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Comment by Jaruzel | Hacker News Reader

Surprised here also (I'm a guy in my 40s; 25 years online) - I know there are people online with no manners, and I go out of my way not to interact with them, but the sheer level of abuse shown here (and sadly elsewhere too) constantly amazes and upsets me.

The obvious thing to do is to remove anonymity from the Internet. However then what do we do about peoples rights[1] to free speech?

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[1] Not every country gives this right to it's populous.

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Facebook is a fantastic example that lack of anonymity does not solve anything. It takes 5 seconds to find groups where people openly say that all women are bad, immigrants should be shot, black people are responsible for all the crime etc etc......even though all of their friends and family can see those posts. It solves nothing.

See also YouTube comments when the real name policy was a thing.

China is solving this problem. Every citizen will have it's own score (by 2019 or something) and you get points taken away if any of your online friends or family say bad things about the communist party. It's a solution... but i'm not sure if it's the right one:)

here's the article: http://www.wired.co.uk/article/chinese-government-social-cre...

> China is solving this problem

China is run by a authoritarian oligarchy that wants to suppress any challenge to it's power. The planned "social credit" system is part of that suppression.

FYI, this oligarchy has a list of "perils" that include:

> “Western constitutional democracy”; others included promoting “universal values” of human rights, Western-inspired notions of media independence and civic participation [1]

It's not trying to solve your problem with people's online lack of manners, and any imputation to the contrary is part of a smokescreen.

> It's a solution... but i'm not sure if it's the right one

It's the wrong solution, full stop.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/world/asia/chinas-new-lead...

The fact that China as a whole is an authoritarian oligarchy does not mean that they can't do things better than the US.

> The fact that China as a whole is an authoritarian oligarchy does not mean that they can't do things better than the US.

You're missing the point. The US should not emulate China's authoritarian systems of control, regardless of how well China can do them or how they might seem applicable to some aspect of American life. They are the tools of authoritarianism, and to bring them here is to allow authoritarianism to creep in.

Not sure why you're being down voted. You're absolutely right. The current state of affairs in China should have everyone in a panic. I fully believe that they are leading the way into the future tech-wise, and that before long, all major metropolises will be fully automated with real-time systems that track faces, vehicles, purchases, movements, vacations, etc and then cross-reference all of that data with online activity.

In China right now it's being touted as making everything in life seamless.

To me it's the most terrifying form of the future.

I feel like we've crossed from "Simpsons did it" to "Black Mirror did it", as Black Mirror has an episode (Season 3 Episode 1) which is a similar world that everyone now inhabits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosedive (warning, contains spoilers)

> The obvious thing to do is to remove anonymity from the Internet.

That would force this woman to put her real name and photo up there. I could imagine she might not be comfortable with that.

Whether a country "gives" someone the right to free speech is irrelevant, it is still a right they have as a human being. That's sort of the entire point of "inalienable," in that it's not in the government's power to bestow or take away.

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