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Illinois Politician Wants a Kill Switch For Anonymous Speech Online

Posted by timothy on from the well-you-did-say-jehovah dept.

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.'"

3 of 522 comments (clear)

  1. freenet = 100% lack of censorship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    freenetproject.org = absolutely no one can censor (delete) anything.
    Also of-course it is anonymous (more then TOR).
    Downside: it's slow.
    But best thing we have now for truly NO CENSORSHIP, good for online anonymity.
    got 3 minutes?

    For geeks only (need patience!)

    - freenetproject.org grab .jar (sorry, it's java)
    - java -jar thefile.jar (and -console if headless)
    - http://localhost:8888/ (from separate firefox profile, block outside-localhost access by setting invalid proxy if you want, disable java/flash if you want, JS also not needed)
    - in wizard set LOW or NORMAL security (you can't have HIGH unless you know >10 freeneters practically)
    - later, go to Freenet Message System and install it - its 100% uncensorable board (will take hour to start up, it's normal. create id, solve captchas)
    - do NOT use Freetalk (extreamly slow), but on very fast (ram/hdd=ssd) computer try Sone and WoT plugins (Twitter!)

    Greetings from anons, Johny and tgs3 see you there :)
    If questions ask us there and #freenet on irc2p and freenode.org

  2. Re:How Are They Going To Enforce It? by servognome · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't do that, you'll just make somebody else's life miserable.
    Rather than go random, people should just put in:
    Ira I. Silverstein
    2951 West Devon
    Chicago, IL 60659
    (773) 743-5015

    --
    D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
  3. Re: Death of Slashdot? by HippopotamusX · · Score: 5, Informative
    Senator Ira Silversteen, the man behind the bill, is the Illinois majority caucus whip - effectively third in line in the IL senate. He shared an office suite with Obama.

    They were close colleagues. This is from the New Yorker in 2010:

    As a rising politician with Ivy League connections, Obama had financial backing from all over, including from a class of young black entrepreneurs. But he has had Jewish mentors throughout his career. Philanthropists like Bettylu Saltzman, Penny Pritzker, and Lester Crown were crucial to his campaigns. His friend and neighbor the late Arnold Jacob Wolf was a rabbi. Michelle Obama’s cousin Capers C. Funnye, Jr., is the first African-American member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and the spiritual leader of Beth Shalom, a congregation on the South Side. One of Obama’s closest colleagues in Springfield was Ira Silverstein, an Orthodox Jew, with whom he shared an office suite in the Capitol building; Obama acted as Silverstein’s shabbos goy, turning on lights and pushing elevator buttons for him on Saturdays.

    Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/03/29/100329taco_talk_remnick#ixzz2LZl8gLSJ [newyorker.com]