New Trolling law passed

By b mitchell
in Back Page News

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Mentor

erp

Posted
Posted

So I don't have to change my forum habits, but now I have to put my name and address in every thread post that might annoy someone who doesn't agree with me? I don't think so. Not gonna happen.

We are all identifiable by our IP address even though only the admin and mods can see it. I think that's enough, don't you? This law is pure idiocy and unenforceable. Even the most responsible nicest web user has trolled at least once, even if they didn't think of it as such at the time. People who continuosly troll can be taken care of, thats what moderators are for.

Proficient

dud

Posted
Posted

Here's the boring truth about this law:

The bill in question

The law that the bill changed

Either the article's author misunderstood his own sources or thinks that harrassment is A-OK on the internet, but not on paper/phone as the law originally stated.

Have a look at the original law amended by section 113 (U.S. Code 47, which, by the way, already prohibited annoying telephone calls/letters/faxes but apparently people think that OMFG NOT MY EMAIL OR MY WEBSITE!!!!11! I SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO STALK BY EMAIL AND INTERNET!!1! THAT'S WAY DIFFERENT THAN A PHONE CALL OR LETTER OR FAX.

If anything needs to change, it's the word "annoy", because it's much too vague. Other than that, this law is just being updated for the times we live in. Used to say phone, mail, whatever. Now it's just adding in other communications media.

Proficient

dud

Posted
Posted

In addition to my previous post about the article writer's poor reading comprehension, I will add that had Bush refused to sign it, the story would have been "Bush deals blow to women's rights, refuses to sign anti-stalking law." This blame-Bush-for-everything news style is getting so stale that less and less people are believing it.

Proficient

fr8t

Posted
Posted

Another sad day for us Americans who despise president bush, i'll be so glad when he's out of office and hopefully we can get our country back on track to a more positive focus instead of having to worry about our god given rights being eroded in the name of "the fight on terrorism".

Grand Master

imtoomuch

Posted
Posted

only in america could such a law be passed.

but it isnt going to stop all that unwanted email spam is it.!

This is trolling, which is supposed to be against the Neowin rules. Too bad most of the mods don't enforce trolling when it's against the USA. Anyway, your Sesame Street avatar gives me a hint of your age and maturity level so I'll just leave it at that! ;)

Obviously, this law isn't as clear as it should be, but it's definitely not to police trolls on sites like Neowin. Give me a break people. And for all you other people who can not read Bush did not create this law.

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.
Now read before you speak, ignorant trolls!
Grand Master

Panacik

Posted
Posted

http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-annoyance%...22491&subj=news

Yep, goodbye internet, because its not like trolling is a problem or anything.

So this only affects americans. So if someone in the UK where to troll there is nothing that can be done unless a law of similar nature is passed here, which as we all know will happen because Blair is Bushes little lapdog.

Grand Master

ZZOOzzoo

Posted
Posted

Someone please enlighten me.. I might have been misunderstanding how American government works. Isn't it the congress's job to bring up and pass the bills, to which President Bush only decides to sign it or veto it? In other words, Bush can't just create laws by himself, right? Are people solely blaming Bush because he didn't veto it? :wacko:

Also, I'm sure American Law has been prohibiting anonymous "harassment/annoyance" to other people in real life, by phone, by fax, etc. Just because the law's been amended to include internet doesn't mean everyone suddenly loses freedom of speech.

Grand Master

Nashy

Posted
Posted

So this only affects americans. So if someone in the UK where to troll there is nothing that can be done unless a law of similar nature is passed here, which as we all know will happen because Blair is Bushes little lapdog.

John Howard will beat him to it. Bet ya! :laugh:

Mentor

+mrbester MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted
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

And that is the real problem. The main bill gets passed and then there's all the piddling about in order to repeal a bit of it that shouldn't have been in there in the first place. This crap happens all the time. There seriously need to be a law that states that you can't tack any old crap into a bill unless it is specifically affected by that bill. Though they'd probably tack on a little bit that adds a bit more enforcement for downloading copyrighted material...

Rising Star

piggger

Posted
Posted
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.

Full story - Source

Any body else see this before ?? (sorry if its old)

Proficient

dud

Posted
Posted (edited)

Everybody just responds to the story without reading the original law. If anyone had bothered to read it, it already included phone, mail, and other communications media. The bill merely updated it to include the internet. The only thing that should change is that the ORIGINAL LAW, NOT the bill Bush signed, contained the word "annoying" and it should be stricken from the law. So basically, it's already illegal to make prank calls, annoying/threatening letters, etc. All this bill did was include other forms of communications.

It's like saying you can't stab someone with knives and swords, then someone starts stabbing people with broken glass. This anti-stalking law was just updated to include a new way of doing an old crime.

Sheesh... nobody has reading comprehension anymore. they read the first thing they see from an article rather than actually reading the source--which was provided in the article! The author is purposely misleading the reader by coloring a mundane story with an "end of the world" paintbrush, and it is apparent what he's doing when you read the original law and the bill. All it takes is a google search and a read. People are too lazy (or too quick to think Bush is evil) to do that. Never be too lazy to find the truth!

Edited by Unwonted
Grand Master

+Nik Louch Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

"Annoying" would never stand up in court. I may like MIDI files, you may hate them. Do they annoy you, or are you annoyed by them - there is a difference.

And what Bush knows about the web could probably be written on the back of an email-stamp. Here I'll sell you 10 of them George...

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