"On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog."

This classic New Yorker cartoon (which you can see here, since I don't want to risk copyright infringement) captured one of the earliest virtues of the Internet: the anonymity enjoyed by its users, which gave them the freedom to say anything, or be anyone. But like most virtues, take it too far and it become a vice. The most extreme example is the sad, sick story of the troubled Missouri teen who killed herself because of a hoax perpetuated on MySpace by a mother and her daughter masquerading as a teenage boy.  Even though I'm a news junkie, I somehow missed this tragedy when it first came to light over a year ago. What finally caught my eye this past week was the agreement between MySpace and legal authorities in 49 states for some kind of age verification and other child  protection measures. These measures were partially spawned by what has become known as the "MySpace Suicide," but it's clearly not the only case where anonymity has been abused on the Internet with tragic results.

I'd like to replace the complete anonymity of the early Internet with accountability and confidentiality.  I use joe.hartley@sun.com as my AIM sign-on.  It's easy for  people to remember, and they know who I am.  That of course doesn't mean I'm actually that person; it could be an imposter using my email address. That's where some kind of validation or federated  identity system needs to be created—a trademark of sorts that proves that I am who I claim to be.  Of course, we can't completely do away with anonymity on the Internet. It has its place, especially in communities related to providing people with online support for medical conditions or domestic abuse. But in the majority of areas, we've got to start demanding accountability of online sources and identities.

Most  importantly, we need to teach our children (and some adults) that you can't assume that someone you meet in the virtual world is the person they say they are. It could just be another dog.