Anonymous Cop Pens Editorial Calling for 'End of Anonymity on the Internet'

The anonymous police officer calls for an end to anonymity on the internet?

but he does say

You may be reading this, flabbergasted by my own hypocrisy. I am aware that I am writing these articles through the safety of anonymity. But if you guys are willing to come forward, then so am I. Let's break down the barriers of the Internet and come forward showing our true selves with no judgment. I can't wait to see the national email registry!

Ask a cop: Trolling should be illegal

So why should trolls go to jail? They are causing or inciting a riot plain and simple. The sole purpose is to upset as many people as possible through malicious or deceptive statements. They then sit back and watch the carnage. There is no benefit to anyone except themselves. The victims of these trolls are upset the rest of the day. They are driving aggressively on the roads, yelling at their co-workers and being consumed with a way to find out who that person on the Internet was.

This is not good for public safety. This is why I think the only way to combat this is to change the way we run comment boards and forums. Anyone who wants to comment or post anything needs to do this with their official email address registered by the government. This will be verified in person at your local driver's license division. No more anonymity on the Internet. Every time you post anything, your picture and name will pop up.

Information Liberation

Nonetheless, Officer Anonymous completely ignores the importance of victims of trolling being able to remain anonymous, imagine if every troll on every internet forum could look you up and know exactly who you are, that in itself is a nightmare, one this cop clearly never thought of. Blizzard Entertainment tried to roll out such a scheme on their Battle.net forum and dropped it like a hot potato after users revolted for those very same reasons. Imagine if on every medical forum where people talk about their private medical issues everyone was made to use their real name, how in the world would that contribute to human progress?

ETA:

The Internet isn’t making us dumb. It’s making us angry.

In a study of 70 million posts on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, Rui Fan and a team of others at Beihan University tracked the spread of joy, sadness, anger and disgust across the social network. According to the MIT Technology Review, they found that angry tweets were far more likely to be retweeted by others — or be the subject of angry responses — up to three degrees away from the original user.

People have proposed all sorts of remedies for online anger, such as making Internet commenters reveal their real names. Nobody really knows whether ending anonymity will civilize comment trolls, however. Other problems we think we face as a result of technology aren't particularly instructive, either. We've got no good remedy for those people who check their e-mail at the dinner table, nor any prescription for violent video games other than to limit their use.

reply to post by atsmediapro

Oh my oh my, the irony is so thick I could cut it with a knife.

Or maybe we as responsible parents can educate our kids as to the dangers of the internet and the world as a whole. When I was a kid my mum told me, "sticks and stones will break your bones, but names will never hurt you".
She also told me that films werent real.

But that was way back in the old days when parents actually took responsibility for their kids upbringing.

reply to post by OneManArmy


To be fair, the majority of parents out there still make a very good job of bringing up their children. It's the minority that abdicate their responsibility and deem it the states responsibility.

Trolls will keep a Trolling, it's just a matter of fact. Cops hiding behind an anonymous letter? Well when it comes to crowd control in the U.K, most of them cover their faces and their numbers in order to anonymously smash someone's face in!!

Cobaltic1978
reply to post by OneManArmy

 

To be fair, the majority of parents out there still make a very good job of bringing up their children. It's the minority that abdicate their responsibility and deem it the states responsibility.

Trolls will keep a Trolling, it's just a matter of fact. Cops hiding behind an anonymous letter? Well when it comes to crowd control in the U.K, most of them cover their faces and their numbers in order to anonymously smash someone's face in!!

I think that that is debatable. While there are many responsible parents, I still keep hearing them blaming the schools for their kids failings. It seems we are in an age of blaming everyone but ourselves for the u-bend we and our kids find ourselves in.

reply to post by atsmediapro

Exactly the same logic as this:

China Broadcasts 'Confession' of Chinese-American Blogger

And likely the same methodology to achieve the desired results.

I, in 2 decades out here, have never been forced or required to read material at any specific place, forum, etc on the net.

Don't like the crowd, don't go there, just as in other parts of life.

PS. Remember, the police can lie to you, but you can't lie to them without possible consequences. That covers my trust level on the subject of the OP.

atsmediapro
So why should trolls go to jail? They are causing or inciting a riot plain and simple. The sole purpose is to upset as many people as possible through malicious or deceptive statements. They then sit back and watch the carnage. There is no benefit to anyone except themselves. The victims of these trolls are upset the rest of the day. They are driving aggressively on the roads, yelling at their co-workers and being consumed with a way to find out who that person on the Internet was.

LOL. Anybody who gets that angry over somebody trolling them over the internet already has anger issues to begin with. No sane person lets a troll ruin their whole day. Plenty of other things cause people to get upset, like being in debt, high taxes, corrupt politicians. Why aren't any of those things illegal? I mean, they do make people upset, don't they?

This is just an excuse to push the internet censorship agenda, and a very poor excuse too. I could inject a gallon of ink up my arsehole, sit on a piece of paper and sh*t out a better excuse.

atsmediapro
The anonymous police officer calls for an end to anonymity on the internet?

First off the "police officer" is a total hypocrite causing a definite credibility gap for his readers.

The victims of these trolls are upset the rest of the day. They are driving aggressively on the roads, yelling at their co-workers and being consumed with a way to find out who that person on the Internet was.

This is either a bald faced lie or needs to be considered as what it is, pure speculation and assumption. And we know what assuming does.

