I was watching the Today show this morning and “The Professionals” segment was talking about the Washington Post ombudsmen Peter Pexton thought that commenters on blogs and news sites should have to “own” their comments.
For a long time I didn’t pay any attention to the comments on blogs or sites. It just wasn’t my thing, but lately I have taken to hanging out and checking comments, leaving comments, etc. Having done that for a while, I have become kind of annoyed at this idea of “trolls” that can hide behind a digital veil and throw crap against the wall…especially when you realized that most of the people would never be so bold in real life.
I remember reading an article a few years back that said that Google thought of having people sign up for their free services using a credit card as security and to verify identity.
I’m sure the people that there is probably a crowd that will think this is stepping on people’s freedom of speech, but on the other hand, hate speech, bullying, and slander should not be protected by a cloak of anonymity and make believe avatars.
I’m curious what you guys think?