IP: Nameless in Cyberspace: Anonymity on the Internet

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>Do look at the AAAS study on Anonymity. It is not just a free speach 
>issue. Issues like liable etc become hard to handle. djf




>Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 10:36:33 -0500
>To: Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>
>From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
>
>
>Jonathan Wallace's new paper, Nameless in Cyberspace: Anonymity on the
>Internet, has just been published by the Cato Institute.
>
>Its online at:
>
>http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-054es.html in PDF format.
>
>Paper No. 54
>December 8, 1999
>
>
>Nameless in Cyberspace:
>Anonymity on the Internet
>
>by Jonathan D. Wallace
>
>Jonathan D. Wallace publishes Ethical Spectacle, available at
>http://www.spectacle.org/, and is coauthor of Sex, Laws and Cyberspace (New
>York: Henry Holt, 1996). He is a software executive and attorney in New
>York City.
>
>Executive Summary
>
>Proposals to limit anonymous communications on the Internet would violate
>free speech rights long recognized by the Supreme Court. Anonymous and
>pseudonymous speech played a vital role in the founding of this country.
>Thomas Paines Common Sense was Þrst released signed, An Englishman.
>Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, Samuel Adams, and others
>carried out the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists using
>pseudonyms. Today, human rights workers in China and many other countries
>have reforged the link between anonymity and free speech.
>
>Given the importance of anonymity as a component of free speech, the cost
>of banning anonymous Internet speech would be enor-mous. It makes no sense
>to treat Internet speech differently from printed leaþets or books.
>
>1999 The Cato Institute
>
>
>Regards,  Matt-
>
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