To save democracy, we need online anonymity

But at the same time, an even more foundational threat to privacy has blossomed: The death of internet anonymity is looming, bringing with it severe implications for our free speech rights. And no one seems to want to stop it. In the United States, the Trump administration is seeking to unmask people who have engaged in the proud national pastime handed down by our Founding Fathers: talking trash about the powerful. Government agents are demanding the ability to identify their anonymous critics online and off as well as threatening protesters in Maine and other states with a supposed database to track protesters. As one federal agent told an observer in Portland while he photographed her license plate, “We have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.” Meanwhile, expanded ICE surveillance offices in places such as Vermont hoover up data from social media to broaden enforcement efforts. (The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, where I work, is suing to obtain records about the alleged database of protesters.)