Maybe we should just completely deanonymise the internet, and have everyone sign up with their passport for every service. What if that’s the only way to rescue it now? What if all our options now are to either wade through garbage in private, or interact with real people but without any form of anonymity?
So you want to tie internet access to national government authorization? That’s a sure-fire way to get dissenters against their own government off the internet, but won’t solve your bot problem when Facebook can lobby the federal government to get credentials for its own AI.
Facebook isn’t anonymous but people are still awful there.
Also your idea would be really bad for many classes of people. Young queer trying to learn about themselves in a place that doesn’t support it, for example, would be safer anonymous.
No thanks. I’m not interested in giving up what little protection I have from the amoral machinations of tech dudebros and their fucking lackeys in the state.
I have thought a lot about how stupid it is that you can lose access to an internet account if you forget passwords. Shouldn’t you be able to go to someone like a notary, show an Id, and get verified and regain access?
Or, if you can sign up for a webID by using a govt ID - without there being a record of which name corresponds to which webID.
Maybe we should just completely deanonymise the internet, and have everyone sign up with their passport for every service. What if that’s the only way to rescue it now? What if all our options now are to either wade through garbage in private, or interact with real people but without any form of anonymity?
In some countries what you say is illegal. Worse it might be legal now and illegal later.
For example woman looking for abortion care or asking questions flags them. For them, your proposal would lead to pretty bad outcomes.
Legality is only part of the issue.
Think of all the scammers and identity theft fraudsters.
True policing such a service would be a nightmare.
So you want to tie internet access to national government authorization? That’s a sure-fire way to get dissenters against their own government off the internet, but won’t solve your bot problem when Facebook can lobby the federal government to get credentials for its own AI.
Real name policy was a big reason why I joined Quora. The policy became a victim of enshittification.
There could be a real-name portion of the whole internet. Check a box to view anonymous content too.
Facebook isn’t anonymous but people are still awful there.
Also your idea would be really bad for many classes of people. Young queer trying to learn about themselves in a place that doesn’t support it, for example, would be safer anonymous.
No thanks. I’m not interested in giving up what little protection I have from the amoral machinations of tech dudebros and their fucking lackeys in the state.
Bro that’s exactly what the regimes around the world are looking to do… why would you accept this shit as a pedon?
Doing this didn’t make people check their behaviour online, it just showed them that they can be bigger assholes IRL and get away with it.
We can’t make any top level changes to the internet anymore.
I have thought a lot about how stupid it is that you can lose access to an internet account if you forget passwords. Shouldn’t you be able to go to someone like a notary, show an Id, and get verified and regain access? Or, if you can sign up for a webID by using a govt ID - without there being a record of which name corresponds to which webID.