In the years leading up to the American Revolution, newspapers and pamphlets overflowed with essays signed “Publius,” “Brutus,” and “A Farmer.” Those arguments helped shape a nation, but the authors’ real names were nowhere to be found.
Americans have long relied on anonymous speech to challenge the powerful, protect dissenters, and keep the focus on ideas rather than identities. That tradition has endured into America’s digital age, even as anonymous speech has become more controversial.
To explore America’s history with anonymity, we are joined by Jeff Kosseff, a nonresident senior legal fellow at The Future of Free Speech and author of The United States of Anonymous.
Jeff Kosseff is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow for The Future of Free Speech. He writes about online speech, the First Amendment, and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.