Bill Would Declare Your Blog a Weapon

Mike writes "Law prof Eugene Volokh blogs about a US House of Representatives bill proposed by Rep. Linda T. Sanchez and 14 others that could make it a federal felony to use your blog, social media like MySpace and Facebook, or any other Web media 'to cause substantial emotional distress through "severe, repeated, and hostile" speech.' Rep. Sanchez and colleagues want to make it easier to prosecute any objectionable speech through a breathtakingly broad bill that would criminalize a wide range of speech protected by the First Amendment. The bill is called The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, and if passed into law (and if it survives constitutional challenge) it looks almost certain to be misused."

Comments

Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[eldavojohn]

Bill Would Declare Your Blog a Weapon

Sweet, the right to a blog would be protected by both the first and second amendments!

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[MyLongNickName]

All I want to know is who the hell is this Bill, and why does he hate my blog so much?

No, I couldn't be bothered to read more than the headline. Thanks for asking.

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[interkin3tic]

It's a good start, but lets try to get ALL the amendments!

Next up: the third amendment. You know, because calling a blog a weapon isn't much more logical than saying being forced not to blog is the same as being forced to quarter the armed forces. The fourth amendment, search and seizure shouldn't be as much of a leap. Getting it to qualify under the 5th is going to be the first real challenge.

I think we should stop at the 12th though. Don't really see how dates of presidential elections can be applied to blogs.

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[clone53421]

Getting it to qualify under the 5th is going to be the first real challenge.

You have the right to an empty blog. Anything you blog about can and will be used against you.

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[Anonymous Coward]

Obama is more than likely to veto this bill, assuming it passes. He's a constitutional scholar.

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[Lobster Quadrille]

Fortunately, I do all my cyberbullying from a sockpuppet blog.

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[hoggoth]

> This law will further criminalize every teenager in America.

A: "What were you two convicted of?"
G1: "Well... I took a nude picture of myself and sent it to my boyfriend."
A: "And how about you?"
G2: "I kept telling her she was an idiot for taking a nude picture of herself. I made her cry."

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[Locke2005]

And furthermore, it makes wussies and nerds a protected class! W00t!

Re:Covered By Twenty Percent of the Bill of Rights

[thelonious]

The hell you say. I consider any word with "bacca" in it to be offensive, hostile, and ugly. I also don't like the name "Sue". If I, or anyone like me, get to be a judge, you're toast.

So we have nothing to fear then.

AKA the ED law

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm pretty sure this law would shut down Encyclopedia Dramatica, and most of 4chan in a heartbeat.

That said, nothing of value was lost.

Re:AKA the ED law

[Veggiesama]

That said, nothing of value was lost.

Aside from our freedom of speech, that is.

And lolcats.
 
:3

Bang!

[actionbastard]

Oh, sorry. I didn't know it was loaded.

Repeated and hostile speech.

[cbiltcliffe]

.....make it a federal felony to use your blog, social media like MySpace and Facebook, or any other Web media 'to cause substantial emotional distress through "severe, repeated, and hostile" speech.' Rep. Sanchez and colleagues want to make it easier to prosecute any objectionable speech.....

Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.
Rep. Sanchez is a dick.

Hostile enough for ya?

(Apparently, /. filters already limit repeated speech, as I need to add a bunch of crap in to get past the "postercomment compression filter", whatever the hell that is. So /. is a giant government conspiracy, implementing constitution-destroying legislation before it's even proposed....)

But my blog doesn't use SSL yet

[Cajun Hell]

I have not yet deployed the munitions.

Seriously?

[AnalogyShark]

Someone is really trying to make trolling illegal?

Don't they realize that acknowledging trolls just makes them worse?

Re:How far does free speech go?

[Anonymous Coward]

Something your mom doesn't like?

Funny. Last night your mom said she really liked it.

Re:Not too worried

[Foolicious]

It's not possible to illegally harass a corporation.

Finally someone understands. That's EXACTLY what I kept trying to explain to both my parole office and the judge!

Re:Only way to respond

[Ethanol-fueled]

You make a good point - Linda is, after all, one dirty Sanchez!

Lame Excuse to Pimp My Blog

[W. Justice Black]

...or at least one of them.

Highlights include the fact that Jack Lord could smell into the future, that Poutine is grown from seeds, that you can kill French people by carefully mispronouncing the French language in their presence, and that Lee Majors can travel through time.

Clearly I'm batshit insane, so thank God for bills like the one proposed, since I cause so much anguish to so many. I really need to be stopped.

You're all on notice

[PPH]

Modding me down is a form of hate speech!

Re:Not too worried

[Locke2005]

Right... so under this bill, criticizing the actions of NAMBLA members with young boys would also be regarded as harrassment? Pedophiles rejoice, you have now become a protected class! Won't somebody please think of the children?!?

Works well against a suicide bomber

[Anonymous Coward]

If you do it, we will jail you afterwards.