Create An eAnnoyance, Go To Jail

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-annoyance%2C+go+to+jail/2010-1028_3-6022491.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6022491&amp;subj=news">http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-annoyance%2C+go+to+jail/2010-1028_3-6022491.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6022491&amp;subj=news</a><br /><br /><i>"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."</i><br /><br />Well, that is the end of usenet as we know it. :lol: I'd like to know what the definition of annoying is too. Is it considered annoying when you register under a different user ID then pimp your website in a post, pretending to be giving an authentic recommendation? Or what about stealing images from this site then watermarking them as if you had procured them originally? That annoys me, but that may fall below the threshold of the criminal offence targeted by this law. This law may have all of the teeth of the anti-spam laws in place too.<br /><br />I do want to take the time to thank the moderators on this site. :werenotworthy: They do a fantastic job of rooting out the annoyers that register under different names and killing the posts, and also thank the members of this site. It is a remarkably well behaved site, so we have very little annoying going on. But for some of you out there... :twak: :wink: :rotfl:

[Mark Kenepp]

I think that this article along with Ed's comments made me realize something...

We don't need Senators and Representatives to run our contry, we need Moderators. :twisted:

[Jon Westfall]

I think that this article along with Ed's comments made me realize something...

We don't need Senators and Representatives to run our contry, we need Moderators. :twisted:

Cedrone For President - In 2008 we install a bonafide moderate!

[whydidnt]

So much for your First Amendment rights. It should be noted that this law was a rider on a bill authorizing continued funding of a fairly important Justice department bill. The problem is the Pres. would have had to veto the entire bill to veto this.

My guess is some congressman was annoyed by anonymous poster who supported a political opponent, so decided to make it illegal. I guess the good news is the law is awfully vague, who gets to decide what is annoying, and as such probably won't stand up to a legal fight. Of course it still will cost someone a lot of money, just the same. The article does a pretty good job of showing legal precedence for this to be struck down.

The more I post about this, the more I get angered, it doesn't outlaw threating or slanderous messages, just annoying. I suspect many of us (well, at least me) have been guilty of posting a message somone found annoying at one point or another.

Since we are in the off-topic forum, anyone for a law that allows for line item vetos to prevent these kind of shenanigans from continuing to occur?

F

[lapchinj]

...I do want to take the time to thank the moderators on this site. :werenotworthy: They do a fantastic job...and also thank the members of this site. It is a remarkably well behaved site, so we have very little annoying going on.
Thank you for the compliment I think that most of us agree with your assessment of the site's clientele

...But for some of you out there... :twak: :wink: :rotfl: YEAH :snipersmile: :rotfl: :takethat:

Jeff- :way to go:

[lapchinj]

...I do want to take the time to thank the moderators on this site. :werenotworthy: They do a fantastic job of rooting out the annoyers that register under different names and killing the posts...
Sounds like a previous boss I had known as the terminator (moderator???). I guess he was a little annoyed that I asked for a raise and killed my post. That's how I got started in my own business :D .

...We don't need Senators and Representatives to run our contry, we need Moderators. :twisted:
Due to phenomenon worse than DLL hell known as Politics I think we would still end up with Senators and Representatives in Moderator's clothing :cry:

Cedrone For President - In 2008 we install a bonafide moderate!
This guy would get my vote 8)

Jeff-

[SteveHoward999]

So much for your First Amendment rights.


Don't they just give you the right to free speech? That's not the same as the right to hide behind a false identity and call people nasty names is it?


But then I'm just a silly foreigner, what do I know? :-)

[Paragon]

To be honest, this whole area needs to be dealt with in some way, and on a global basis. At the moment whether or not an individual uses his or her own name has little meaning. Right now a person can post pretty much any kind of slander and harassment and it is very difficult to put an end to it. Especially when you may live in one country and they live in another.

Lots of people are going to tell you there are things you can do, such as informing their ISP, or hosting company, but in reality it is very difficult to get them to take action, and the process is long and arduous. Even when they are clearly posting slander and out n' out lies it is difficult. Try hiring lawyers to handle this when you are in different countries. It is very expensive. You can easily spend thousands of dollars hiring lawyers just to get someone to stop posting slanderous remarks about you. If the guy's your neighbor you can call the police and they will have a chat with the individual and likely cool him or her down. You can't do that with someone online with their own website.

There needs to be some cut and dried global laws put in place and a body to enforce them. As it stands now anyone can start their own site and say pretty much anything they want with little worry. This behavior is on the rise and will continue until something with real teeth is put in place and enforced.

When it actually happens to you it is not fun, and can have an effect on your "real" life.

Dave

[whydidnt]

So much for your First Amendment rights.


Don't they just give you the right to free speech? That's not the same as the right to hide behind a false identity and call people nasty names is it?


