exactly. only in CERTAIN CONDITIONS should anonymity be removed. where a certain character USES the anonymity to be an abusive asshole, where the size of the forum is small, and the venom can have terrible real life consequences (the reputation of a real person in a small town, for example)
otherwise, anonymity is important to FIGHT abusers, such as certain governments, or with power imbalances, such as a whistleblower against a corporation
it is more important to fight abusive power imbalances. anonymity is just a tool
sometimes anonymity is used by the abusers, sometimes anonymity is used to fight the abuse. it depends upon the context
yes, but you are confusing issues. in iran everyone should be anonymous because the source of the abuse is the government. the topic of this discussion is when the abuse comes form the carefully hiding abuser. finally, it should be easier to unmask such abusers, it shouldn't be a difficult legal process. it's easy to make a hateful anonymous comment. it should be just as easy to unmask the hater. otherwise, the power imbalance is in favor of the abuser
but you do understand the right you want is abused? you do understand that this abuse is the source of the problem? it's not about jack booted thugs taking away your rights just because they are controlling assholes, but because there is a logical, credible reason for the limitations?
9. Laura Cleveland, OH September 20th, 2011 8:58 am
I share Mrs. James' sentiments about negative posting on social media sites. My husband and I were harshly spoken about by Columbia Local School District (District 4705 Lorain County Ohio) teachers and parents because we spearheaded a campaign against the school levy and revealed facts in the newspaper which the school district would rather not be exposed. Persons, both teachers and parents, who posted on Columbia Station Chalik and Columbia P.T.A. through Facebook were downright vicious. We took that viciousness and published it in the local tattletale newspaper, The Rural-Urban Record. When people know they are being watched, they tend to check their behaviour. We made what people thought was anonymous public. Remember, if it's on a web site, it's public because it can be found. If what Mrs. James is experiencing is slander, all of what is out there can be discovered through tracing URLs; she will then find out who is making the comments and they will no longer be anonymous. They have damaged her. Those people need to be stopped. We found our way--we published their stupidity in the newspaper and we had the material to back up our statements. I hope she finds her way.
good one:
12. Mark Indianapolis September 20th, 2011 9:52 am
The flip side of freedom is personal responsibility. But we don't teach that in our schools. It is all about our precious first amendment rights. When these rights are taken to their extreme, we have tyranny and abuse of others, which is what we are seeing in this town and in cities and towns all across the country. We could always pass more law to punish those who post false or misleading information, but the real problem lies in the angry, fearful small minded people who would post these malicious lies just to have a moment's reprieve from their own miserable existence. The earlier commenter quoting Jesus's "love one another as you love yourself is on target, but it makes the assumption that these people love themselves. They don't. Until these people can look in the mirror and like what they see, they will continue to spew their hateful message...because that is who they are.
and my favorite:
Zack Worrell charlottesville, va September 20th, 2011 1:12 pm
I'm no hater, but I truly dislike many opinions and attitudes of Americans today. I'm certain that I am not alone here. I feel that the internet, and all of the ways in which it is a wonderful tool, fails to be a vehicle for changing opposing attitudes and helping to resolve disagreements.
As I write this there is somebody sitting there saying" this guy is a loser" or "he has no idea about what he is talking about." But that is fine and perfectly healthy, that is why living in a free country is so amazing. We should be always be grateful for this even when our dialogues turn into debate.
The problem I see comes with some specific aspects of how we use the Internet. Specifically our identity and the desire to use anonymity to shield ourselves from critics. The sad fact is that our American Bill of Rights was created to protect freedom of speech. But the problem now stems from the fact that we abuse this right when we disguise our identity to say harmful things that infringe upon the rights of others. If
there are grey areas. always. everywhere. pick the most complicated set of rules capturing all conditions you can possibly imagine, and there are still exceptions you haven't taken into consideration
this is the nature of the world you live in. the wisest person knows they don't know everything. the moron believes they know the answer to everything with a few simple absolutes
if one feels safe and secure there is no reason to hide your identity on line
plenty of environments you are not safe and not secure in your choice of words, therefore, your anonymity is important and should be preserved
however, there is a subset of forums and a subset of behaviors for which anonymity is chosen in order to CREATE a power imbalance and be the source of insecurity and menace. this is only true in forums for small communities, where one or two such individuals can completely destroy the forum
life is complicated. no dictum about any right or freedom is absolute, simply because there is always an edge condition. take any single right you can imagine, and there is ALWAYS an exception where this right is no longer a right. the right to life, for example: you give up your right to life when you threaten the life another, for example
true wisdom understands there are no absolutes, and every right or freedom you propose has completely logically valid exceptions
yeah. and if you are bullied at school, you should switch schools. and if you are harassed at work, you should get another job. and if you are the victim of road rage, you should take another route to work. etc, etc.
it's not actually the better choice to go after the bully, right?
