Battle For Online Freedom Of Speech-Identity: Authenticity Or Anonymity

Facebook profiles and Google IDs are tied to a person's real connections and real name, and increasingly to their activities across cyberspace, forming a single public identity that's an aggregated version of their offline past, the online present and their combined future. The old web, a place where identity could remain separate from real life, is rapidly disappearing from the computer screen. The regulation of authenticity of identity must not mean invasion of free speech, for freedom of speech is not absolute and system of law provides for some limitations on it, especially when freedom of speech stands in opposition to other individual’s int erests or public interests. What’s more, even though social sites may request authentic identity for registration, the freedom still lies in our own hands to choose whether to register or not. Now that our actions on the web are more public, we need to make sure we manage the personal information we publish going forward, so that we can control what others see when looking back. If we have lived a squeaky clean and responsible life, both online and offline, then we have nothing to worry about when using our real identity in cyberspace.