Will the Real You Please Stand Up?

I am a huge fan of the Internet. I enjoy discovering new ideas, new blogs, new products, new technologies, new sites.

There is a dark side to the whole Internet business though. And I'm not talking about the porn sites or the Internet stalkers. I'm talking about the level of discourse brought about by anonymity.

Everyone has seen the cartoon of a dog sitting in front of a computer, with the caption "On the Internet nobody knows you're a dog".

The more time I spend on the Internet, the more I see it. Hateful, sexist, racist comments made in anonymity. You know - the kind of behaviour that would embarrass your colleagues, friends or family, if made public. When posters hide behind pseudonyms all rules are off. And I think that in many cases, it lowers the level of discourse - name calling, slander and just plain lies all done under cover. It doesn't add to the conversation. It interrupts it.

I'm an advocate of free speech and would never suggest that these people not be able to express their points of view - no matter how rude or hateful. And I'm not saying that anonymity should be banished. But I'd like the option to filter out anonymous posts.

The challenge, is how to implement an identity technology that would force "the real you to please stand up".

If we all had the option of using a 3rd party identity validation - which would automatically attach our real names, city, state/province and country, along with the icon of the authenticating source, we might be able to allow posts to be filtered, (authenticated vs anonymous).

I know it wouldn't solve all the problems, but it might raise the level of discourse on the web. My hope would be that if we can hold people accountable, they might act more responsibly. And perhaps the Internet would be a slightly better place.