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Illinois Politician Wants a Kill Switch For Anonymous Speech Online
New submitter OhSoLaMeow writes with a story at The Daily Caller with unpleasant news from the Illinois state Senate, where a state senator has introduced a bill that "would require anonymous website comment posters to reveal their identities if they want to keep their comments online." From the article (warning — obnoxious ads with sound): "The bill, called the Internet Posting Removal Act, is sponsored by Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein. It states that a 'web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate.'"
If true, in that this pol is left-leaning, wouldn't it make more sense that he'd totally support anonymous speech?
I'm not sure what brand of political left you've been observing for the last 20 years, but you're describing the exact opposite of a modern american democrat. Fairness Doctrine, SOPA, PIPA, Internet Kill Switch... Democrats have been pushing every opportunity at internet censorship.
Not to let Republicans off the hook, some of them jumped on the bandwagon for a couple of these in the name of "cooperation." They just tend to bail right away when people voice disapproval. The Democrats just get angry, dig in, and when they lose, draft a new version of the same.