The Govt Wants Your ID To Browse Online

About this episode

AI agents are rapidly becoming the next major way people interact with the internet. They can browse websites, research topics, compare prices, schedule reservations, respond to emails, shop and increasingly take actions on our behalf. But as your agent is going off and scanning websites, or gathering information from government services, should it have to reveal who you are? SUPPORT MY WORK:  Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co          Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz   In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I speak with Shoshana Weissman, digital director and policy advisor at the Abundance Institute, about the growing fight over AI agents, online anonymity and identity verification.   We discuss the proposed Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, why lawmakers are looking at AI agents and web scraping, how identity requirements could affect journalists, researchers, developers and ordinary internet users, and what happens if every AI agent eventually becomes tied to a person's real-world identity. We also talk about the difference between legitimate security requirements in areas like banking or healthcare and much broader