I was skeptical at first thinking this book was going to dive into conspiracy theories, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying this book.

Kosseff's "The United States of Anonymous" begins with an overview of important U.S. case law on anonymity, predating the internet, and the common motivations for anonymous speech. From there, he looks at specific cases that deal with subpoenas to unmask anonymous Internet users, and finally talks about examples of anonymity enabling both pro-social and criminal behavior online.

The book is a broad overview and good starting point on these issues - I was especially interested in the legal history and better understanding the underpinnings for how courts have engaged with issues around privacy, anonymity and free speech. It's an accessible and clear introduction to these topics. The book felt a bit repetitive at times and lacking depth on some of the thornier issues surrounding anonymity - Kosseff touches briefly on doxxing and sexist harassment, but there's only a brief mention of Q Anon and not much engagement with the landscape of online threats and efforts to unmask people in a post-Trump U.S. (Those issues may have an outsized importance to me as a journalist, but they seem very salient right now and I would have liked to read more about them.) But overall I found this an engaging and interesting read.

This book provides a balanced discussion of anonymity and its various effects in society. I like that there are compelling cases and stories to illustrate the main points of the book.

This is a heavy book to read but its an important book. With the advancing state of technology and the ever rotating discourse of speech, it is important (based in the geopolitical realm of the US), to know how the first amendment has shaped public discourse that have created the foundations for the systems that are present in out every day lives.

This is not a light read, mind you. If you are interested in the topic of law, free speech and internet security, this is your book. As the law jargon is very much present, it can be a task to get through but it is an interesting read that would leave you all the more knowledgeable on how your rights have shaped communication discourse and anonymity up to the modern age.

Thank you NetGalley and Cornell University Press for the ARC.

I can't wait to buy this book and constantly have it on lending rotation to everyone I know. This book forced me to change my perspective on First Amendment rights and to question what I thought I knew about our rights, specifically when it comes to online anonymous speech.
Jeff Kosseff wrote a clear, direct, thorough book about the first amendment and how it relates to the current online age.
I think this is yet another book that will help me to be a better citizen of the internet and a more informed consumer of media in general. Highly recommend for all Americans. Get your hands on it before this cycle's midterms. It is very important.

The United States of Anonymous was a book I was very interested in reading because of the current times we live in today and the hiding behind a computer screen without any real consequence unless things turn really bad. Jeff Kosseff did a remarkable job in taking us all the way back, to truly understand how the First Amendment has been a base where everything else has been impacted, from politics, business, and beyond.
It leaves me with questions on how to currently protect people while still abiding by a law that protects freedom and a right to both sides of the argument. Why has the First Amendment remained the same even though the times have changed? It makes you think of the fairness and unfairness of certain events that used the First Amendment to protect themselves. Jeff Kosseff wrote the book appropriate for the times we are currently living in, a book to read and reread as it is just filled with so much educational material.

This was a wonderfully timely read and very important for anyone concerned about privacy and free speech, particularly in the internet age. I enjoyed that Kosseff took the time to set the stage for the modern day by going through legal proceedings throughout American history to illustrate the ebbs and flows of privacy laws in our nation.

Anyone who is interested in online rights, security, and the right to be anonymous will like this book. The only reason to put 4 stars is that I would like to see a wider view, comparisons. Thanks for the opportunity to read the book in advance!

"Anonymity is more than just about the ability to express oneself. It is a privacy concern."
I am not a law student or a lawyer, I picked this book up because I'd like to be more informed about free speech and anonymity. I got especially interested in what the internet does to our privacy after reading Edward Snowden's memoir, so I think this one was a great follow up.

The author is a cybersecurity lawyer and a professor so the book is more meaningful to people in the justice world, but I'd like to give my opinion as a regular reader.

The book starts by explaining how anonymity started off in the U.S from the colonial times and how it developed until today. The internet provides us with more anonymity (does it?) and therefore, it's influencing the world we live in. Undoubtedly, anonymous speech helps free speech by great measure. Many people who wouldn't speak up otherwise, finally have a platform to express themselves anonymously. But there's always a dark side to everything, there are also people who use anonymity to harm and bully others.

Compared to the rest of the world, the US apparently is the one nation that protects the right to anonymity more than all others. In the EU, they value more the privacy laws and there's this one case that blew my mind: there's a person using a teenage boys photo to get dates online. When the father of the kid sues to get this person's identity to sue them, Finland justice denies it because of privacy concerns. In the US, these cases usually go by weighing the benefits of anonymity and the consequences of it. Which makes much more sense obviously.

It was a genuinely interesting read for me. I've never thought about "the culture of anonymity" before, and what it creates. I agree with the author that nations should do whatever they can to protect it, of course to a limit. How many authors have used pseudonyms to write legendary books? Imagine they didn't have the right to do that. Anonymous speech and sharing of ideas also helped America create the democracy it has today, starting from the colonial times and distributing anonymous pampleths.

If you want to know more, you've got to read the book. Regular reader comment: yes, sometimes I was too tired to understand all the law lingo, but I didn't dwell on it and kept on reading.