-----Original Message----- From: Abd ul-Rahman Lomax > Good place for me to stop. Kemosabe has obsessively added many responses, that demonstrate to anyone who is watching, and who is neutral, the bankruptcy of his position.
Of interest: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/06/20/inside_the_mi nd_of_the_anonymous_online_poster/ There is no legal "right" to individual anonymity online in a public forum, as far as I can tell in the case law ... which is all comparatively new; but anonymity will generally be protected vis-a-vis third parties (the newspaper) up to the point of apparent defamation. http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2010/nc-judge-unmasks-pseudonymous-blog-comm enters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CitizenMed iaLawProject+%28Citizen+Media+Law+Project%29 Since you personally were not defamed, then anonymity would probably be maintained if it ever came to push-and-shove. Anonymity is a proposed derivative of freedom of speech, which is a right - but obviously the dynamics are different online, compared to on a soapbox in Central Park. There is nothing unethical, in any way, shape, or form - about trying to unmask the identity of an anonymous poster to a public forum, using legal means. Public comments are like garbage (in more ways than one) - once you put it out on the curb, it is no longer your property. Closely held beliefs, theories, ideas, religious dogma will likely never be protected against ridicule in the USA ... which will allow the nuts who want to burn and insult the Bible, the Koran, the Torah etc to have leeway for doing so with impunity, but not anonymity. There's no accounting for bad taste - but these creeps have zero guaranteed right to remain anonymous when they go public on an open forum, so long as legal means are used to find their identity. The two are distinctly different issues. The key phrase: when they go public. "Cowardice" - when one publishes detailed arguments about complex issues, where their personal knowledge, education, credibility or skill can be a major issue, is not overlooked by most viewers; and if Kemo really wanted to sway more of them, he would realize that problem. He is probably a well-read grad student with a personality disorder.
