What Do Court-Ordered Internet Bans Really Mean?

tcd004 writes "Chris Lamprecht, a.k.a. Minor Threat, was the first person to be banned from the internet back in 1995. Since then, the practice has gained popularity worldwide. In the last year, courts in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States have all banned people from the Internet. A British court recently banned a convicted pedophile specifically from entering chatrooms for 10 years. But how effective are the bans? Minor Threat contends that the rules governing his internet ban use were toothless. How much harder is it to keep people off the internet in an age when everything--from parking meters to refrigerators--comes with an IP address." (Note: the Globe and Mail story requires registration.)

Comments

I'm banned

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure how well it works for others, but I'm banned from the internet....

Internet Ban

[OneArmedMan]

Better not let em near touch tone phones either, just in case they want to launch a Nuclear strike! ...

AOL

[Anonymous Coward]

I think if someone is banned from the Internet for hacking they should be forced to use AOL, dial-up, version 1.5.

Re:AOL

[chaffed]

I think that qualifies as Cruel and Unsual Punishment

The "unusual" provision, at least, is clear: providing that persons will not be subjected to arbitrary, humiliating, or carpricious punishment outside the normal course of the law

Tantamount

[KillerDeathRobot]

A ban from the internet for me would be tantamount to a death sentence.

Re:Banned from the Internet?

[Kenshin]

Or, alternately:

"It's not the internet... it's AOL!"