he mandatory id verification on social media presents both obstacles and the possibility of encouraging new ways of communication. But hey, do not let the death of the internet as we know it stress you out because there is always going to be a way out. A different user Wmargot7 suggested an alternative where no identity verification is required and people just use their real ones: “what if we all just used our real names? You know, there wouldn’t be any trolls if no one was an anonymous account.” Then let’s consider the matter of online anonymity.
At the same time, we cannot deny that some of the reasons for the plan of forced ID came from a very good place. The people in power are worried about the kids being groomed while dating sites are another potential issue. Tinder bringing a lot of people to the online world makes the other case just as valid. User Dreadpirate said: “it is absolutely impossible to eliminate all the bad things that happen online but we can minimize them and identity verification is one of the ways to do it.” So, while netizens are potentially losing the battle of anonymity, the tech industry could win the war of regulation.
Not to mention the fact that even useful innovations such as identity-based communication lines if they happen the implementation will take ages and will be chaotic. User Kaios connected the case to the GDPR saying that “if GDPR sometimes makes things impossible and one is not able to get two different companies to talk to each other then just imagine the chaos in getting people to communicate with their IDs.” There could still be other ways to effectively deal with the issues that the plan is targeting; however, they would not be that suitable for operations at EU-wide level – hence coming off as impractical.
Last but not least, it is only going to be the EU that has to face this issue. The rest of the world will likely just continue doing as they currently are if they feel like it. Hence, getting back to the point of this article, EU’s lawmakers should be conscious of their power over the world and the consequences that their decisions might have on global practices when it comes to online anonymity.
As we move towards the future, society will still have to debate what it means to be anonymous online. By the very nature of the Internet, it is a difficult issue to deal with, if not an impossible one. What if? Wouldn’t that be catastrophic? It, however, seems that the era of anonymity is coming to an end and the one of controlled online communication is here.
