Danish police aim to end anonymity on the internet

A proposal has been put forward by a working group at the Danish Ministry of Justice that will essentially eradicate anonymous use of the Internet, according to Computerworld Denmark.

The proposal would require open Internet locations, such as cafés and libraries, to confirm a user's identity before granting access to the Web. Data harvested from the open Internet locations--including, but not limited to, IP addresses, browser histories, and records of who the user has interacted with--will then be reported to the Danish government under the guise of helping to combat terrorism.

Companies both large and small would also be affected by this ruling, as they would be responsible for providing login codes and tracking employee activity on encrypted networks. This means private company data would lose all semblance of security--it would all be in the government's hands.

The underlying concept of this proposal is nightmarishly absurd. This is on par with the censorship enacted by traditionally stricter countries such as Iran and China. Even China, long known for its restrictive policies about Internet freedom, doesn't have a law anywhere close to this one.

More generally, this would abolish the controversial yet culturally important actions of political dissenters who run groups like Anonymous, organize and broadcast political upheavals like the recent ones in Egypt and Iran, and, on a broader note, who want to artistically or otherwise express themselves in a viable forum.