Can there be a non-anonymous web?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while.

Can the Internet be re-written to not be Anonymous?

There seem to be too many people getting away with Internet crime.

As far as I'm aware, no one has a right to access the Internet. It's a priviledge.

Should everyone on the Internet have an Internet License Plate of sorts, or an Internet Driver's License that could be suspended due to bad activity?

There are too many evil actors in the world, including governments themselves, for this idea to be remotely realistic without huge blow-back and harm to many innocent people.

bad activity

Like supporting the wrong candidate? Or not believeing what 90+% of others believe?

a reply to: CryHavoc

The internet for the most part is far from anonymous.

And while there are ways to circumvent that, not all of those who do are nefarious, even if one group may outweigh the other.

The internet is not one countries possession, it’s humanities. And our constitutional right protects privacy. If some people feel the need to communicate in private, thats their right.

It gets complicated when we consider the motives of why some would wish to remain private. Most would assume they have something to hide, but maybe they just don’t want corporations making money off their data while they get nothing in return.

We pay for our access to internet, yet all the T&C for most of the mainstream sites allow them to collect and sell your data. It’s just like cable TV, you pay for it, but ultimately you’re the product, because they’ll advertise to you even though you’re paying. Only lots of the internet are worse.

Unfortunately in free societies, it gives people the range to commit crimes. If you rule the populace like you do the minority of offenders, you can’t have a free society, and you’ll be left with authoritarianism.

And it’s fear that the power hungry pander to when they “reform”.

a reply to: CryHavoc

Are you sure you want more control?

'Given a choice, the vast majority of people prefer to live in a dictatorship, as long as the dictator has the same tastes they do.'

'As long as the dictator shares their tastes, most people joyfully embrace the dictator.'

a reply to: CryHavoc

What about the non humans? There is more traffic on the internet by credit card readers, washing machines, cash registers, refrigerators, package tracking systems, navigation systems, etc.. than humans make. That is why they will never willingly shut it down. All the banks would just stop working. You could not get fries with that. You could not make a call. You could not watch TV.

How would you register all the non humans along with the humans when there are thousands of non humans joining every day? Some light bulbs are on line. You can controll them from anywhere.

Everyone and everything has a number. There is or was an addon to Firefox that allows you to see that number and reagon of the world that number is in. You just cannot associate a real world name and address with that number.

a reply to: CryHavoc

Sure. You start. What's your name, address, phone number, where do you work, what's your wife's name, your kids names etc...
I mean, if you really want anonymous you're going to have to set an example.


By the way...who gets to say what's bad activity ?

If you want your face behind a name they already have that, its called face book. Magic.

a reply to: CryHavoc

The internet is not anonymous. The internet may look to be anonymous to you, but anyone determined enough with the right skillset can find you if you've left any trail to follow. Just a matter of how the pieces fit. For most people, this trail is a giant mountain. And this is consumer level, now think governments and militaries.

'I got my Fauci Ouchie!'

I actually kinda like this shirt. But would people get my irony?




probably best to leave off being a walking billboard for your ideals, preferences, and major corporations.

I don't mind dressing neutral or in band shirts though.


a reply to: Blueracer

You could require each mechanism required for internet use to require authentication, sure.

To make this post you have an ats account, linked to a connection.
The software you used to log into that account very likely made and reported when and where and what you posted.

The device you run that software on also made a note of those details, as well as where your located and probably any other interesting pieces of data that device has collected on you.

There's a reason the biggest datacenter on the planet is classified.

It's never been anonymous - in the 70s/80s black boxes were installed at telephone junctions as as part of Cold War snooping - even darknet style stuff is all monitored and tracked/traceable with the right resources.

If there was a liscencing style system I imagine everyone who isn't a massive tech nerd will be vulnerable to cybercriminals stealing it off them or reselling them online and it could create a far bigger problem than the current one.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I agree with everything you say. If the government wanted to track you they most likely would and you would not know anything about it. Why I try to do everything possible to circumvent tracking is I don't want to be tracked and profiled by these corporations.

In the words of The Girl (Amanda Seyfried) in the 2018 film Anon "It's not that I am hiding anything. I just don't have anything I want you to see."

a reply to: Poecilotheria

I just don’t want to pay to be someone’s product.

To a degree, I can’t avoid it. I’m still young and a smartphone is unfortunately required for the rat race parts of my years.

But I can be selective about what I engage with. I haven’t had true social media in over ten years. A lot of normal traffic and shopping is via vpn on DuckDuckGo.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

The same here. I stopped using social media in 2010. VPN as well for shopping although I stopped using duckduckgo a few months ago when it came to light they were allowing Microsoft trackers on cell phones (while claiming to block them) in some shady deal they had. When the CEO was challenged about it he stated they had never guaranteed anonymity. I have been using startpage.com since then and it suits my needs.

a reply to: Blueracer

Exactly.

You would need a universal authentication mechanism which, while probably already in use but not public, would require all relays and service providers to conform.

Basically each device has a unique ID (MAC address) which would be the identifier because it can be tied to a physical object. As far as WHO is using that object, there would need to be a procedural-based mechanism like a login, security key or multi-factor authentication.

I would bet dollars-to-donuts that every device that accessrs a web-based asset is being logged. Facebook ain't building those massive (and I do mean MASSIVE) datacenters simply for logging peoples posts and comments...