AndyDufresne wrote:It's like writing angry anonymous letters to people/newspapers. Except multiplied by a billion.
--Andy
No, its not. While some newspapers allow people to withhold their names and such, the almost never allow publishing of letters without a real name and address attached. There is a mound of law and legal precedence to dictate the boundaries. In almost all cases, people who present truly libelous and certainly threatening information, even just plain rudely insulting (you idiot is usually OK, you %$##^ is usually not) commentary is often not allowed.
When something "slips through", the originators, if not the publishers can be held responsible.
This is absolutely NOT the case on the internet. Further, even if the original poster was limited, there are no limits at all on who can obtain this information and then spread it around.
The worst part is that too often people only THINK they are anonymous. I have taken great pains, here. However if someone really wanted to, they probably could find out who I am anyway. My "security" is that no one is really that interested in me.
This becomes a real issue, though with kids and young adults. It becomes an issue not just because they often lack the ... er "restraint" (or healthy paranoia) of older folks, but also because the potential for something said in a spurious moment to come back and "haunt" them in profound ways is so much greater.
More than a few people have been fired or denied jobs/scholarships because of plain stupidity posted on the internet. From a newscaster who participated in a wet T-shirt contest, to teens simply mouthing off or being "stupid". Even in cases where teens have actually done criminal stuff -- beating other kids up on tape, etc, you have to wonder if this should be available to anyone for the rest of those teen's lives. I certainly want criminality prosecuted, but if a 15 year old is encouraged by her friend's mom to beat up another girl, is that something that should follow that girl, regardless of later life changes she makes, when she is 40, with kids of her own?
Then you have the problem of people posting stuff on
other people. A 10 year old boy, mad at his sister, can take a picture of her in the shower and post it. Before parents or anyone else can even know about it, it can be all over the internet. The only laws are regarding child porn, which means both that the 10 year old can potentially be convicted of being a predator AND really means there is no practical way to remove those nude photos.
Worse, a boyfriend can videotape his girlfrien in "compromising" situations or a man can do that in a divorce case (pre-divorce). ... etc.
