Austria: Government Seeks to Eliminate Internet Anonymity – With Severe Penalties

[Powerogue]

There are very good reasons to have internet anonymity. Living in the bible belt I could probably get fired for half the things I've said even here. I don't say things to be an asshole (most of the time), I say them because they're true.

They say every day posts would still be under pseudonyms, but I work in IT, I know how often public databases get leaked. And once it's out there, it's out there forever.

[Najnaj]

This is a discussion that will be all in the details. I doubt anyone is either totally for or totally against limiting anonymity on the web. what we know so far is simply not enough to go on. It does sound a little silly though to leave it up to individual sites. Perhaps some sort of registration where law enforcement can find out who you are with proper permits and reasons?

[JohnBrown1917]

I think you need to stop focusing on far left or far right. The way you talk I'm sure you'd be the kind of person to elect a leftist dictator.

Can't think of anything better to argue against what I said?

sad

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T\\

Because having half+1 of the 350 million people being able to decide who leads the country is what dictatorships are made of.

Clearly you have no idea what a dictatorship is, but hey, more to you if you're okay with the minority electing your president instead.

[Protean]

I would not trust a website like MMO-champ with knowing what my real name is and where I live. Websites can be corrupt, websites can be bought up, websites can be hacked. Your information could easily be lost or stolen, then used against you. Imagine if MMO-champ knew this info about me and one of the admins suddenly feels like they want to stalk me or something.
We already share too much with websites.
It's a big security and privacy concern. If they want to moderate what's being said on the internet, they should focus on taking down sites that break the law, spread actual hate-speech and so on, rather than punish everyone for the actions of a few.

You only worry because you put stuff here you'd never say to a person's face.

This is no more dangerous than using your facebook login everywhere.

[Freshouttajail]

Good thing I'm not a celebrity then.
And no, I have an actually good VPN. But many VPN's are bad or outright meaningless.

No I mean it's possible to bypass VPNs and still get to you regardless of how good your VPN is, I'm not saying "bad VPNs don't do much", I'm saying "VPNs are not the end all be all of internet security".

[Has lost its way]

We never paid any heed to the ancient proficiency. Like fools we clung to the old hatreds and fought as we had for generations. Until the day the sky rained fire and a new enemy came among us. We stand now on the brink of destruction for the reign of regulations has come at last.

[beanman12345]

authoritarian left wing governments do not care about freedoms, they care about control. This was always going to become a thing with how much power left wing parties have, surprised it took this long tbh. This particular bill may or maynot pass, but it won't be the last and not limited to just australia..

Right wing Austria.... and the biggest epic fail of the week goes to...

[Katchii]

Because it can be abused and turned against people in malicious ways. On top of the fact that it invades your privacy.
As one quoted in the article, "In the real world, I don't demand to see an ID as a precautionary measure".

The whole notion about having so called consequences for what people say on the internet often comes from vindictive, bad people who want to hurt others because they don't agree with them. That's not the kind of people you should make laws in favor of.

Aside from all your other arguments, which I don't necessarily disagree with, it is not an invasion of privacy. It's the same as going to a public speaking forum and signing in, and the fact that you're there in person which means you can be held responsible for the things you say and do.

[Has lost its way]

Aside from all your other arguments, which I don't necessarily disagree with, it is not an invasion of privacy. It's the same as going to a public speaking forum and signing in, and the fact that you're there in person which means you can be held responsible for the things you say and do.

What about the children though? We are heading towards a generation that will never have another person scream "Kill yourself you worthless faggot" over a video game.

They will hear about freedom the same way we are told about dinosaurs.

[RobertMugabe]

authoritarian left wing governments do not care about freedoms, they care about control. This was always going to become a thing with how much power left wing parties have, surprised it took this long tbh. This particular bill may or maynot pass, but it won't be the last and not limited to just australia..

Is this an attempt to be funny or what?

