It’s very common for people posting social and political commentary online to do so under a screen name. The purpose is to hide their real identities from strangers. Quite a few blogs protect the identities of their users, and may treat efforts to “out” the identity of an anonymous posters as a banning offense. Here’s why.
The FBI announced Friday the arrests of three members of a neo-Nazi group on charges that include conspiracy to commit murder. As to the latter charge, NBC News reports, “Investigators said the men targeted a couple because [they] suspected them of being active in the liberal antifa movement.” (Read story here.)
You’ve probably heard about the Comet Ping Pong Pizza case. There, in 2016, a person walked in with an AR-15 rifle and fired shots. His motivation was a rightwing conspiracy theory that Democrats ran a child sex trafficking ring in the pizzeria’s basement. The building doesn’t have a basement.
Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve seen news stories of attacks on schools, synagogues, churches, movie theaters, and concerts.
You may also have heard of “swatting.” That’s when someone calls police and falsely reports a hostage situation or other serious crime in progress at a targeted address. The purpose is to harass whoever lives there. At least one innocent homeowner has been killed in a swatting incident, and these harassments are dangerous for police, too.
David Goldstein, the founder of the HorsesAss.org liberal blog, and a former Seattle radio political talk show host, has been harassed. Someone once reported him to police as a child molester (he is not), and on another occasion, a truckload of manure was dumped in his driveway.
In short, there are crazy people out there, and some of them are violent. Remaining anonymous is how we protect ourselves from them. The purpose of this anonymity is not to avoid responsibility for our views or comments, but to keep ourselves and our families safe. The news story above really says it all. We don’t want to be attacked by people like that, and when someone tries to “out” the real-life identity of an anonymous commenter, that’s a very, very serious invasion of our right to privacy.
Obviously the neo Nazi folks had their privacy violated here. The FBI was able to figure out who they are. It also allows political hacks and the police to create stories that may or may not be true. Only the court case will show what really happened here. Did the FBI really stop a crime here, or did the FBI overstep. No American police would ever do that and violate the rights of American citizens. Oh but they do.
The problem is criminals, political hacks, ect also use anonminity. You really are not anonymous on the internet. If you want to be anonymous then you should not be on the internet, and use the same method of communication that President Jimmy Carter uses to communicate with other world leaders, the US postal service.
Individuals who claim to be an attorney, politician, judge, ect. have an obligation to be open about who they are. There is and has always been some risk to individuals in these professions. It is part of the job, these folks claiming the benefits of being anonymous while also trying to enhance their statements with claims of expertise fail the smell test when anyone asks who are you and they refuse to be open about their identity. They can no longer claim to be a lawyer, judge, ext. They are just a social or political hack whose commentary does not mean much as they have no conviction. They want it safe, and will not be found in the streets of Tehran shouting down with the Ayatollah. They do not have the right to shine those brace persons boots.
Okay, you’ve expressed your opinion, and you’re entitled to your opinion and can complain about the posting policies here all you like, but you don’t run this website. I’m still anonymous despite your efforts to “out” me that got you banned from HorsesAss.org. Try that here and you’ll be disinvited from this blog, too. If you want to post here, you must limit your comments to topics and may not mess with other people’s identities. Comments of that nature will be deleted, and disrespect of this posting guideline could lead to all your comments being deleted.