Ravenwood - 01/10/06 06:30 AM
The Staff Writers at Ravenwood's Universe are now violating federal law. We post anonymous content that annoys the left under a pseudonym. According to CNet, that's now illegal.
Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.Via Say Uncle.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.
UPDATE: Then again, maybe it's all overblown.
Category: Fall of Western Civilization
Comments (3) top link me
Orin Kerr at the Volokh Conspiracy argues this is poor interpretation of the law. I guess without being a constitutional lawyer, you pretty much have to take the word of the writer, until someone with a clue tells you otherwise.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_01_08-2006_01_14.shtml#1136873535
Posted by: Nylarthotep at January 10, 2006 7:33 AMThe trouble is, that "poor interpretation of the law" looks plausible enough that some halfwitted lower-court judge will let a case go forward, and someone will wind up with about $100K in legal fees before there's a higher court ruling. Hopefully, it will be the ACLU...
Posted by: markm at January 10, 2006 8:49 AMIt's good to know that our first amendment rights are protected, at least according to the Volokh Conspiracy.
Posted by: Lornkanaga at January 10, 2006 11:09 AM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014