Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Having bad people say damaging untrue things is a necessary cost we must be willing to bear in order to have a truly free internet. Is it? It's not a necessary thing that we must be willing to bear to have freedom of speech in the United States (if you believe we have freedom of speech in the United States). We have libel and slander laws, and other exceptions. I don't see people shouting those down often. Do you b…
Libel and slander laws can only be applied if you know the identity of the person who did it, and have enough money to hire an attorney to go after the person. Right now if you google my name, there's a forum out there that says I'm a child molester based on zero evidence, and the only reason it's up is because I am following my legal requirements as a website operator per the ToU to not release personally identifyin…
The latter part is true, the former part is less so; you can use John/Jane Doe lawsuits and then subpoena third parties to discover the specific identities.