Share the blog post?

I remember in my 2005 high school political science class proposing fake legislation to require ID to go on the internet.

For the past 20 years I’ve shuttered at how awful an idea that would be and how naive I was as a kid.

But now I am curious how all of the externalities would play out.

I read said blog post. The future you dream of would require, at minimum, vastly improved privacy laws and freedom of identity.

I agree, but I just don’t see an alternative future if we want to maintain an open platform for the global exchange of ideas.

I also don’t feel like this changes the privacy debate. I’m not naive enough to think Google and 1000 other data brokers don’t know exactly who I am.

Having a verifiably unique digital identity wouldn’t change that fact. I’d still want to control when and how data associated with my identity is monetized.

Maybe regulators can force Google et al to digitally watermark data before they sell it, so if I find it elsewhere without my permission I can trace it back to Google and seek remuneration.

I think the only way we get the internet back is to hold everyone accountable that wants to participate.

What I mean, mostly, is that I shouldn't get doxxed for the crime of being queer on the internet the way some people I won't name like to do. There isn't really law surrounding this yet (in the US.)