For those of you willing to listen to my reason and not knee jerk hate me, you have to understand that there are certain people who very carefully hide IN ORDER to hate on their neighbors in SMALL TOWN forums. If you live in a big city, consider yourself immune. Otherwise please hear me out:
Anonymity is important, for example, in Syria. Anonymity is important, for example, with Wikileaks and Anonymous and any whistle blowers, because of the power imbalance involved. Anonymity is basically besides the fact on national or international level comment boards, such as Slashdot: you might as well be anonymous, since only the force of your ideas matter, not your name.
But in SMALL TOWN forums, among a couple hundred or thousand people who are neighbors, hiding and hating is a serious problem, and should be fought.
Only in that context, a small town forum, do I agree anonymity need to be unmasked.
There are people out there with serious problems, and they ruin small community forums with their abusive attitude by constantly steering all discussions to their strife. And it's always from careful hiding with these characters. You are talking about one troll who can basically sit on a forum and utterly destroy it, for a small community.
Please understand that this is a real problem before you form an opinion on the matter:
if something becomes the de facto standard, and it probably will since most everyone has a cell phone, then for cell phone averse people such as yourself they will probably send you a dedicated cheapo receive-only pager
in the spans of time we are talking about, millions of years, the idea that a species couldn't cross the pacific until mankind's flotsam and jetsam came around doesn't pass the smell test. lots of natural things float all over the place
1. it's hassle for the company. you have to send to the customer, deal with customer service inquires for new ones/ lost ones, etc. it's now a logistics headache 2. it's a hassle for the customer. i have one for banking, and i'm always misplacing it, not having it when i need it, etc. just one more thing to keep track of in my life i don't want to. and a different fob for every important relationship? I have to carry around a jangle of fobs? Or leave them someplace and I can only do my banking there? No thanks. 3. everyone has a cellphone. everyone always has a cellphone easily available. they are going to replace your wallet anyways in the near future. so i wouldn't be surprised if cell phone companies, the government, and banks get together and decide to send you a receive text messages only widget, just for cellphone averse people such as yourself
Slashdot Mirror
exactly. only in CERTAIN CONDITIONS should anonymity be removed. where a certain character USES the anonymity to be an abusive asshole, where the size of the forum is small, and the venom can have terrible real life consequences (the reputation of a real person in a small town, for example)
otherwise, anonymity is important to FIGHT abusers, such as certain governments, or with power imbalances, such as a whistleblower against a corporation
it is more important to fight abusive power imbalances. anonymity is just a tool
sometimes anonymity is used by the abusers, sometimes anonymity is used to fight the abuse. it depends upon the context
yes, but you are confusing issues. in iran everyone should be anonymous because the source of the abuse is the government. the topic of this discussion is when the abuse comes form the carefully hiding abuser. finally, it should be easier to unmask such abusers, it shouldn't be a difficult legal process. it's easy to make a hateful anonymous comment. it should be just as easy to unmask the hater. otherwise, the power imbalance is in favor of the abuser
but you do understand the right you want is abused? you do understand that this abuse is the source of the problem? it's not about jack booted thugs taking away your rights just because they are controlling assholes, but because there is a logical, credible reason for the limitations?
examples:
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/small-town-gossip-moves-to-the-web-anonymous-and-vicious.html?sort=recommended
good one:
and my favorite:
my answer is simple: life isn't simple
there are grey areas. always. everywhere. pick the most complicated set of rules capturing all conditions you can possibly imagine, and there are still exceptions you haven't taken into consideration
this is the nature of the world you live in. the wisest person knows they don't know everything. the moron believes they know the answer to everything with a few simple absolutes
exactly. anonymity is all about a power imbalance
if one feels safe and secure there is no reason to hide your identity on line
plenty of environments you are not safe and not secure in your choice of words, therefore, your anonymity is important and should be preserved
however, there is a subset of forums and a subset of behaviors for which anonymity is chosen in order to CREATE a power imbalance and be the source of insecurity and menace. this is only true in forums for small communities, where one or two such individuals can completely destroy the forum
life is complicated. no dictum about any right or freedom is absolute, simply because there is always an edge condition. take any single right you can imagine, and there is ALWAYS an exception where this right is no longer a right. the right to life, for example: you give up your right to life when you threaten the life another, for example
true wisdom understands there are no absolutes, and every right or freedom you propose has completely logically valid exceptions
yeah. and if you are bullied at school, you should switch schools. and if you are harassed at work, you should get another job. and if you are the victim of road rage, you should take another route to work. etc, etc.
