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THE_ANONYMOUS_LIE

  Yes, there's a role for                          August 05, 2011
  anonymous services like                          August 18, 2013
  wikileaks and openleaks,
  but that really shouldn't               Incorporating some material
  be the default way we deal              posted to slashdot:
  with the world.
                                              "Are 'Real Names'
  And there's a syndrome                      Policies an Abuse of Power?"
  where people to post a lot
  of stuff while hiding                       [ref]
  behind a pseudonym, and
  then get an unpleasant
  shock when they realize
  that their pseudonym has       The extreme case is
  been penetrated.               Bradley Manning.
                                 Clearly Snowden made
  Try asking a different         the right call in
  question: isn't it             running first.
  irresponsible to promise
  people anonymity when in
  reality, that's not so
  easy to deliver?                Footnote: can we please
                                  agree that using a
                                  pseudonym is equivalent
                                  to being anonymous?
                                  Places like slashdot have
                                  really corrupted the
                                  meaning of "anonymous".

                                  (At slashdot, an "anonymous
                                  coward" is someone who hasn't
                                  taken the trouble to create an
                                  account, but the accounts
                                  themselves are effectively
                                  anonymous.  Creating one is
                                  hardly an act of bravery.)



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