Looks, like, I, need, to, work, on, my, writing, skillz, then.

Good thing I'm not a paid wordsmith.

And to think this all started because of my bad writing. It was so murky, that folks couldn't even realize that I was simply agreeing with Mr. Schneier's article, and saying that I think that it's a good idea to behave in ALL my affairs, ESPECIALLY the ones that I think are anonymous.

I regret the "grow up" comment. That elicited a negative reaction. I apologize.

I have found, that whenever folks truly believe they will not be called to account for their words/actions, they tend to...devolve. Return to their hunter/gatherer roots.

Sadly, we do this in a medium that has no "forget" switch.

I have seen my own comments, from years ago, that I would have SWORN were anonymous, pulled up and presented to me.

So, nowadays, I just try not to descend to the depths displayed in these comment threads.

Sadly, SlashDot seems to have quickly degenerated into a mindless, ad hominem mosh pit (shows my age, eh?). Just like CNN commentards.

I've been trying to do my part to be a good member here (I sort submissions and metamod every day, and try to use mod points wisely, including promoting comments that I disagree with, but deserve to be elevated, etc.).

I have a feeling that I'll probably sign off here in a bit.

Yup.

I agree with Bruce.

A lot of...rather reactionary...folks immediately jumped to the thought that I am advocating suppression and censorship. The responses have been...illuminating.

All I said, was that I agree with him, and always act as if my Internet interactions (and many IRL interactions) are always in public, and behave here, the way that I would behave on a street or at the office.

It has nothing whatsoever with advocating the surveillance state. It is merely accepting it as a fact of life, like stoplight cameras and TSA perv-scanners. Once a fact of life has been accepted, then we can adjust our lives around it.

It's really a bit heartbreaking to see so many folks that should know better, acting out in such pithy ways; as if they cannot be tracked and identified (I was actually able to do that with one of the ACs in this discussion, and there was no need for anything other than a bit of simple correlation).

"THEY" know who you are, and what you did last summer. "THEY" know that you pull your pickle to vid clips of Granny and Fido. Sorry. I don't think it's right, and I'd rather that not be the case (you think YOUR life is bad, think about Granny -another example of collateral damage from this culture).

The discussions here went south pretty quickly. There's a great deal of crazy around this topic.

After poking around a bit, I realized that I'm actually responding to crazy.

I have a personal rule not to do that. It's like hitting a sick kitten that's too weak to make it to the catbox. Not nice.

Sorry about that. I think I'll just ignore ACs. That will help a bit.

case->rest();

Thanks, chum (in the "fishing" sense).

I KEES YOU, my AC "friend"!

One would think that, yes?

Sadly, as is proven, every single day, lots of chronologically-advanced folks are unable to behave in a socially-responsible manner without restrictions.

In my experience, grown-ups have rules; they just have an internal barometer and police themselves. That clearly does not happen with a great many folks on the Internet. Reading some of the sites, articles and comments folks have, believing that they will never be called to task on their words, is really pretty depressing. What is even more alarming, is realizing that a lot of these folks have children and families.

Go ahead and think whatever you like. I happen to have some very direct experience in just this kind of thing. I'm not going to bother explaining it (in any case, if I have to, you wouldn't understand). I am quite aware of EXACTLY how bad people can get, and also how very good people can get. I've seen stuff, and met folks, that would freeze your blood. I'm not talking about combat experience, either. I know just what it is to live in a nation with no rules.

<img src="blech.png" alt="child sticking tounge out" />

I guess, using inductive reasoning, that means that there ain't no such thing as "grown ups."

You are 100% correct. There's nothing there I'd disagree with.

However, lots and lots and LOTS of folks feel that "privacy" == "let my ID come out to PLAY!"

Humans don't seem able to behave without boundaries and rules.

In any case, alea jacta est. For a LONG time, internet trolls and really sociopathic folks have been using the same tools that we are screeching about in the hands of governments to do truly despicable things.

Exhibit A

It's only when folks who can track them down and punish them get the tools that the caterwauling starts.

Here's an interesting book (How To Disappear). It tells how skip tracers work. They use a lot of old-school techniques, and have been using these same techniques long before the Interwebs.

True anonymity has always been a myth. People who rebel; either legitimately or not, always take a risk. The old Internet fostered a myth of "risk free rebellion."

Like unicorns and high sidhe, risk-free rebellion doesn't exist. If you truly believe in what you are doing, you will find a way to fight. It is a lot more difficult, these days, but, as the Al Queda folks in Yemen (who, unfortunately, truly believe in what they are doing) are showing, good old human ingenuity still tends to come out on top.

<sigh /> /b/ happened. That kind of stuff happened LONG before 4chan. Remember the Good Old Days? Before The September That Never Ended?

Remember alt.tastless? Remember all those really highbrow BBSes? THSTNE was the best thing that ever happened to the Internets, despite the (to this day) wailing of the oldtimers. There is no way that teacher could talk to that farmer without all those AOHell n00bs looking for pr0n on alt.binaries

Go ahead and give up on whatever you want. I take full advantage of the open nature of things, like sidewalks and crosswalks. Just because there is an 8-lane highway in between, doesn't mean that I should walk in it.

I really don't want some of the scumbags that let their ids puke all over the interwebs to be dictating any policy. They just fuel the watchers anyway.

There's always been a tradeoff between security, peace and prosperity. It is always about balance, a word that a lot of folks these days seem to need defined for them. I don't want all of anything, but I need some of everything. We all do.

I have already written off true anonymity (years ago).

When I am in public, at work, or with friends and family, I am constrained to behave myself. There may be different rules in different contexts, but there are always rules. Some written, some not.

The Internet gave an illusion of a "rule free" context, and look what happened.

That vacation is over. Time to behave like a grown-up.