Gaijin Biker argues against a reported Japanese government move to discourage the use of anonymity on the internet.:

The government will begin a campaign to encourage people to use their real names when writing articles or posting information on the Internet to help reduce crimes that are committed due to the Net’s anonymity, government sources said.
…The government has decided to launch the campaign as Internet users can easily access information deemed harmful for youth via the Net, such as how to make a bomb and recommending group suicides.
The communications ministry has judged it necessary to encourage people to turn to Internet sites with less anonymity in order to reduce Net-related crimes, the sources said.

Mutant Frog also blogged on this extensively earlier in the week.

I would hope that this is a non starter. While I generally have greater respect for non-anonymous bloggers, anonymity does have legitimate uses (i.e., to avoid reprisals from the state, employers or both). Moreover, governments should not enact laws that cannot be enforced, nor spend citizens’ funds to fight ‘problems’ that either do not exist or unsolvable.