If This Ever Goes Through, I Got Dibs On "Haywood J. Blome"

Sixth Estate laments Dean Del Maestro's proposed ban on anonymous comments, missing an obvious countermeasure were it to become law.

Incidentally, P.P. "Weiner" is also a good one, because he's a real person.

PS.  Needless to say Dean Del Maestro is stupid, and his stupid idea is also stupid.  But, more than anything else, its doomed to ignominious failure.

PPS.  Yes, he is a real person.

Warman, The Fourniers, And On-Line Privacy

A good piece from the Law Times. Although it ranges fairly widely over the on-line anonymity issue, the sentiment in regards to Warman vs. FreeD seems to be:

In Warman, however, Young says the legal issues were clearer. In that case, the issues came largely down to the question of privacy versus the rules of civil procedure. “[Disclosure] is obliged by the rules of civil procedure. In my view that’s what Warman says governs. They make clear that the rules of civil procedure basically trump everything else.”

On Anonymous Comments

Recently, I've received a number (3) of private e-mails asking that I do something about my comments section. Basically, these writers have argued, this blog is so flipping brilliant that Noam Chomsky ought to be stopping by, but instead I get the black guy that says he's Jesus and "Biff" in all his anonymous incarnations.

(Although I actually like the guy that says he's Jesus, and wish he'd come back more often, but whatever...)

Thus far, my philosophy has been that, since I bash the righties pretty hard, they should have an opportunity to bash back in the comments section, but I am not sure how well that has been working as the blog gathers more traffic. So I am going to try it for awhile with anonymous comments allowed but comment moderation on, and we'll see how well that works. Anything too stupid will get killed, and any exchanges will get killed when they get too long and content free.