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Good thing I'm not a celebrity then.
And no, I have an actually good VPN. But many VPN's are bad or outright meaningless.

Which do you use?

[AwkwardSquirtle]

A centre-right and far right party are in power in Austria and you call it left wing? lol

If they're american, everywhere else looks left wing, because their political spectrum is so far to the right overall.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Aside from all your other arguments, which I don't necessarily disagree with, it is not an invasion of privacy. It's the same as going to a public speaking forum and signing in, and the fact that you're there in person which means you can be held responsible for the things you say and do.

The internet is simply not a pubic speaking forum. It is NOT like going to a grocery store at all.

And if it were a public speaking forum, I would 100% expect that arguments akin to "its a private platform!" to end. You can't have it both ways. Its either private space or public space.

[Soot]

No I mean it's possible to bypass VPNs and still get to you regardless of how good your VPN is, I'm not saying "bad VPNs don't do much", I'm saying "VPNs are not the end all be all of internet security".

I agree, they aren't. Though some are better than others. Which is why a VPN ain't the only thing I use. The rest is a secret!

[Freshouttajail]

I agree, they aren't. Though some are better than others. Which is why a VPN ain't the only thing I use. The rest is a secret!

Building my own tinfoil armor as we speak, they won't get me.

[oplawlz]

You can always use VPN to stop your ISP spying on you.

Three guesses who actually owns most of the VPNs.

[Soot]

You only worry because you put stuff here you'd never say to a person's face.

This is no more dangerous than using your facebook login everywhere.

I do? Where?

I will meet you half-way and say that people do indeed say different things in different settings. That's entirely normal, mostly because forums you might go to have a particular topic they tend to cover.
I can also say that I find it, personally, easier to have a text-based argument some times. Because it gives me time to consider my words and the words of others. But in that, I think I might be regretably unique.
I don't have Facebook. I try to value my privacy. It's impossible to know what crazy person you might encounter on the world wide web.

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Building my own tinfoil armor as we speak, they won't get me.

That's the spirit! Though putting tinfoil on your head would work a bit like an oven, reflecting signals inside your skull rather than deflect them. It pays to be informed!

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Three guesses who actually owns most of the VPNs.

Which is exactly why you prudently research your choice of VPN.

[Sinyc]

It's a proposed law, meaning it has to be voted on and passed.

Do you think this law is a good thing? Removing anonymity? What would it change?

This idea has been floated around forever. There is a reason it has never actually been implemented. It's unreasonable no matter how you slice it.

[oplawlz]

I really don't understand why enforcing accountability for your actions online would be considered a bad thing.

That said, I have no idea how, logistically, this could even be enforced if something like it were to be approved.

Anonymous communication is utterly necessary for resistance to totalitarian regimes. While certainly most asshats posting memes on the internet are not revolutionaries, you have to look at the collateral damage to these types of overreaching "solutions". There are reasons that barriers are in place to prevent authorities from just looking at any mail they want in civilized countries - too many people seem to have forgotten that.

[Soot]

Aside from all your other arguments, which I don't necessarily disagree with, it is not an invasion of privacy. It's the same as going to a public speaking forum and signing in, and the fact that you're there in person which means you can be held responsible for the things you say and do.

No, because on the internet an attacker can be hidden and anonymous, whilst you are exposed and undefended. The reasoning of "but in public" doesn't translate well into the web environment and that's partially because it's simply not true.
You still get masked people in public. You still get bullies, thugs and so on. Being in public simply means that it all takes a different approach.

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Anonymous communication is utterly necessary for resistance to totalitarian regimes. While certainly most asshats posting memes on the internet are not revolutionaries, you have to look at the collateral damage to these types of overreaching "solutions". There are reasons that barriers are in place to prevent authorities from just looking at any mail they want in civilized countries - too many people seem to have forgotten that.

And power corrupts. If we give too much power to others over our lives and OUR information, they will inevitably be corrupted to use it against us or for their own gain.