But then I'm just a silly foreigner, what do I know? :-)

Well, the Supreme court has previously ruled that Anonymous speech is still protected. Free Speech has it's limits - I can't violate your rights, slander or threaten you, but I'm not sure calling you a nasty name fits those areas. My concern here is the extremely vague statement of annoying someone. Who decides what is annoying? For example some would probably say some of my recent posts regarding the Treo 700w are annoying, does that mean I should go to jail for 2 years for expressing my opinion? I sure hope not, that sounds rather like what we see in China these days, and what was seen in the former Soviet Union - censorship and persecution for expressing one's opinion - no matter how annoying - is something our founding fathers wanted to make sure would NOT happen in the USA. 8)

[Jonathan1]

HI! MY NAME IS BOB. I HAVE VIAGRA TO SELL YOU! ITS REALLY CHEAP AND......hey....get away from my keyboar.....#$P34u8!@#

This is the FBI. The person in question has been arrested. Please continue your orderly conversations. Thank you and have a patriotic day.

This tongue in cheek has been brought to you by too much caffeine and a fair amount of sugar. :)

[gt24]

HI! MY NAME IS BOB. I HAVE VIAGRA TO SELL YOU! ITS REALLY CHEAP AND......hey....get away from my keyboar.....#$P34u8!@#

This is the FBI. The person in question has been arrested. Please continue your orderly conversations. Thank you and have a patriotic day.

This tongue in cheek has been brought to you by too much caffeine and a fair amount of sugar. :)

But, wait a minute... look there! He used his real name on the internet, so he most likely won't go to jail. Maybe, just maybe, we could bust him on the fact that he only used half his name... but, that is a somewhat washy proposition.

[iant54]

I work in the UK in the financial sector for a US firm. Under certain US laws, if I fall foul of them, I can be extradited to stand trial in the US. Is this yet another of them?

[juni]

That post annoys me, you are going straight to jail ;)

[wirelessbeachbum]

Okay I just legally changed my name to wirelessbeachbum....NOW click on my affiliate links :)

http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;jid=4E431262DF267CX9DDE7D522AXCF43CX&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;productId=119084&amp;sectionId=0&amp;catalog=30&amp;topSectionId=-1



um....yep...that is kind of annoying....

I'm a moderator on another site, and I know over there we are constantly having to delete the spam and affiliate garbage....I have noticed that you guys keep a pretty clean site...and a nice place to visit...very few annoynances....other than making me want to go buy new gadgets every few days.

I wonder if we can get an amendment to this law to have people whom we actually know by name prosecuted as well? There's allot more people I know personally that peeve me than ones I don't know.

(Legal Disclaimer: No affiliate links were harmed in the making of this post, link is to pocketpcthoughts software store. )

[gt24]

Okay I just legally changed my name to wirelessbeachbum....NOW click on my affiliate links :)

http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;jid=4E431262DF267CX9DDE7D522AXCF43CX&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;productId=119084&amp;sectionId=0&amp;catalog=30&amp;topSectionId=-1



um....yep...that is kind of annoying....

&lt;snip>

The fact that you posted a link which forced me to scroll horizontally for every comment on this page which has any decent amount of text is something that is truely annoying!

:)

[Jacob]

Well, the Supreme court has previously ruled that Anonymous speech is still protected. Free Speech has it's limits - I can't violate your rights, slander or threaten you, but I'm not sure calling you a nasty name fits those areas

For the record I agree with just about everything you've said.

The laws for slander and threats are there primarily the acknowledgement that speech can have serious effects on people's lives - and the laws with respect to slander are civil, not criminal. You can't be arrested for slander, just sued.

Making "annoying" speech illegal is ridiculous.

Get a better spam filter.

[Don't Panic!]

Does anyone know when the FBI reporting links will be distibuted? The next time somebody uses all caps at the site I moderate at I'm reporting hime to them.

@wirelessbeachbum-Is your mobile site back up? I got a kick out of it back in 2000!

[Sven Johannsen]

Unbelievable. You and I can be arrested for being annoying on the internet, and Howard Stern makes a living being annoying on the radio.

[Brad Adrian]

Totally undefineable and unenforceable. I'll believe this is an actual threat to my freedoms when a case comes to trial.

[Sven Johannsen]

Totally undefineable and unenforceable. I'll believe this is an actual threat to my freedoms when a case comes to trial.
I actually have to agree with Brad. Without actually reading the text, all I have to go by is the bits published, such as, It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy." Even with an undisclosed identity, how the heck do you prove an "intent to annoy."

[karen]

de minimis non curat lex
ex post facto mala fide
nolo contendere

...someone is non compos mentis

How's that for annoying.

And I'm just Karen, so am I dentified or not? I think the silliness of this law is that what resources will be used to enforce it? Homeland Security? the NSA (since the read everything anyway)?. And just what is 'identified' I mean, come on, is there really any difference between a guest posting and one with a registration? If I signed up via hotmail, on a public terminal, using a fake name, how is that different than just posting anonymously?

Just Karen

[wirelessbeachbum]

Does anyone know when the FBI reporting links will be distibuted? The next time somebody uses all caps at the site I moderate at I'm reporting hime to them.

@wirelessbeachbum-Is your mobile site back up? I got a kick out of it back in 2000!

Yes, it's up...however it needs some work, and and some content refresh. I'll do some work on it once I slow down with the day job...

http://www.reconwireless.com/pda