So let me get this straight: if someone annoys me online, via a web site or in an email, and doesn't disclose their real name, I can have them hauled off to Monster's Inc. Much is being made of the passage of the "Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005," which was CNet chief political correspondent Declan McCullagh, that appears to indicate anonymous annoyance online could lead to jail time for the perpetrator. The labyrinthine way in which Congress goes about its business must have proved too confusing for some readers of the original article (and I include myself in that group), as McCullagh published a Organizations like the EFF will certainly have more to say about this in the near future. Determining just what constitutes annoyance to a court of law poses a number of questions, like how does this law impact First Amendment rights? That won't be known until someone mounts a test of the law in the legal system. As written now, corporations could use the provision against people who attempt to criticize their business practices anonymously, either from a customer or employee perspective. That would have a chilling effect on bloggers like here. Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") | Yahoo My Web David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
Are Bloggers In Legal Jeopardy?
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