Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Anonymous Internet Posting Illegal

[Truth2Tell]

Source: WTVQ, ABC Lexington KY

By Kellie Wilson

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.

Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.

If the bill becomes law, the website operator would have to pay if someone was allowed to post anonymously on their site. The fine would be five-hundred dollars for a first offense and one-thousand dollars for each offense after that.



Read more: http://www.wtvq.com/content/midatlantic/tvq/video.apx.-content-articles-TVQ-2008-03-05-0011.html

---

They must be kidding.

[Critters2]

1. And how would the webmaster know if someone is a sock puppet?

Silly law. Silly lawmakers.

[Demeter]

26. He Just Needs To Stuff Some Dirty Socks In the "Tubes"

and the problem will be fixed.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. WHY?

What is his reasoning? Why is this necessary?

[varkam]

6. This is from the article:

Representative Couch says he filed the bill in hopes of cutting down on online bullying. He says that has especially been a problem in his Eastern Kentucky district.

Even still, this seems like an attempt at swatting a fly with a sledgehammer.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Thanks - I guess I could have read the article

:)

[TomInTib]

13. What the heck is online bullying?

I don't get it.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

18. there was a case that was fairly well publicized about a teenage girl that had a

conflict with another teen. One of the mothers falsified a my space page and profile (teen guy) started a romance with the girl, and then publicly dumped and degraded her, resulting in the girls suicide. It does happen. Very sickening disgusting incident.

I am not in favor of this law, though

[TomInTib]

19. I remember that awful deal.

Sometimes I forget how twisted people can be when they are dealing with the weak and vulnerable.

But this proposal sucks.

[L0oniX]

34. It's when someone from online contacts your place of work or home and makes threats.

It's happened to me from an asshole who is on DU. I had to take down my website info from my profile here.

[bean fidhleir]

70. That's a crime. I hope you reported it and followed through.

That's the sort of behavior that should get a jail sentence.

[sandnsea]

17. As opposed to bullying through the mail

over the phone, etc etc. How do people get to be so fucking stupid.

[NYC Liberal]

38. Now the bullies can come harass you in person, at your HOUSE!

Fun! :sarcasm:

[flashl]

4. Lots of similar state bills cropping up every day and no, they are not kidding. nt

[OKthatsIT]

41. The NWO must be slipping some cash into law maker pockets

State Reps aren't paid much...and they do want a chance at a career in politics.

The Big Boys and Big Promises....exploit the State Senate.

[Donnachaidh]

5. what a freakishly FASCIST thing to do!

But heck -- guess them internets folks scare the piss out of these dumbasses.

[Democrats_win]

7. Like idea of everyone in NYC wearing nametags. This could be fun.

Seinfeld Episode: NYC Mayor Dinkins wants everyone to wear name tags.

Just think how nice it will be for Republicans. When they visit homosexual porn sites, they can call each other by name!

[nomorenomore08]

9. Actually, Republicans who frequent those sites

would probably be the strongest coalition against this bill. After all, they can't have their facade of wholesomeness (to their constituents) exposed.

[santamargarita]

8. Leave it to a Goddamn Right-Wing Hick to think of that!

K&R

[Roland99]

11. A bit more here at the Kentucky Democrat >>>>

http://kydem.blogspot.com/2008/03/tim-couch-politician-hates-what-you.html

Couch on Wednesday readily acknowledged that his bill raises First Amendment issues regarding free speech, so he won't be pushing it.

Then why in the bloody heck are your filing it, you dumb son of a *****! Put your money where you're mouth is!

It gets fishy.

Couch said he, too, has been the subject of anonymous online roasting, and while he doesn't enjoy it, he doesn't think there's much the legislature can do about it.

[JPZenger]

12. Great New Screenname - "I Am Tim Couch of Kentucky"

Everyone should start making abusive posts using a screenname similar to "I Am Rep Tim Couch of Kentucky".

[tpsbmam]

14. I don't know what your problem is with this -- I'm happy to post under my real name....

Gracie Lou Freebush.

