Haven't there been complaints about immigration enforcement pertaining to drivers licenses? Not to mention that driving infractions are basically a racket - it costs more to defend your innocence than to just pay the fine. In some states the magistrates hearing the cases aren't even members of the bar and lack basic understanding of legal principles.
They've used library records to see if people have checked out books containing specific information when doing investigations, I think without a warrant. I think I've heard of people accumulating massive late fees multiple times the cost of a replacement book without adequate notification.
In both examples, you are paying for a privilege. Should people need to pay to exercise their rights, like freedom of speech? We do tax some rights already, so I guess we could tax people to express their ideas online too. I also think the control of people's speech is more politically valuable than controlling access to libraries or drivers licenses.
... yes, any system can be corrupted. We have to look at good faith use of a system to properly evaluate it in a cost benefit analysis. Then, harden it against attack.
Also, it's "freedom of speech", not "freedom of anonymous speech". The essential part of the "My freedom to swing my fist ends at your nose." is that the fist and the nose are connected to actual people. Feel free to punch away at twitter bot farms. They're not people.
This is the danger of anonymity that we're seeing blossom online. Sure there's no immediate property damage on the line, but it's a small cumulative effect, giving people anonymous voices. What's the balance? I don't know, but laisez faire isn't cutting it.
Haven't there been complaints about immigration enforcement pertaining to drivers licenses? Not to mention that driving infractions are basically a racket - it costs more to defend your innocence than to just pay the fine. In some states the magistrates hearing the cases aren't even members of the bar and lack basic understanding of legal principles.
They've used library records to see if people have checked out books containing specific information when doing investigations, I think without a warrant. I think I've heard of people accumulating massive late fees multiple times the cost of a replacement book without adequate notification.
In both examples, you are paying for a privilege. Should people need to pay to exercise their rights, like freedom of speech? We do tax some rights already, so I guess we could tax people to express their ideas online too. I also think the control of people's speech is more politically valuable than controlling access to libraries or drivers licenses.