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House Judiciary Chairman Tim Miley told fellow delegates that it does not encompass comments that merely criticize. He said the severity of harm would have to rise to a level justifying legal damages.
Delegate Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan, asked whether the bill would apply to someone who posts "using a screen name that hides one's identity."
d) Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $500 or confined in jail for not more than six months, or both fined and confined. For a second offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or confined in jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined. For a third or subsequent offense, the person is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or confined in a state correctional facility for not more than two years, or both fined and confined.
Granted, stalking is an issue, and I won't make light of attempting to address it. However, I would say address it, rather than creating this broad net which may do nothing but create criminals of circumstance, rather than its purported intent, to protect.
Additionally, there are pre-existing laws in this bill, making their inclusion not only redundant, e.g., fraud, impersonation, etc., but at a glance, the bill will probably bring about unnecessary litigation. For example, free speech.
intent to harass or abuse
-- who ultimately defines this?
obscene
-- who ultimately defines this?
emotional injury to another
-- who ultimately defines this?
ARTICLE 8. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY AND DECENCY.
Are we in the dark ages?
There are some types who resort to smears instead of arguing a position, and where I try to respect their right of an opinion, up to the point of libel, would they really want me to have this weaponry of law used against them if they err? They're going to jail. Regardless of whether I may (or may not) get my feelings hurt, very easily . . I could claim emotional injury, and their intent was to harass or abuse me, etc. Another example is the idiot who said all women are whores. Right to an opinion respected, but I noted, if they said that about someone close to me, I'd cut off their head and stake it on my lawn. Okay, now I'm going to jail. The point being, I'm not advocating anything this bill purports to protect people from, but if this law can potentially criminalize people just for being human -- then please, consider the ramifications of it more carefully.
Last edited by wv.artistry; 03-01-2010 at 10:31 PM..
There are some blogs doing good work for the public that could be shut down with this bill. What if an elected official suffers emotional distress inflicted by truth?
Are we rushing to be the first to censor the internet? It's probably coming anyway, from (you know where). I find myself avoiding key words these days.
Tim Miley is a very good lawyer, but does this mean we could not be critical of the Political dweebs who take the cash and run...well, they do not actually run in WV...they just forget that they got it.
This strikes of Soviet Russia, where the Proletariat were equal to God...
The Supremes will be the last word on this...looks like Truth and Honesty is on its way out...remember the definition of 'IS....
What I would like to see is a little computer survelience on our prison population...a lot of scams come out of our prisons and I wonder how those crooks get away with doing that...knew a guy, in prison, who scammed $25,000...got him another 15 years when the cops nailed him.
He is home...prison is his home and he needs to be there for all of our sakes...lol.
Snorpus: Who was the man who wrote under a womans name? ...Widow ???
And there were several women authors during that time period and a little later too...
There have been numerous men who've written with a woman's name... especially romance novels, where conventional wisdom is the bodice-buster audience considers a woman author more authentic.
Mary Ann Evans is perhaps the most famous female to adopt a male nom de plume... her books were published as being written by George Eliot.
We're a nation of sissies. Some one will immediately cry that their feeling have been hurt by a contrary comment. Only $$ will make them feel better. The only ones to benefit from this are lawyers and politicians (redundant, I know). Lawyers, because they'll get paid to press the cases to settlement, and politicians because they'll use it to squash those who oppose them. This is the first step in Governmental regulation/control of the internet and it's content. All the newspapers and major media outlets are under control, and putting out the propaganda... internet is next. Herr Goebbels must be smiling.
Papers, Comrade....?
I'm not saying the problems this bill purports to be addressing shouldn't have laws, it's that the language of this law is so broad it can criminalize people who would not be considered criminals by most standards.
It should be thought through more carefully. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
I'm not saying the problems this bill purports to be addressing shouldn't have laws, it's that the language of this law is so broad it can criminalize people who would not be considered criminals by most standards.
It should be thought through more carefully. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
I agree. I read the bill (s) and the intent is spot on, but the semantics are screwy.
Hell, most of us could be 'cyber-bully's' depending on who's interpretation it is, lol.
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