All in all why would anyone give this person any credence? If he really is a cop then I suggest we fall back to rule #1 Never, ever trust the cops (especially masked or anonymous cops.)

Xaphan

atsmediapro
So why should trolls go to jail? They are causing or inciting a riot plain and simple. The sole purpose is to upset as many people as possible through malicious or deceptive statements. They then sit back and watch the carnage. There is no benefit to anyone except themselves. The victims of these trolls are upset the rest of the day. They are driving aggressively on the roads, yelling at their co-workers and being consumed with a way to find out who that person on the Internet was.

LOL. Anybody who gets that angry over somebody trolling them over the internet already has anger issues to begin with. No sane person lets a troll ruin their whole day. Plenty of other things cause people to get upset, like being in debt, high taxes, corrupt politicians. Why aren't any of those things illegal? I mean, they do make people upset, don't they?

This is just an excuse to push the internet censorship agenda, and a very poor excuse too. I could inject a gallon of ink up my arsehole, sit on a piece of paper and sh*t out a better excuse.

It is a fact that our kids are killing themselves due to internet trolls.
But where I say the fault lies is with the parents, not with the trolls.

Trolls will troll, and 9 times out of ten they were bullied at school, they are fat and ugly, they hate the world and failed to become police officers, so the only way they have to get "revenge" on the nasty world is to make the lives of others miserable. They are victims too. But f*ck em, they arent worth it.

reply to post by atsmediapro


Hope he gets Doxed...

It's obvious that those ultra-authority types who just have to have 'respect', can't deal with being poked at with no consequence.

Someone must have called him a donut hog. He wants them arrested, of course.

I think being bullied in person has more of an effect on me than some words written by someone I don't even know.

Of course, I remember before there was the internet. People actually talked to one another in person. The world of the teenager today is 60/40. It essentially 60% online and 40% real-world. The internet is now more of their "world" than the actual world.

SMH...

*rant mode initiated*

We are in danger when people pay more attention their online "lives" than the ones here in the physical realm. Parents today babysit their kids with iPads and Netflix. This is horrible. If you are to lazy to play WITH your kid (maybe some legos or blocks?) you have no business having a child in the first place, as you are only contributing to the deterioration of America. It is the selfishness, apathy and ignorance of the 20-30 somethings right NOW that is causing the country to be in the toilet.

They currently are raising even worse hell-spawn than themselves. Just go to any big box store, how many little toddlers are running around unsupervised. We really a morally bankrupt and decayed society. One or two more generations of this and there won't be anything left but a husk of a former civilization.

*rant mode off*

MystikMushroom

It is the selfishness, apathy and ignorance of the 20-30 somethings right NOW that is causing the country to be in the toilet.

They currently are raising even worse hell-spawn than themselves. Just go to any big box store, how many little toddlers are running around unsupervised. We really a morally bankrupt and decayed society. One or two more generations of this and there won't be anything left but a husk of a former civilization.

*rant mode off*

And that is exactly what worries me. I agree 100%.

The problem is that the 20-30 somethings are a consequence of this trend beginning. They are as much victims of poor parenthood and poor societal guidance as the kids today. The problem is just amplified now by a constant barrage of immorality and mixed messages, causing confusion, lack of ambition, feeling like a failure because you are not good at football or other sports and never being a pop star.
Combine that with the internet and devices and its a real p*ss poor state of affairs.

This guy's sentiment is born of something mildly sincere, but his notions are wildly incomplete.

The government incites us every day, since 9/11 there has not been one day without some kind of crises. hell, they used to have the color coded alter system which did nothing but stress people out for no reason. So by his logic....

Then next problem is the issue of the paid troll. The not so well kept secret is the system of the paid troll, those hired by god knows who to inflame. Their job is to cause trouble, while the rest of us fall into some other category, one far less evil.

The next problem is that while he may dislike all the hate, and I agree it is obscene in so many ways, the anonymous process has many offering up information they would not otherwise put for display - great information to many of us.

What he dislikes is the hate, the clear posts that are nothing but hate. I would suggest you all keep something in mind, those who post such things are not actually human. The hate is all they are capable of doing, and when the internet goes away, so do they - they simply fall into oblivion. They are not given a throne, or a bag of money, they just simply dissolve. So next time you see a "hey jackass, get a life" you can say to yourself - that guy is heading for nothingness, soon he will not even exist as a memory.

reply to post by Maverick7


You beat me to it

It totally sounds like someone (probably in his/her community) said something unflattering but accurate about him/her on a public board out-of tazer distance.

Cue 'public safety' talking point and faux concern. If we only had the suggested registry, the poor officer can just locate said troll and arrest them before they hurt the children. Without the registry the terrorists win.

It is similar to the NSA/contractors spying on ex-spouses and such. Humans left to their own devices with uber-surveillance capability always dissolves to the petty and base too fast.

reply to post by atsmediapro


Aw hell, my 15 year old is a master troll on Facebook. His picture and name are there for all to see.

Anonymity will not stop it.

And people do not have a right to not be angry. They DO, however, have a right to ignore things they do not like.

I think this cop should be kicked in the groin 1000 times for even suggesting this. Too bad he is anonymous.

reply to post by ABNARTY


Even more, it sounds like a self description of sorts. I mean, who even spends an entire day thinking about that dude who trolled them on the net earlier in the morning?

People tend to imagine what they are familiar with. Just sayin'.