Friedrich: End Internet Anonymity

I've written about this before.  Right-wing hate blogs are filled with violent content authored by anonymous contributors. We don't know for sure who owns and operates Politically Incorrect, Germany's most popular and notorious hate blog and the hundreds of commenters who spew out hate on the site day and night are all anonymous.  Nor do we know the names of the individuals behind the Holocaust denial site kreuz.net - they are too cowardly to reveal their real identities.  Anonymous hate has always been a feature of the Internet, but the issue has taken on a new urgency with the recent events in Norway, where a crazed right-wing fanatic gunned down scores of young people after years of following (in part) anonymous hate sites on the Web. 

Now Germany's Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has lashed out against anonymous hate on the Internet: 

The fundamentals of law and order "must also apply to the Internet," the minister told the German news magazine Spiegel. Friedrich claimed that it would be useful if individuals were forced to make their arguments publicly, rather than anonymously.

Friedrich argued that the Internet was leading to a new breed of radicalized lone individuals about whom security authorities were becoming increasingly concerned.

"There are more and more people who isolate themselves from their social surroundings and disappear into their own world on the Internet," said Friedrich.

"Once there they change, most of them without really notice," he said.

I certainly sympathize with Herr Friedrich and would like to see an end to this scourge, but it is not feasible to force peole to disclose their real identiy on the Internet without shutting the Web down altogether.  On balance, the benefits of the open Internet outweigh the dangers.  We cannot become like China or Iran in trying to control access and suppressing the truth.  Besides, Breivik - the Norwegian terrorist - never tried to hide his identity. And, as we learned in his "manifesto", many of his heroes are well-known public figures - like Robert Spencer in the US and Henryk Broder in Germany - who actively trade off their hate.

Comments

[Strahler 70]

Friedrich argued that the Internet was leading to a new breed of lone individuals gambling and playing online poker about whom tax authorities were becoming increasingly concerned.

Once there they make money, most of them without really notice.

[Zyme]

Friedrich reminds me of the old days when the parties in Germany had absolutely no clue about online media, fearing everything from blogs to multi-player shooting games.

Not that I wouldn't like his stance on minorites in our society, but it appears that his idea of the internet is totally anachronistic.

[Zyme]

"Nor do we know the names of the individuals behind the Holocaust denial site kreuz.net - they are too cowardly to reveal their real identities."

I never know whether I should be amused or get a stomach ache by such lines. What a one-sided way of looking at things. Not that I would support their ideas, but what would they have to face should they lift their anonymity?

Would you also consider the members of movements like "Weisse Rose" to have been cowards for not lifting their identity?
Surely both had to face a different scale of punishments, but I think it is very understandable that a group fearing legal prosecution for speaking their mind would like to remain anonymous.

[SFJD]

Internet anonymity is as important to free and open discourse (and all the unpleasantness that comes with that, unfortunately) as the right to free speech itself.

Forcibly unmasking an anonymous speaker should only be an option when the speech itself is unlawful, such as in the case of fraud, defamation, or obscenity.