You’d think that after all the fighting back and forth between privacy groups, media groups as well as the current government regime that the latter groups might realize that consumers really aren’t too keen on the idea of having to give out all their personal information for every little insignificant day-to-day task. The WashingtonPost.com’s executive editor seems to be hellbent on making sure the website can track user information, you know…just in case you decide to break commenting rules.

CNET recently reported that Jim Brady, executive editor of the WashingtonPost.com really feels like documenting the identities of commenters is necessary in deterring users from diverting from the rules of the website and leaving inappropriate or nasty comments. Brady advocates filters and different software that would not only catch and block comments that contain flagged phrases and words, but would document users’ information so they could then be banned.

As the Washington Post is considered one of the more venerable journalistic entities in the U.S., its website seems to get quite a bit of traffic from those who would have a say in regards to articles posted on the website and in the paper. Brady has had to deal with some posts receiving over a thousand comments, many of which contained phrases or words that Brady called stuff “you might find carved on the door of a public toilet stall.”

Obviously that has rather serious implications as to the nature of protection of individual privacy. Commenters might simply refuse to comment if they are forced to disclose private information, or even worse, The Washington Post might become a whipping boy for groups advocating the protection of privacy and the right to free speech.

I suppose the most confusing thing about Brady’s ideas is that many blogs and popular websites like Engadget or any of the other AOL blogs, for instance, require an email confirmation or other forms of lesser identification that don’t involve disclosing truly personal information to the site on which you choose to comment. These tend to be very effective for weeding out nasty comments; however, it is fairly simple nowadays to get another email address and continue being publicly vulgar.

However, if Brady and others for the disclosure of personal information for comments on websites think that such notions will escape unscathed from the grips of privacy and free speech advocacy groups, they might have another thing coming. For some reason, U.S. citizens latch on to free speech and privacy much more than other amendments or entities of the Constitution; regardless of why, that means that implementing such measures might be one of the most impressive and infringing acts in U.S. history.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 1:47 am under Internet, Legal, Opinion.

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