South Korea's "real names" debacle and the virtues of online anonymity

Is Internet anonymity a problem?

Germany's Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich thinks so. In comments to the German magazine Spiegel, he argued that the recent attacks in Norway illustrate the need to force political commentators to identify themselves online. The shooter, Anders Breivik, cited a pseudonymous anti-Muslim blogger in his manifesto. Meanwhile, Google has decided to adopt a policy for Google+ modeled on Facebook's "real names" rule. This has sparked a fierce debate, with some arguing that the shift to using real names improves the quality of public discussion, while others insist that forcing people to use their real names represents an abuse of power. There's been a tendency to conflate these two issues, but they're actually quite separate. There are good reasons for some websites to require their users to use their real names, but this policy won't make sense for all websites, and it's foolish and counterproductive for governments to mandate it. The right to free speech includes the right to speak anonymously, and fears of terrorism or other crimes shouldn't be used as a pretext for abridging those rights. Most importantly, there's no reason to think that banning anonymous speech online will deter terrorism or other crimes.