it's not actually the better choice to go after the bully, right?
and not the translation, i have provided a link:
http://japanisweird.com/weirdjapanese/popular/14723-korean-fail
(instant -1 from slashdot crowd)
For those of you willing to listen to my reason and not knee jerk hate me, you have to understand that there are certain people who very carefully hide IN ORDER to hate on their neighbors in SMALL TOWN forums. If you live in a big city, consider yourself immune. Otherwise please hear me out:
Anonymity is important, for example, in Syria. Anonymity is important, for example, with Wikileaks and Anonymous and any whistle blowers, because of the power imbalance involved. Anonymity is basically besides the fact on national or international level comment boards, such as Slashdot: you might as well be anonymous, since only the force of your ideas matter, not your name.
But in SMALL TOWN forums, among a couple hundred or thousand people who are neighbors, hiding and hating is a serious problem, and should be fought.
Only in that context, a small town forum, do I agree anonymity need to be unmasked.
There are people out there with serious problems, and they ruin small community forums with their abusive attitude by constantly steering all discussions to their strife. And it's always from careful hiding with these characters. You are talking about one troll who can basically sit on a forum and utterly destroy it, for a small community.
Please understand that this is a real problem before you form an opinion on the matter:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/small-town-gossip-moves-to-the-web-anonymous-and-vicious.html
my comment attempted to make national racial and religious strife absurd and humorous
congratulations on showing us why the issue has to be made fun of: too many morons take this shit seriously
Sergey Brin and tell him to keep these Russians away from dominating this American company... oh yeah.... nevermind
where do you deluded naive people come from?
you really think it's that simple?
I agree with you completely
But why do you think your observations have any relevancy to the production and consumption of CHILD pornography?
If there's no demand, there's no supply
therefore it is valid to go after demand
if something becomes the de facto standard, and it probably will since most everyone has a cell phone, then for cell phone averse people such as yourself they will probably send you a dedicated cheapo receive-only pager
lol
What's a pager?
(i'm joking)
please someone mod the parent up, very informative
in the spans of time we are talking about, millions of years, the idea that a species couldn't cross the pacific until mankind's flotsam and jetsam came around doesn't pass the smell test. lots of natural things float all over the place
good info
hello, north american providers:
what gives? such a cheap easy offering, such obvious appeal to consumers
are we really talking about a cheap easy hardware setup not allowed simply because you assholes can't monetize it?
it's a free channel(s). it's cheap to add the hardware. it would appeal to consumers
it's so brain dead obvious i want to know the reason why no manufacturer/ provider offers it
none of your complaints are good reasons, they are rather contrived and personal only to you
1. it's hassle for the company. you have to send to the customer, deal with customer service inquires for new ones/ lost ones, etc. it's now a logistics headache
2. it's a hassle for the customer. i have one for banking, and i'm always misplacing it, not having it when i need it, etc. just one more thing to keep track of in my life i don't want to. and a different fob for every important relationship? I have to carry around a jangle of fobs? Or leave them someplace and I can only do my banking there? No thanks.
3. everyone has a cellphone. everyone always has a cellphone easily available. they are going to replace your wallet anyways in the near future. so i wouldn't be surprised if cell phone companies, the government, and banks get together and decide to send you a receive text messages only widget, just for cellphone averse people such as yourself
satan does skate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonya_Harding
why can't phone makers spend the 5 or 10 cents to enable HDTV and FM radio or even AM radio on their devices?
It seems like a great sales point, so I wondered why no smart phone does this.
Is it because the business guys are trying to extort some sort of fee from the broadcasters for this ability?
because that's how you deliver ads to phones: FM radio and TV
then you aren't doing any banking or using Craigslist
I don't use facebook but I believe they are doing phone authentication now too.
It's coming for all sites, I'm sorry. It's good for security, I believe.
SMS to phone
coming to a computer near you, for everything
Macrohard would be a good name for a fishing goods company
An observation I thought would never find relevance, except now