Rep. Tim Couch proposes legislation to ban Internet anonymity; knows of its impending doom and doesn’t follow through

Anonymity is one of the great things about the internet. The web is one place where people can be whoever they want, or say whatever they want. But according to one Kentucky lawmaker, attention should be drawn to the anonymous bullying.

Tim Couch proposed a bill criminalizing anonymous internet posting (HB775) and would mandate posters to give up their complete name, mailing address, and e-mail address. The information would have to be posted on websites alongside any comments made on the Internet. Failure for any website to require this or any person to give up their information will result in a $500 fine. That sum is just for the first offense; it is a $1,000 fine for any following offenses.

There are certain obvious flaws with the proposed bill such as the infringement on First Amendment rights, and the state’s ability to regulate Internet, or rather their inability to do so. The most important flaw in this bill is that it only includes websites hosted out of Kentucky. Even if the bill was passed, people would see very little effect from it.

Couch admits that the bill is unlikely to get passed and is unconstitutional. He notes that his goal with this move is that he just wants to make aware the “bullying” that takes place on the internet.

“I think right now (online posting) is pretty much just on its own. It’s a machine that’s going to go its own way,” said Couch in an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader. “The state can try to pass some rules, but I don’t really think it would do anything.”

Lawmakers in the past have sidestepped censoring internet anonymity with other laws, like libel. Just in this case as in others in the past, it is the rights of the First Amendment that come into question.

“Some nasty things have been said about high school kids in my district, usually by other kids,” Couch said. “The adults get in on it, too … When you’re anonymous, you can say anything you want to about someone, and nobody knows who you are.”

In other cases, courts explored the idea of devaluing a public company via negative anonymous comments. But there still exists that idea that a price will always have to be paid in order to retain our rights.