This is How They'll Come After Us

A bill introduced in the New Jersey Assembly would require websites to collect and make available the legal names and physical addresses of anyone posting on an Internet forum.

This will, of course, kill the blogosphere. And a lot of sports forums too.

The stated intent of the law is to prevent defamation or false statements being published under the cover of anonymity. How it will be used, however, is to allow any authority that is so inclined to check the records. If the record exists, the police (or other authority) wil have every right to go through proper judicial review, get a warrant, and find out the name of the person posting in the event that a law was broken. My guess is that once the list exists, persons posting opinions or facts contrary to the interests of the current administration might find their names on a list. It wouldn't be the first time.

Oh, and news in the Abramoff affair.

Internet Anonymity Blogosphere