Comment, but don’t annoy me…

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Comment, but don’t annoy me…

By Rob on January 11, 2006 at 03:01 am

On his blog, Eugene Volokh discusses the "annoy someone and go to jail" law recently passed by Congress--which states that anonymous comments on the internet that annoy someone can be punnishable by jail time. He says there might be some cause for concern, and you really ought to read the post for yourself. As I've stated elsewhere, I fear that the trouble with this law is in it's vague wording--if something can be read many ways, the chances of unexpected results are greatly increased.

My prediction: sooner or later, this law will probably be used. It might be used by Republicans, it might be used by Democrats--heck, it might be used by peace-loving Buddists--the point is it'll end up being used as a cudgel to silence someone's opposition. It won't matter if the person charged gets acquitted or not, the very act of being charged will have a chilling effect on free speech. Vague law is bad law.

Comments

I don’t read that as VOIP only. It says telecommunications (that is VOIP) or other types of commuincations--I read that as e-mail, blog entries, pictures, etc. It’s in that “or other types of communications” and what seems to be vagueness about what constitutes “annoying” that I think is problematic. Then again, I’m not a lawyer--I just know if there is room for interpretation in a law, someone is bound to try to use that room for their own ends.

Seth Williams on January 11, 2006 at 05:01 am

that anonymous comments on the internet that annoy someone can be punnishable by jail time.

The way I interpret the statment in the law

in the case of subparagraph (C) of subsection (a)(1), includes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet ....

is merely to cover telephone calls made over the internet e.g. VOIP calls. I don’t think it’s that vague, or have any far reaching consequences to the internet other then in that regard. But then again, I’m not a lawyer.

marc on January 11, 2006 at 05:02 am

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