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Browser Firm That Required Users To Confirm Their Real Life Identity Shut Down After Its Employees Were Threatened (xconomy.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

New submitter nleskovic shares a report: When Authenticated Reality launched last year, it seemed that the company had struck gold in terms of market demand and fit. The Austin-based startup had developed a Web browser that would require users to prove they are who they say they are. Users would have to sign up for an account -- scanning their driver's license and taking a photo -- in order to download the browser, which would sit "on top" of the Internet, said Chris Ciabarra, Authenticated Reality's co-founder, in an interview last year. "Everybody knows who everybody is," he said. So, when Facebook announced this week that its site was, once again, home to inauthentic pages and accounts designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming midterm Congressional elections, I contacted Ciabarra to find out how the company was doing. But, he said Wednesday that he had shut down the startup just a month after its debut. He said people who had heard about Authenticated Reality from media reports were visiting the firm's offices in California and threatening employees. (The addresses were listed on the website.) "It was getting kind of scary," he told me. "They were thinking we were taking their freedom away because they had to sign up using a driver's license. They thought we were trying to follow them."

6 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Yeah, no, fuck them and that shit by ole_timer · · Score: 4, Funny

    bye

    --
    nothing to see here - move along
  2. If Only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    There had been some way to hide their identity....

  3. Re: Yeah, no, fuck them and that shit by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tables are already turning.

    I'd agree with you, but let's remember that tables should only be used to represent tabular data. For presentation, use CSS.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  4. Re: Yeah, no, fuck them and that shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dumbass you missed the memo yesterday, you need ID to buy groceries!!!

  5. Let me guess.... by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1, Funny

    Threats were received at their address here:

    San Francisco Office:
    529 Sausalito Blvd Sausalito
    CA 94965

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
  6. Re:Why? by jrumney · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why would one need (or want) to provide proof of identity to use a browser?

    So you can buy groceries online.