Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Internet Anonymity and Dead Pedestrians:

In a brief and succint Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, Julie Zhuo describes the horrors that trolls commit on the internet, and implores us to get rid of them all by stripping away their anonymity. But anonymity on the Internet is also the refuge of whistle blowers and rebels who would overthrow tyranny. I think there’s an uneasy tolerance for anonymous Internet activity, because we know that these same forums can be utilized to our great benefit.

Before we throw this baby out, we should look at an illustrative case, where we have also decided to accept terrible wrongs that come along with great benefits. How many tens of thousands of people die each year, pedestrians included, just because we refuse to take away everybody’s automobiles?

By the way: Hey, trolls? get a life.

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