New law: Applies to these forums!!!

guitarist809 · Veteran Member

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/01/anonymous_inter.html

GUEST?!!

!HUDRA! · Mega-Poster

Wtf it got blocked by my ati virus saying its adult stuff. What is it anyway?

guitarist809 · Veteran Member

Anonymous Internet Annoying Is Illegal in the U.S.

How bizarre:

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.

[...]

Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy."

What does this mean for the comment section of this blog? Or any blog? Or Usenet?

More importantly, what does it mean for our society when obviously stupid laws like this get passed, and we have to rely on the police being nice enough to not enforce them?

EDITED TO ADD (1/9) Some commenters to BoingBoing clarify the legal issues. This is from an anonymous attorney:

The anonymous harassment provision ( Link ) is the old telephone-annoyance statute that has been on the books for decades. It was updated in the widely (and in many respects deservedly) ridiculed Communications Decency Act to include new technologies, and the cases make clear its applicability to Internet communications. See, e.g., ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. 824, 829 n.5 (E.D. Pa. 1996) (text here), aff'd, 521 U.S. 824 (1997). Unlike the indecency provisions of the CDA, this scope update was not invalidated in the courts and remains fully effective.

In other words, the latest amendment, which supposedly adds Internet communications devices to the scope of the law, is meaningless surplusage.

Posted on January 09, 2006 at 02:38 PM

alfex · Die-hard Fan

What is your point? I'm not getting it.

!HUDRA! · Mega-Poster

I think what congress means is that your not alowed to post spam and annoying messadges over the internet. And its a new amindment? If it was it would be all over the news cuz over 9000 tries for an ammindment and only 27 or now maybe 28 passed.

And what did you mean "GUEST?".

P.S. This topic make cense to me now. But make shure its only for USA and dosnt apply to other countries.

alfex · Die-hard Fan

I mean "Why is this even a topic on the forum?"

We really need an OFF TOPIC section badly.

!HUDRA! · Mega-Poster

Yep. VERD!!!!!! Contact the admin who nomanated you and ask him to create an OFF TOPIC section and make a usergruip calle WMT and add all of WMT members in there. And maybe ask if u can become an admin cuz then u can do mutch more stuff.

guitarist809 · Veteran Member

You guies defenatly dont get it at all.

In my words: "You cannot post offending messages or spam without revealing who you really are.

Guest did this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.Kitty · Die-hard Fan

true, he did, and therefore, if we find out who he really is, he'll be in alot of trouble

is this really the 28th ammendment? also, it's a good law, noone should annoy others on porpuse by any means of communication