Bush signs Internet 'trolling' ban

[eg420ne]

So Psy you will have to post your real name for now on..eg420ne is almost a composite of my whole name does that count.....
Man this guy we call president is just laying it our for us-- dictator lordbushitler
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0060105-3.html
Create an e-annoyance, go to jail

By Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-anno...3-6022491.html

Story last modified Mon Jan 09 04:00:00 PST 2006






Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.
It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.

This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.

"The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else."

It's illegal to annoy
A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity. Here's the relevant language.

"Whoever...utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet... without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person...who receives the communications...shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."
Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy."

To grease the rails for this idea, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and the section's other sponsors slipped it into an unrelated, must-pass bill to fund the Department of Justice. The plan: to make it politically infeasible for politicians to oppose the measure.

The tactic worked. The bill cleared the House of Representatives by voice vote, and the Senate unanimously approved it Dec. 16.

There's an interesting side note. An earlier version that the House approved in September had radically different wording. It was reasonable by comparison, and criminalized only using an "interactive computer service" to cause someone "substantial emotional harm."

That kind of prohibition might make sense. But why should merely annoying someone be illegal?

There are perfectly legitimate reasons to set up a Web site or write something incendiary without telling everyone exactly who you are.

Think about it: A woman fired by a manager who demanded sexual favors wants to blog about it without divulging her full name. An aspiring pundit hopes to set up the next Suck.com. A frustrated citizen wants to send e-mail describing corruption in local government without worrying about reprisals.

In each of those three cases, someone's probably going to be annoyed. That's enough to make the action a crime. (The Justice Department won't file charges in every case, of course, but trusting prosecutorial discretion is hardly reassuring.)

Clinton Fein, a San Francisco resident who runs the Annoy.com site, says a feature permitting visitors to send obnoxious and profane postcards through e-mail could be imperiled.

"Who decides what's annoying? That's the ultimate question," Fein said. He added: "If you send an annoying message via the United States Post Office, do you have to reveal your identity?"

Fein once sued to overturn part of the Communications Decency Act that outlawed transmitting indecent material "with intent to annoy." But the courts ruled the law applied only to obscene material, so Annoy.com didn't have to worry.

"I'm certainly not going to close the site down," Fein said on Friday. "I would fight it on First Amendment grounds."

He's right. Our esteemed politicians can't seem to grasp this simple point, but the First Amendment protects our right to write something that annoys someone else.

It even shields our right to do it anonymously. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defended this principle magnificently in a 1995 case involving an Ohio woman who was punished for distributing anonymous political pamphlets.

If President Bush truly believed in the principle of limited government (it is in his official bio), he'd realize that the law he signed cannot be squared with the Constitution he swore to uphold.

And then he'd repeat what President Clinton did a decade ago when he felt compelled to sign a massive telecommunications law. Clinton realized that the section of the law punishing abortion-related material on the Internet was unconstitutional, and he directed the Justice Department not to enforce it.

Bush has the chance to show his respect for what he calls Americans' personal freedoms. Now we'll see if the president rises to the occasion.



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eg420ne Reviewed by eg420ne on 01-10-2006. Bush signs Internet 'trolling' ban So Psy you will have to post your real name for now on..eg420ne is almost a composite of my whole name does that count..... Man this guy we call president is just laying it our for us-- dictator lordbushitler http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060105-3.html Create an e-annoyance, go to jail By Declan McCullagh http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-annoyance%2C+go+to+jail/2010-1028_3-6022491.html Story last modified Mon Jan 09 04:00:00 PST 2006 Rating: 5

[Psycho4Bud]

I'm not hiding shit. Come around the town I live and ask around your finer drinking establishments for Psycho. You'll find me! :thumbsup:

This is a bullshit law though....hope your were sitting down!!!

[eg420ne]

LoL thats funny, I was LoL--Where did u say u live i may just do that.....

[Psycho4Bud]

LoL thats funny, I was LoL--Where did u say u live i may just do that.....

I didn't, but if ya got hushmail I'd be more than happy to tell ya. That would be a good party!! :thumbsup:

[eg420ne]

Dont have hushmail--i do have email [email protected]----My bad it was congress that passed that bill and Bush put his hoof print on it to make it legal......

[eg420ne]

Hey you all, if you still think we have a loving govt then why was this passed.....To keep us safe from the evil brown terrorist, from the radical liberals, or Its for the children...fukin bullshit i'll tell you...Now you tell me whos the real criminals that hate us for our freedom.....

[Stoner Shadow Wolf]

ZOMG THIS LAW IS ON THE INTERNET AND IT ANNOYS THE FUCK OUT OF ME!


send bush and lawmakers to jail please, and i will be content.

[scobbie]

the bastard has started this is just the begining internet 2 is next fuckin cock suckin retard i really feel sorry for americans but blair will follow his master and we will be next.

[mfactor420]

ZOMG THIS LAW IS ON THE INTERNET AND IT ANNOYS THE FUCK OUT OF ME!


send bush and lawmakers to jail please, and i will be content.

I second that motion!! :thumbsup:

[bonsaiguy]

Good luck trying to enforce that one. Ironic that someone who claims to be a conservative and a republicrat signing a bill in to law that will open a whole new can of civil lawsuits. Fucking Lawyers!