms could just ban racist words from being used?

how hard is that?
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There is quite a funny situation emerging on the GameStop MOASS lols where they call each other apes. Facebook has been dishing out lifetime racism bans to the lot of them.
 
It's alright saying get rid of anonymity to combat 'hate' but it would have a far greater reaching impact beyond a few racist tweets, government dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists (those that do actual investigative work not just the corporate teleprompter readers) investigating big stories would all be hurt by such measures.

I mean, most suggestions made by so-called liberals today seem to be all in favour of big government (authoritarianism) and stripping away individuals of their rights and freedoms, liberals are supposed to oppose the increase in government/corporate power not lobby for it along with them.
 
Ayahuasca said:
Most of these idiots can be tracked even if they think they are being clever with some basic VPN use. You have to really know what you're doing to make yourself completely anonymous online.
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or just use a public wifi spot you don't need to register for... if your using a phone maybe they can still work out who you are.

but what if it's a tablet w/o simcard? I doubt they could track you digitally if there was no cctv.

I'm all for anonymity, I want to know how people really feel and think, not what the government or the media tells me.

we're slowly entering a heard society where everyone has to think and feel how someone else tells you to
 
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