Ask HN: Is anonymity bad for a social capable but free, open internet?
A lot of the Internet today is concentrated to specific hotspots (google, Facebook, nytimes, buzzfeed, Fox News, any major media company, shopping, etc) that require your real name or as much real information about you, as possible. In it's initial years, the internet was not as reliant on "real name" policies. Real name policies provide a certain security to consumers and providers. A consumer knows whom they are truly talking to (communication through Facebook Messenger, or a sale of a product), and a provider can do whatever they want with the information they collect (marketing, selling data, etc).
However not every situation online requires knowledge of identity. Though it may help law enforcement in the end for some reason, though it may cause people to "feel safer", though it may just be where we're headed anyways. Not every situation requires identity to be known.
I find the more we try to solve the "fake news crisis" or "I don't know who I'm talking to crisis" we implement more and more censorship and hall monitoring and wage battles over specific rules.
Technology (and to an extent, life) will always be about communicating and educating people in society. We can make interfaces as easy to use until we're blue in the face, but in the long run society functions better when we educate and communicate with each other. Education will and should immediately include understanding about security, rights, and trust online.
Can the internet be a truly free and open network without sacrificing anonymity and security?
Or:
Can it be truly possible to integrate the internet into society fluidly without sacrificing complete and total anonymous usage?