Open thread for night owls: Bill would force website owners to remove anonymous comments

At Threat Level, David Kravets reports:

Did you hear the one about the New York state lawmakers who forgot about the First Amendment in the name of combating cyberbullying and 'baseless political attacks'?

Proposed legislation in both chambers would require New York-based websites, such as blogs and newspapers, to 'remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post.'

No votes on the measures have been taken. But unless the First Amendment is repealed, they stand no chance of surviving any constitutional scrutiny even if they were approved.

Republican Assemblyman Jim Conte said the legislation would cut down on 'mean-spirited and baseless political attacks' and 'turns the spotlight on cyberbullies by forcing them to reveal their identity.'

Had the internet been around in the late 1700s, perhaps the anonymously written Federalist Papers would have to be taken down unless Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay revealed themselves.

'This statute would essentially destroy the ability to speak anonymously online on sites in New York,' said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney with the Center for Democracy and Technology. He added that the legislation provides a 'heckler's veto to anybody who disagrees with or doesn't like what an anonymous poster said.'

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