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General discussion

NJ to Prohibit Anonymous Posts on Forums...

Mar 6, 2006 4:48PM PST

Discussion is locked

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uh... jurisdiction?
Mar 6, 2006 11:45PM PST

Wonderful idea except the great state of NJ has no way to enforce this legislation.

It's great to see how these clowns efficiently use my tax dollars. Good to see that they aren't working on anything important like the 4.something billion dollar budget defecit or the now bankrupt transportation department. I may just head over to nj.com and make an annonoymous post of my own.

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Great idea!
Mar 7, 2006 3:26AM PST

Sharing your name and address, no matter what your age, with total strangers from who knows where is one of the best laws they've come up with! (Prisoners get to use computers and set up forums too, right? Great!) The only way that could be improved is if it also requires you to include your phone number and social security number so everyone can get to know each other better. (Say, to the level of impersonation.) Oh, and lets not forget that it's more important to investigate crimes under new laws than those old forgotten ones, such as theft, rape, and murder.

Note: You may have picked up on a slight hint of sarcasm above.

Seriously, I understand the reasoning of the bill and in some ways think it's a good idea. Cnet's has had it's own share of of troublemakers who continually spam the boards and write sick and profane comments to others, and I'd love to see them receive more than a simple banning. However, the privacy issue is simply too great to ignore and there are too many other crimes that need the attention more than someone harassing someone else, anonymously, online. In addition, I do not agree with treating everyone as potential criminals. IP address tracing may not be perfect, but it provides a happy medium between a lack of internet safety and privacy invasion.

Just my two cents.
John