"You should have your tongue ripped out." Female bloggers speak out about misogynist comments, rape threats and death threats. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Nov 4, 2011 - 102 comments

Telex is an interesting proxy-less anti-censorship system designed to combat state-level censorship (pdf). But would it cost too much? Should we really trust "good" state-level actors with our anti-censorship efforts? And might it divert resources from established anonymity projects, like Tor, I2I, Freenet, etc.
posted by jeffburdges on Aug 7, 2011 - 18 comments

The Guardian: Online commenting: How the internet created an age of rage
posted by zarq on Jul 25, 2011 - 93 comments

4chan and /b/: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community is a paper by researchers from MIT and the University of Southampton. The paper itself [PDF].
posted by Sticherbeast on May 31, 2011 - 42 comments

Facebook Connect Comments are not a new feature, but ever since Techcrunch started using it the outrage has started to pour in. [more inside]
posted by asymptotic on Mar 8, 2011 - 221 comments

A worrisome set of posts from Princeton University's 'Freedom to Tinker" Blog:
In many situations, it may be far easier to unmask apparently anonymous online speakers than they, I, or many others in the policy community have appreciated. Today, I'll tell a story that helps explain what I mean. Second post: what BoingBoing knows about John Doe. Third, and most concerning post: The traceability of an online anonymous comment. Related post: a well researched review of the privacy concerns around the roll-out of, and push-back against, Google Buzz.
posted by Rumple on Feb 18, 2010 - 41 comments

Chinese news site dispense with user anonymity. Includes an updated list of sites China actively blocks, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International (?!? - both links work only outside of China). prev
posted by allkindsoftime on Sep 9, 2009 - 40 comments

Internet Anonymity: A Right of the Past? | North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology

A newly designed Internet Protocol, restricting communication source autonomy, is being quietly drafted with detailed technical standards that “define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications and potentially curbing the ability of users to remain anonymous” by a United Nations agency. The “IP Traceback” drafting group, which has declined to release key documents or allow their meetings to be open to the public, includes, among others, the United States National Security Agency.

[more inside]
posted by shetterly on Jun 25, 2009 - 52 comments

In what has been described as "a major blow to online free speech in Canada", an Ontario court has ordered the owners of FreeDominion.ca to disclose all personal information on eight anonymous posters to the chat site - including email and IP addresses. [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese on Mar 25, 2009 - 34 comments

Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Ban Anonymous Internet Posting. This bill is pretty much a nonstarter, but should online defamation be criminalized? [pdf]
posted by desjardins on Mar 10, 2008 - 20 comments

PrintCafe sues idiot. Literally. They are suing several individuals who posted anonymous comments on F---edCompany's message boards. So far, all they have are the aliases the comments were posted under, namely "Ex-DLJ", "sucky-me", and "idiot!". Apparently that's all they're going to get, since Pud says here, "FC servers contain no logs ". Also of note is item number 4 on this page of the letter Pud received.
posted by Potsy on Nov 28, 2001 - 8 comments

Zero-Knowledge's Freedom Network to shut down. The network provided Internet and email anonymity. I always found it very slow and cumbersome, and stopped using it in favour of SafeWeb many months ago.
posted by tranquileye on Oct 4, 2001 - 5 comments

'Like, what? Some 12-year-old kid is going to give me legal advice?" On the internet, no one knows that you're a 15-year old legal whiz without a license to practice law. Long story, but well worth it. Any MeFi lawyers care to comment on the UPL aspect?
posted by davidmsc on Jul 16, 2001 - 11 comments

Blair and Bush agree that all internet users should be clearly identified. Which brings up an interesting question: Is anonymity a constitutionally protected right? (In the US or anywhere else?)
posted by Steven Den Beste on Feb 25, 2001 - 18 comments

This has been showing up in my referrer log. The site enables you to surf anonymously. It also blocks stats on systems, screen resolution and browser type. It might prove useful to some here. As a designer though, I have concerns about being able to track user statistics.
posted by centrs on Jul 27, 2000 - 8 comments

This new "FreeNet" sounds like a perfect utopia, where all information is free like beer, and not just free like speech. Some of the provisions for the network, like not being able to remove a file, remaining anonymous, and not even being able to track down where the files are really coming from make it sound like a anarchist's paradise. I'm wondering though, will it be a place to exchange banned books, or will it be clogged with porn, warez, and mp3s? Will it be populated with idealists against censorship, or AOLers wanting free stuff? Do things always go to the lowest common denominator right away, or does it take time?
posted by mathowie on Apr 26, 2000 - 5 comments