I note he doesn't explain how the hell he's going to accomplish this preposterous feat.

[strategery blunder]

20. I have a problem with it...

I am looking for a job. Do I *really* want prospective bosses to be able to look up my real name and find it on Democratic Underground? Half of the job openings would just disappear to me.

[tpsbmam]

33. Sorry, I should have posted the

:sarcasm: thingy -- thought the "Gracie Lou Freebush" would give the needed clue but if you didn't see that silly movie (Miss Congeniality) you wouldn't get it. My bad! Of course, I absolutely agree with you -- I'm NOT OK with it at all. In reality, there's no way of enforcing it anyway -- what are millions of blogs, message boards, etc going to do -- require that everyone fax them 2 pieces of identification? It's a ridiculous idea posed by a ridiculous Republican.

[Posteritatis]

60. I use "Vladimir Fernandez O'Reilly" when faced with similar requirements (nt)

[Sabriel]

76. My "real" name is Ed Yukation

I also go by Sara Tonin.

And I live at 1234 Happy Trail.

There, does that satisfy you, Mr. C?

[JerseygirlCT]

15. What's the matter? Are the immunized telecoms now going to be

too damned lazy to connect the dots?

Or are we all just supposed to shut up?

[NBachers]

16. My God - Is This Necessary?

Every time I read a diary, I go down to view the informed comments so they can add to my knowledge and opinion-forming process. Unfortunately, but the third or fourth comment, it's usually degenerated into a personal shit-flinging contest. What in the name of god's fuck is wrong with you people?

I don't know why I even waste my fucking time here.

[Warren Stupidity]

21. I just love self-referential irony. nt.

[sasquatch]

22. Tim Couch, the same Tim Couch that used to play for the Cleveland Browns?

If it is he just went from really overrated quarterback to enormous douchebag.

[MikeNearMcChord]

23. No I just checked

It isn't him. But still a Dickhead.
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/legislator/H090.htm

[SKKY]

40. HEY! You lay of TC...

He was an enormously talented QB who was ruined by a horrible coach. Plus, it's not the same guy.

[sasquatch]

45. Yeah and he went busto w/the Packers

Explain that.

[SKKY]

47. You lead the league in sacks for almost your entire career...

...screw up your arm, come back way too early, and tell me how you feel! Even guys like Steve Young, Dan Marino, and Boomer agree TC got dealt a crappy hand.

[sasquatch]

48. Point taken

[Hugabear]

61. Lol, I thought about that also

Really overrated quarterback = enormous douchebag

Ryan Leaf?

Isn't there a DINO congressman who ran as a "blue dog Democrat" that was once a big-shot college QB?

[sasquatch]

62. Heath Shuler

Tenessee Volunteer QB, first round draft pick for the Washington Redskins. Made money outside of football raising hunting dogs. To be fair though a blue dog Democrat is better than a brain dead Republican.

[bemildred]

24. Can we prohibit anonymous sources in the MSM too?

What a dip.

[salin]

25. Let me guess, before I go read the story... someone posted something unlfattering about Couch...

so he thinks "there oughta be a law"...

[L0oniX]

37. He was in one of those airport bathroom stalls ...squating ...when he thought up this crap.

[salin]

55. lol

or in diapers with a hooker?

[NinetySix]

27. Why the hell would anyone want to publish something anonymously anyway?

Ask Galileo, Spinoza, and the authors of the Federalist Papers, for starters. Maybe we could try them in absentia and punish them posthumously for their transgressions, you know, make an example of them for future generations.

Clearly, a threat to assassinate the President, published anonymously, should be perceived as a danger, and pursued with all due diligence by law enforcement. But opinion should be permitted freely by anyone, whether they wish to make their identity public or not.

[alfredo]

28. He's a Republican, so you can be assured he doesn't believe in privacy.

Most likely somebody said something unkind about him and he'd like to know who it is so he can get even.

[truthisfreedom]

29. Great plan. I don't want my kids online using their real names and address.

What a republican thing to do... Make it easier for republican pervs to stalk kids.

