---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20160207032550.84018.qmail@ary.lan> Date: 7 Feb 2016 03:25:50 -0000 From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com> Subject: Re: Kik app has been around for a while, and so have concerns >I've said before, and now repeat, that I was always amazed that >President Bush didn't take action to require identity verification for >email after 9/11: since the terrorists used email to communicate, I >thought that was probably the one time in America's history when >voters would have gone along with the idea. Voters might, but courts wouldn't. There is a great deal of case law under the First Amendment that protects anonymous speech. That sort of rule is unenforcable anyway, unless you require people to go down to the Post Office and show their drivers' licenses whenever they open an e-mail account. Good luck with that. R's, John ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20160207162853.GA11308@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2016 11:28:53 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Re: Kik app has been around for a while, and so have concerns On Sun, Feb 07, 2016 at 03:25:50AM -0000, John Levine wrote: > Bill Horne wrote: > >I've said before, and now repeat, that I was always amazed that > >President Bush didn't take action to require identity verification for > >email after 9/11: since the terrorists used email to communicate, I > >thought that was probably the one time in America's history when > >voters would have gone along with the idea. > > Voters might, but courts wouldn't. There is a great deal of case law > under the First Amendment that protects anonymous speech. > > That sort of rule is unenforcable anyway, unless you require people to > go down to the Post Office and show their drivers' licenses whenever > they open an e-mail account. Good luck with that. Shaping expectations and molding public opinion is what politicians DO, so I think it's possible if the right drivers are there. It wouldn't need to be abrubt or dictatorial - there are a hundred ways to convince people to give up a right they don't know they have in return for security they think they need - and nobody would have to go to the post office to open an email account, since credit card companies and banks have already verified their identity anyway. Upper-level pipe providers would swoon at the thought of being able to trace every email to a real person in real time, and businesses far and wide would lick their lips, knowing that they could match inquiries to income levels, and orders to credit scores, all before a price was quoted or anything went out the door. Ordinary users get benefits too, of course: we wouldn't need to wonder which nym-of-the-day we were reading on facepage or tritter, plus someone claiming to be a physician or nurse or engineer or Navy Seal or Army Ranger or Nigerian Prince or Nobel laureate would really have to be one, and spam fighters would finally have found the FUSSP, IMNSHO. The capability is already built into email clients and web browsers - conspiracy theorists could tell you why - and I suppose it's a shame that to get changes for ordinary people, we must make faustian bargains, but it's the way of the world. Bill -- Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Mon, 08 Feb 2016