{"id":3645,"date":"2006-01-09T14:20:09","date_gmt":"2006-01-09T22:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2006\/01\/09\/its-illegal-to-be-annoying\/"},"modified":"2019-12-19T16:03:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T00:03:26","slug":"its-illegal-to-be-annoying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2006\/01\/09\/its-illegal-to-be-annoying\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Illegal to be Annoying"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:7144,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.boingboing.net\\\/2006\\\/01\\\/09\\\/flame_someone_anonym.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20110517145045\\\/http:\\\/\\\/www.boingboing.net\\\/2006\\\/01\\\/09\\\/flame_someone_anonym.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-09 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15:25:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-30 15:25:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:7151,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.livejournal.com\\\/community\\\/seattle\\\/3237636.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:6221,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/click.linksynergy.com\\\/fs-bin\\\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:7152,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/click.linksynergy.com\\\/fs-bin\\\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DKeoki%26partnerId%3D30&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:7153,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/click.linksynergy.com\\\/fs-bin\\\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DKeoki%2526albumTerm=Jealousy%26partnerId%3D30&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p><ins>Update:<\/ins> Apparently, the article I&#8217;m quoting is somewhat misleading. According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boingboing.net\/2006\/01\/09\/flame_someone_anonym.html\" title=\"Boing Boing: Flame someone anonymously, go to jail? No, say BB-reading lawyers\">a lawyer&#8217;s comment on BoingBoing<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  Declan&#8217;s article is misleading. The provision extends a telephone harassment law to apply to email. Declan describes the provision as applying whenever a person &#8220;annoys&#8221; another: &#8220;A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>  But that&#8217;s not what the law says. Instead it provides: &#8220;Whoever&#8230;utilizes 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&#8230; without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person&#8230;who receives the communications&#8230;shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>  Note that &#8220;annoy&#8221; is part of the intent element of the statute &#8212; it requires the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass. Far from an anti-anonymity provision that applies whenever a person annoys another, it is merely a prohibition on harassment.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thanks, <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2006\/01\/its_illegal_to_2.html#comment-26632\" title=\"Don: Looks like this may have been blown out of proportion...\">Don<\/a>! This kind of thing happens when I&#8217;m a bit behind&#8230;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>No, I&#8217;m not kidding. <a href=\"http:\/\/news.com.com\/Create+an+e-annoyance%2C+go+to+jail\/2010-1028_3-6022491.html?part=rss&amp;tag=6022491&amp;subj=news\" title=\"CNET: Perspective:  Create an e-annoyance, go to jail\">Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  It&#8217;s no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/news\/releases\/2006\/01\/20060105-3.html\" title=\"White House: President Signs H.R. 3402, the 'Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005'\">signed<\/a> into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.<\/p>\n<p>  In other words, it&#8217;s OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.<\/p>\n<p>  This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called <a href=\"http:\/\/thomas.loc.gov\/cgi-bin\/bdquery\/z?d109:h.r.03402:\" title=\"Library of Congress: H.R.3402\">Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act<\/a>. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>  [&#8230;] Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called &#8220;Preventing Cyberstalking.&#8221; It rewrites <a href=\"http:\/\/www4.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/html\/uscode47\/usc_sec_47_00000223----000-.html\" title=\"US CODe: Tile 47.223: Obscene or harassing telephone calls in the District of Columbia or in interstate or foreign communications\">existing telephone harassment law<\/a> to prohibit anyone from using the Internet &#8220;without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>  To grease the rails for this idea, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and the section&#8217;s other sponsors slipped it into an unrelated, must-pass bill to fund the Department of Justice. The plan: to make it politically infeasible for politicians to oppose the measure.<\/p>\n<p>  The tactic worked. The bill cleared the House of Representatives by voice vote, and the Senate unanimously approved it Dec. 16.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Once again, something which, admittedly, likely started from good intentions &#8212; preventing cyberstalking &#8212; has been dumbed down to the point of ludicrousness by politicians too stupid to think about the real legal ramifications of the laws they&#8217;re enacting.<\/p>\n<p>On the bright side, maybe we can use this law to get the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freerepublic.com\/\" title=\"Free Republic\">freepers<\/a> booted off the &#8216;net? ;)<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.livejournal.com\/userinfo.bml?user=seattle\" title=\"[seattle's info]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stat.livejournal.com\/img\/userinfo.gif\" alt=\"[seattle's info]\" width=\"17\" height=\"17\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.livejournal.com\/community\/seattle\/3237636.html\" title=\"[seattle: community]\"><strong>seattle<\/strong><\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0\" title=\"Get iTunes\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"iTunes\" border=\"0\" width=\"61\" height=\"15\" src=\"http:\/\/images.apple.com\/itunesaffiliates\/logos\/iTunes_sm_bdg61x15.png\" \/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"http:\/\/ad.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/show?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;bids=78941.10000170&amp;type=4&amp;subid=0\" alt=\"\" \/> &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DKeoki%2526songTerm=Relax (AK1200)%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for 'Relax (AK1200)' on the iTMS\">Relax (AK1200)<\/a>&#8221; by <a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DKeoki%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for 'Keoki' on the iTMS\">Keoki<\/a> from the album <em><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DKeoki%2526albumTerm=Jealousy%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for 'Jealousy' on the iTMS\">Jealousy<\/a><\/em> (2001, 6:46).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No, I&#8217;m not kidding. Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2042],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-3645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-internet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}