I know it makes me a small person to say this, but I’m surprised to find myself not only enjoying but agreeing with a book that comes out of the Cato Institute. Jim Harper’s Identity Crisis: How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood makes a confusing topic—identity on and off the Net—understandable, and argues persuasively that our rush to enforce strict identity rules not only eats at our freedom, it doesn’t make us appreciably safer. Of course, I was inclined in that direction anyway, since I continue to think I believe that anonymity is and ought to remain the default. (Yes, the “think I believe” indicates some doubt.)

Jim’s book is nicely written, clear in its explanation and clear in its point of view. [Tags: identity jim_harper cato anonymity ]

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