Federal Law Against Flaming?
Posted by Melanie Phung on Monday, January 9, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Whoa, check out this piece by Declan McCullagh published on CNet.com today: Create an e-annoyance, go to jail
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…. 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.”
Considering my very low tolerance for bad writing, about 99% of the content on the visible Web would be in violation of federal law if this provision passes. (Unless of course the annoying writing in question bears the author’s true name. In which case I can hunt them down and, using my real name, flame them.)
p.s. I came across this link on SprayOnSalt.com, that super-duper, extra-secret app I mentioned last month. It’s no longer a secret — in fact, it’s in public beta. So go check it out.
It seems that the “annoy” wording of the act is the most problematic and also the least likely part of the whole thing to be true. Check out this exchange at BoingBoing which makes the whole prohibition exactly as clear as mud. But at least it is heavily linked mud with real lawyers involved.
Personally, I like what Nameless Troll has to say to no one in particular.