It was actually kind of a scary experience, and I'd have preferred it all to have kept anonymous, in fact I'd have preferred not to have the media coverage at all to start with. I was just writing for my friends, but obviously blogs are public things.

All I could do was throw up my hands and say "oh well", I mean I did not have any pretense of thinking I had a "right" to anonymity. We all have a right to post anonymously and to try to protect our identities if we wish, but just the same others have a right to try to unmask us. And if they're successful, then that's it. All we can do is congratulate them on their sleuthing abilities.

A world where anonymity was legally protected would likely have all sorts of unintended consequences. For example, imagine thousands of government operatives all out there on the internet posting anonymously, inciting violence against enemy states, or against internal dissidents, their identity as government agents legally protected - trying to unmask them would get you arrested. That's just one example I can think of.

 Reply