Here is a column by Stanley Fish about Internet anonymity. Key paragraph:
An unconstrained marketplace of ideas is often said to facilitate informed decision-making by providing all the information, even erroneous information, that is out there. But how, asks Brian Leiter in a powerful essay, is the process of deliberation helped by the anonymous poster who reports falsely “that Jane Doe has herpes” and announces “that he would like to sodomize her?” The Internet and the real world, Leiter concludes, “would both be better places” if Internet providers were held accountable for the scurrilous and harmful material they disseminate.
This is interesting, because Leiter has allowed several anonymous people to smear me on his blog. I guess anonymity is acceptable if it destroys the right people.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 