On Oct 26, 13:08, •••@••.••• wrote: > If pictures, names, addresses and home phone numbers had to be on everything > that went out over the Net I wonder how much of a concern censorship would > even be. How much of a problem would child porn (or any generally conceived > borderline porn) be if all the community could easily identify who posted it > and who was downloading it. Anonymity brings out the worst of society and > not the best. > ::::hopping down off soapbox now:::::: And only criminals need privacy -- yeah, whatever! There are good things and bad things about anonymity, and it's really hard to make a statement like yours if you have full knowledge of both. People can have "valid" (or at least, more accepted) reasons for being anonymous -- i.e. fear of political repercussions or payback. The whole CoS vs. the Net thing carries examples for both sides of the argument. The operator of anon.penet.fi gave his views on the subject shortly after the CoS managed to (illegally?) force him to cough up the identity of one of his subscribers. It's a good read. Point your Web browser to: http://www.bbcnc.org.uk/tv/the_net/TN950703/anonymity.html -H (For those who care, the CoS case is a darned good example of why people NEED tools such as encryption to guard their privacy. In case after case this year, the CoS has tried to threaten/intimidate their critics into silence by accusing *everybody* of copyright violations. Such allegations (almost always unproven) are then used to obtain search/seizure warrants and seize critics' computer systems. Once seized, they basically get Free Rein to do whatever the hell they want with those systems -- including fishing for the addresses/names/ correspondence of other known critics. This has happened time and time again, and will probably continue to happen as long as they can get away with it.) ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages and online materials, pursuant to any contained copyright & redistribution restrictions. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
