Tag: anonymity

Did we mention how awesome you are?

That's all you're getting from us, Google.

Speaking of news about lawsuits and social media, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that a model, Liskula Cohen, can force Google to give her identifying information about a blogger. The blogger, currently anonymous, called Cohen a “skank,” “ho” and the ever-slutty “psychotic” on his or her “Skanks in NYC.”

This would normally concern writers of a blog like ours, but we’re fortunately not anonymous. (Except for Bryan McBournie, who uses his penname to protect himself from animals that can read.)

… But, just in case, we don’t think you readers are skanky. Not at all. Well, maybe that one time, but we were just jealous of how many ping-pong balls you smuggled in.

Yeah, ‘avoids the spotlight’ …

No, really. This is what a Rob Thomas might look like.According to CNN, Rob Thomas is apparently releasing a new straight-to-Starbucks solo album. He’s also so still in Matchbox 20, that 90’s band your high school girlfriend loved to dry hump to, that his band members don’t know where he is.

But the article wins the coveted SG Headline of the Day because of this quote:

“If I’m not out supporting my work, I really don’t want people to see me. I go to movie premieres — my wife and I — all the time, and nine out of 10 of those movie premieres, much to my publicist’s dismay, I get there, but I sneak around the pictures and get into the party [using the back entrance].”

Yes, Rob, that’s what happened. You didn’t want people to recognize you.

Reverse psychology FTW!

SG Counterpoint: Your poop stinks

Every couple of days, some Internet writer thinks they’re going to hold a mirror up to frequent users and cause us to rethink how we do our Serious Business. The attacks, like in Todd Leopold’s trite little puff piece (“#@*!!! Anonymous anger rampant on Internet”), are always the same list of grievances:

  • Users are anonymous on the Internet.
  • They can say whatever they want without fear of repercussion.
  • Anyone can read what they say.
  • Some kid committed suicide because her neighbor harassed her online.
  • Therefore, we shouldn’t post angry statements on the Internet.

OK, for the sake of argument, let’s say that, yes, there are a lot of angry comments online about celebrity bad behavior, school bullies and morons, often using bad names and language.

So what? They’ve had it too good for far too long.

Americans have spent the last 200+ years not getting rebuked for doing stupid things like drunk driving, abusing their peers and spouting moronic talking points without getting called out on it. That’s how you change behavior: by posting every time someone gets away with being a poor example of humanity.

Thanks to anonymity, Internet users are able to do the one thing we can’t do in public: tell a jerk how it is. And now they have to listen, no matter how big, rich or powerful they may be.

KY Rep files bill, wishes could do so anonymously

This just in: Kentucky has the Internet. 

However, at least one of their lawmakers doesn’t “get” it: “Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.”

The bill would require all Web sites to force anyone submitting content to register with their full name, address and email address.  Any sites that publish comments from the elusive Anonymous will receive fines ranging from $500-1000.

Who would be hit hardest by this bill?  Day planners and poetry Web sites, of course.  Also affected would be any site publishing the work of anonymous bard William Shakespeare, whoever the hell that was; Mark Twain (real full name: Samuel Clemmons); and the Federalist Papers.

To file your anonymous complaints, be sure to comment on the linked story.