NY To Shut Down Anonymous Online Comments, Plastic Surgeon Says “First!”

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One of my personal netiquette rules is that I try to never, ever read the comment section of a new site. For all the legitimate, insightful comments accompanying an article, there are generally a dozen inanities. We’re not always talking trolling — sometimes it’s just someone who thinks they’re funny or who honestly feels passionate about something without the ability to coherently express that passion. But the signal-to-noise ratio is just too low.

One particular comment issue is that of anonymity. Many sites allow users to comment without setting up any kind of name. There’s a certain type of personality that takes the ability to create an online identity as a form of performance art. Their online persona may be completely different from their offline self. However, this can also be used in a harmful manner. A plastic surgeon in Orlando, for example, is suing a former patient for defamation. The complainant alleges that the patient slammed him online. While the patient first did it under her own name, the doctor claims she also posed as other patients and caused major damage to the surgeon’s reputation.

The New York Legislature wants to avoid cases like this, so it’s pitching a total ban on anonymous internet comments. Realizing that New York is not the capital of the world (wait, what?), the legislature only want to mandate that NY-based sites take down or disable anonymous comments. I’m not a lawyer, but I have a hard time seeing this one actually pass. That said, I know of at least one site that already has this as policy — comic book creator John Byrne  has long insisted on users going by their real name at his personal site. No idea if this cuts down on cyberbullying, but I’ve always wondered how does he know, anyway? It would take all of two minutes to generate an email address to link to a fictitious persona, and then make whatever comments I want. I doubt NY Legislators have thought this through.