by Seventhson » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:20 pm
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.progressiveindependent.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=12885&mesg_id=12887">www.progressiveindependen...g_id=12887</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>"Bush signs bill that prohibits anonymous postings & emails" <br> <br> <br>Dover <br> <br>Member since Oct 14th 2005 <br>458 posts, 9 votes, 15 points, Rate this user <br> Sat Jan-21-06 03:57 PM<br>Original Post<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> ANONYMOUS POSTINGS ILLEGAL? <br>Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com<br><br>President Bush signed a bill last week that would prohibit the posting of annoying Web messages or the sending of annoying e-mails, without providing one's true identity in the process, according to an online column by Declan McCullagh of Cnet. "In other words," notes McCullagh, "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." <br><br>He discovered the provision, buried deep inside the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act, and notes that it may spell the end for a number of discussion lists on the Internet, including the longstanding Usenet facility. Criminal penalties for disobeying the new law reportedly include stiff fines and two years in prison. Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, is cited as observing that "he use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," since "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else." <br><br>The excuse for the inclusion of this extraneous provision, in a bill designed to protect women against physical assault, is Sec. 113, titled "Preventing Cyberstalking," which McCullagh says "rewrites existing telephone harassment law" by prohibiting anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy." As has happened so often in recent times, it was attached to the unrelated, must-pass bill to fund the Department of Justice, by Sen. Arlen Specter and its other sponsors, with the intention, as the writer declares, "to make it politically unfeasible for politicians to oppose the measure." The bill passed the House on a voice vote, while the Senate's approval was unanimous. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=50...">www.freemarketnews.com/Wo...?nid=50...</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <br><br><br>"Problems can never be solved by using the same pattern of thought which created them." - Einstein<br> <br> <br> <br> <p></p><i></i>
