Goddammit, Bush!

[Fizzbit]

http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-annoyance%2C+go+to+jail/2010-1028_3-6022491.html

So much for anonymity over the internet.

I guess we all need to change our usernames to our real names now just in case a flamewar starts and someone wants to press charges...

Meh, I might as well anyway, keep a pattern at RSU, ICVD, and here...

It is a load of bullshit, though. How would one persecute someone who's harassing them if they don't live in the United States? Another example of Bush trying to take over the world and control the internet.

[Darkmoon]

It's impossible to prosecute. Harassment takes serious work to be prosecutable. You have to have a history of harrassing someone for there to be a case.Idle fighting over the net is too hard to prove to be anything more than discussion.

Although... hey, maybe I can get Tweeter thrown in jail... what a luscious thought.

[ilpalazzo]

You don't like tweeter alot do you. Hmmm, maybe  I can get the masses of people who come on the internet to get arrested.

[Destina Faroda]

And how do you know people just won't use names, addresses, and identifying details that may not be necessarily be true?

If President Bush wants to go after anonymous jerks, go after The Wotch, the most infamous example of a webcomic that generates income and yet is compeletly anonymous.  Even Darkmoon does have SOME information.  These people get away with taking money over the Internet without revealing an address or anything like that.  People like me aren't taking anyone's money.  Go after the assholes who are!

[Sin Ominous]

Tweeter did make one valid observation about this new law:

"Unconstitutional."

Even before I read that on ICVD, that thought was running through my mind; it's a direct violation of free speech.

[Darkmoon]

It is and it isn't. Free Speech doesn't cover harassment. The likelyhood of the government doing anything to a person that just browses the net anonymously is slim, since yes, it's a violation of Free SPeech and could easily be argued. But someone that's attacking a ton of people, regularly, with a hostory of doing it to those people, yes, they will prolly have someone up their butt eventually. But then, as I said, that's harassment.

Primarily, I think, the law is designed to take away the advantage some people think they have online to be able to do whatever they want under a psuedonym and not have consequences. It adds consequences.

[Sin Ominous]

So does this mean that anti-game attorney Jack Thompson may land himself behind bars for his slanderous ways, going down the list of people to berate alphabetically?

As of now, he's lining a string of insults and annoying accusations against the Florida Bar Association.

[Fizzbit]

But he's not being anonymous about it...

[Sin Ominous]

Damn. I forgot about that.

[Darkmoon]

Yeah, it really only applies to anonymous people... Like Tweeter. >)

[Xuzaf D]

I'm on the edge of hating my government. Especially the two party system. It's in that pissing contest that many of the most pointless of arguments arise.

[Darkmoon]

I wanna be a Canadian.

[ilpalazzo]

You do live close to canada.

[Darkmoon]

Not close enough, sadly.

[Fizzbit]

Darkmoon? Close to Canada? HAH! The fucker lives in Indiana!

...Is Indiana even a really important state? I mean really, what has it done? Kansas at least produced Wizard of Oz and get shit on by Tornadoes... never heard nuthin about Indiana.

[Destina Faroda]

Indiana's not THAT far from Canada.  So he has to cross Michigan, but it's maybe 10 hours away, 12 at most.

Then again, it's only around 4 hours from where I live to the border so if Bush wants to kick me out the country, the actual trek wouldn't take too long.

[Sin Ominous]

Y'know, if this bill came out during the election year, Bush would've already been jailed.

Think about it. What's more annoying than hearing or viewing his ads on the Internet, followed by his non-anonymous signature of "I'm George Bush, and I approve this message"?

[Helena]

the ads are annoying, indeed. The U.S. government has been wacky since 2000 that I can remember. Bill was just a laughing imbecile that slept around the towns, and George Bush now doesn't have a clue of what he is doing.

I rather be in Canada myself as well.

[Darkmoon]

I liked Bill Clinton, but I think our whole governmental system is fucked. Totally fucked. We need a system far mor in line with Canadia.

[Quientin]

i have one thing to say about this and it is a thousand words

[Darkmoon]

That is an awesome pic.

[Damaris]

Indiana is the home of corn, soybeans, Conservative Republican Christians, and Indiana Beach (on beautiful Lake Schafer)