Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Comments Section Permanently Closed

Shortwave America has enacted a new policy effective immediately. Due to continued abuse of the comments section, specifically, comments that meet with the legal definition of threats, slander, libel, and defamation; the comments sections of this publication are now permanently closed. The comments section will not re-open again in the future.

Sadly, the reality is that the internet allows people to be anonymous. Internet anonymity was intended for a select and narrow group of people to have some sort of shield against their freedom of speech being violated or chilled at the very least. When this anonymity is abused, such as we see in this current day across the wide territory of the internet, we must start re-thinking the whole idea of anonymity and what requirements a person needs to meet to obtain and use anonymity. Unfortunately, the law is slow at catching up with modern day technology.

Shortwave America has made a commitment to create and maintain a safe environment for people from all over the world of all ages to enjoy, and has openly made a commitment to address the pandemic known as cyber-harassment, cyber-stalking, and cyber-bullying.

The decision to close the comments section was not made lightly, but has become a necessity. Furthermore, the fact that the comments section has been open for years and has only been used very rarely by people making legitimate comments further justifies the closing of the comments section.