There are pages of comments here now debating all the intricacies of this situation: Where free speech begins and ends, when firing is justified or not, how and if it's possible to solve the issue with the courts or congress.
The cold reality is that the solution to all of this is very simple:
1. Stop using your real name (and personal information) online.
2. Stop using social media sites (as they revolve around sharing personal information).
In situations when you MUST use real life identity online, only post the most bland, inoffensive things possible. The multitude of protests to this position are irrelevant: anonymity online is not an option, it is a NECESSITY because of the way the Internet works.
Clever people understood this from the beginning: this advice was mainstream Internet 101 in the 90s. But as time went on profit seeking companies brainwashed everyone into a new norm where we all go around with our clothes off and our dicks out. This is not a safe or sustainable situation. The net isn't like real life. It has MEMORY, vast and sticky. It's searchable. On the net, information is a weapon, and if you go around handing out loaded weapons to everyone you meet, eventually bad things will happen.
Reams of digital ink have been spilled in this comment section debating how best to keep people from firing the weapon at you. This misses the point. Stop giving it to them in the first place. If you do, you have no room to complain.
The cold reality is that the solution to all of this is very simple:
1. Stop using your real name (and personal information) online.
2. Stop using social media sites (as they revolve around sharing personal information).
In situations when you MUST use real life identity online, only post the most bland, inoffensive things possible. The multitude of protests to this position are irrelevant: anonymity online is not an option, it is a NECESSITY because of the way the Internet works.
Clever people understood this from the beginning: this advice was mainstream Internet 101 in the 90s. But as time went on profit seeking companies brainwashed everyone into a new norm where we all go around with our clothes off and our dicks out. This is not a safe or sustainable situation. The net isn't like real life. It has MEMORY, vast and sticky. It's searchable. On the net, information is a weapon, and if you go around handing out loaded weapons to everyone you meet, eventually bad things will happen.
Reams of digital ink have been spilled in this comment section debating how best to keep people from firing the weapon at you. This misses the point. Stop giving it to them in the first place. If you do, you have no room to complain.