-
About
Howard Owens is a digital media pioneer. He started publishing local news online in 1995 when very few local news outlets had web sites. The header image on the site depicts the film camera he used early in his career and the press pass from his year on the staff of the Carlsbad Journal. For more on Howard's professional background, read his LinkedIn profile.
HowardOwens.com is the personal web site of Howard Owens and covers his range of interests -- political localism and libertarianism, music and personal interests, as well as his professional interests.
Howard is currently publisher of The Batavian and lives in Batavia, N.Y.
Howard on the Web
Recent Comments
- Gina Goodman on Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism, the new list
- Ronald Dupont Jr. named editor/publisher of the first ruOur endeavor | on The future belongs to the independents
- Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism, the new list | Online Journalism on Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism, the new list
- Ronald Dupont Jr. on Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism, the new list
- Bill Doskoch on Newspapers started small, cheap and with different standards
Archives
Tags
Advertising Audience Growth blogging blogs Books Business comments Community disruption ethics film Gadgets GateHouse Media history Home Towns Innovation internet Journalism local news Media Movies MP3 of the Day Music news newspapers online Paid Content participation Personal Appearances photography point-and-shoot publish2 Reinventing Journalism reporting Site Design Society Sports Strategy Tech topix Video Web-First Publishing web2.0 web navigation WritingShare
Meta
-
yomama
Kentucky lawmaker wants to ban anonymity
A government law requiring online posters to provide real identity strikes me as a tad unconstitutional, but it’s worth noting.
While I believe newspapers should know the identity of people posting to their site (or at least make an honest effort to gather real identity), it seems some level of anonymity on the Web is +1 for society.
Besides, the law would be unworkable. It’s unconstitutional because it smacks of the government trying to prohibit speech it finds objectionable (going far beyond merely banning hate speech); it’s an unenforceable burden on publishers to expect them to enforce real identity with 100 percent certainty; and the way the web is built, it is absolutely impossible to require real identity.