Anonymous Will Go to Jail

Big Brother is watching. Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.

Their full name would have to be used anytime a comment is posted.

Listen to me, half of the funniest posts I’ve ever read have been signed by anonymous. I don’t need to know who said it.

Look, I know that there’s all sorts of problems out there with anonymity but is this really the way to solve it? If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.

Representative Couch says he filed the bill in hopes of cutting down on online bullying but admitted that enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.

I’m now officially starting a new online group. “Anonymouses for Anonymity.”

And in case the bill is passed and there some who can’t stop themselves from posting anonymously I’m starting a help group called “Anonymous Anonymous.”