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This week, representatives from Google, Facebook, and Twitter are appearing before House and Senate subcommittees to answer for their role in Russian manipulation during the 2016 election, and so far, the questioning has been brutal. Facebook has taken the bulk of the heat, being publicly called out by members of Congress for missing a wave of Russian activity until months after the election.
[...] The point is clear enough: if you're fighting Russian interference on social media, anonymity is a big problem. In some ways, it's the original sin, creating space for that first lie that lets trolls enter the conversation unnoticed. "Account anonymity in public provides some benefits to society, but social media companies must work immediately to confirm real humans operate accounts," Watts told the committee. "The negative effects of social bots far outweigh any benefits." It's a common insight among bot-hunters, and one that's become particularly popular amid this week's hearings.
[...] The problem is social. We're used to anonymity on the internet, particularly on the services where it's still available. It's hard to know what an anonymity backlash would mean for services like Twitter, Reddit, and 4chan — all of which are named in Watts' testimony as playing a role in Russian disinformation.
In the background, there's an even harder question: is anonymity still worth saving? It's foundational to many people's idea of the internet, but amid widespread online harassment and Facebook itself, it's come to mean less and less. Even without Russian influence campaigns, the web's online spaces are largely associated with the ugliest parts of humanity. (4chan is a prime example.) With new pressure from Congress, bot analysts, and the public, online anonymity may not have any defenders left. In the face of that, Twitter, Reddit, and others might decide a real name policy is a small price to pay for forestalling federal regulation.
Source: Russia's Social Media Meddling Could Spell the End of Online Anonymity
Previously: Russia Bans VPNs and Tor, Effective November 1
(Score: 5, Insightful) by digitalaudiorock on Sunday November 05 2017, @02:40PM (4 children)
...blah blah blah...drool drool. Seriously folks. Who the fuck is modding this as "Interesting"? Go home to Brietbart already.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2017, @04:10PM (3 children)
LOL, you can't refute anything so you have to label someone "Breitbart reader" aka "alt-right" (neither of which is actually a bad thing, only in SJW shitcunt circles) and everyone can see right through your virtue-signaled veneer of authoritative moral superiority.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2017, @05:30PM (1 child)
Eww, who left the door open during the rain? The worms are crawling in!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 05 2017, @10:45PM
If GP really is a "worm," then his words will stand on their own and reveal him as such, but all your visceral reaction has done is helped to prove his point.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday November 06 2017, @07:06AM
You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...