Hason (pictured), a first-time MK who served in the past as Deputy Chief of the Shabak (General Security Service), will submit a bill this week that would require internet sites to require their participants to identify themselves. Comments on articles would not be allowed, according to Hason's bill, by those who do not provide identification.
The required identification would be the same as that required on various internet forums, namely, in the form of phone or email confirmation.
The problem that Hason is trying to remedy is that of people who are maligned or slandered by anonymous surfers - and who then have great trouble in identifying them. At present, a complainant has the right to receive from the website only the IP address of the commenters, which he must then present to a court with a request to learn their identity. So reports the Hebrew NFC website.
A recent case brought to the Jerusalem District Court this past February involved a veteran female government employee who was targeted by an organized group of slanderers. She was accused of various crimes and misbehaviors, and received her libelers' identities only after court intervention.
"The internet should not be a front for personal wars or for slander," Hason said. "Just like on television, you don't see stocking-clad people slandering whoever they want, neither should we allow such a morally-destructive situation as this."
The required identification would be the same as that required on various internet forums, namely, in the form of phone or email confirmation.
The problem that Hason is trying to remedy is that of people who are maligned or slandered by anonymous surfers - and who then have great trouble in identifying them. At present, a complainant has the right to receive from the website only the IP address of the commenters, which he must then present to a court with a request to learn their identity. So reports the Hebrew NFC website.
A recent case brought to the Jerusalem District Court this past February involved a veteran female government employee who was targeted by an organized group of slanderers. She was accused of various crimes and misbehaviors, and received her libelers' identities only after court intervention.
"The internet should not be a front for personal wars or for slander," Hason said. "Just like on television, you don't see stocking-clad people slandering whoever they want, neither should we allow such a morally-destructive situation as this."