[L0oniX]

36. Yea I can just see that right now. "My name is Tina and I am 12 years old and I live at ....

You get the idea. It's just what the sicko child predators want. Maybe the asscarrot who came up with this idea is a molester.

[ladywnch]

30. and just how the hell could a website operator possibly validate

any of this info?

Hello, my name is Jose Jimenez
I live at 1234 Main St, Anywhere , USA 10001
my email address is: [e-mail]

now you go find me with that info!....Good F***in Luck!

Or better still use your neighbor's info and post a threat to someone....

This thing has more holes in it that Swiss Cheese!

What a maroon!!!!!!

[greiner3]

31. Use a combination of;

http://www.guerrillamail.com/

A free anonymous email service, one of many such. An email address here lasts for seconds or hours, your choice and

Any one of a number of proxy servers. Firefox browser has an add on that can do the basics of this. Besides, asshat knows everything that we do on the internet anyway. All praises to Carnivore!

Anyway, I would think that more hate posters would have a problem with this. On a bright note, we would know for certain how many moles and trolls are with us. My guess on this last one is up to 5-10% on some posts.

[RavensChick]

32. Is this guy serious?

As much as I would love to see the flame baiters, sock puppets, freepers, and outright idiots exposed, there is a better way of doing it without making it a Federal law.

I hope it gets killed in committee. There's no way in the world it'll pass.

[L0oniX]

35. This is as stupid as making firewalls illegal.

Use a firewall, go to jail
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/03/28/use_a_firewall_go/
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/index.php?p=336

[flashl]

39. Thanks for the links. nt

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

42. TIA

[Catch22Dem]

43. What an ignorant idea

What an ignorant asshole.

[calicat]

44. Repugs pick and choose rights they protect

Privacy isn't one.

[rpannier]

46. So the republikkans have now found a new way to silence dissent

Go after the web owner.

[appleannie1]

49. Is the assault rate in KY too low for his enjoyment?

Or is he having problems getting women's (or even men's) phone numbers and addresses? What a stupid thing to propose.

[struggle4progress]

50. Maybe KY Representatives home addresses & phone numbers should be posted in every state building

while they are in office and for ten years afterwards, so everybody who can discuss anything with them

[Wabbajack_]

59. I'm shocked, supposedly his home phone

is on the KY House website

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/legislator/H090.htm

[struggle4progress]

71. Why isn't his home address there, so people can drop and chat?

[bronxiteforever]

51. regulating free speech-power and control -it would be used to squash dissent

:mad:

[Ian David]

52. I think that is a terrible law.

Sincerely,

Dick Pinch
Clear Lake, Iowa.

[efhmc]

54. I agree that this is a horrible law which won't work. But any

suggestions on how to protect young people from these hideous bullies. I know educating them about this type of person but sometimes teenagers think they know best.

[The Backlash Cometh]

53. What a newbie.

Take the power away from the Bar Associations to regulate their own lawyers, and we may have a deal.

[Asgaya Dihi]

56. Horrible idea

He thinks it'll stop anonymous bullies but all he'd accomplish would be to open us up to stalkers and anonymous retaliation from others.

I've been on the internet since the Usenet days before the web and we used to use real names, there was a reason why we stopped. You'd post with real name and in good faith and some jerk takes offense, next thing you know there's someone out there who has all of your info and details but you've no way to find out who they are. We saw BS calls to employers asking about fictional crimes and debts, we saw vandalism, all kinds of garbage.

He wants to trade a small problem for a big one and doesn't even understand how damaging his fantasies would be. We've been there, the damage done by the stalkers or the cost of police resources needed to track them down and control them would far outweigh any imagined outcome concerning anonymous internet bullies.

[JDPriestly]

57. Anonymous publication is a great American tradition

Benjamin Franklin wrote many, many amazing letters to the editor to his own newspapers under pseudonyms. One famous letter was written in the name of a poor woman who claimed to have been punished for having a number of illegitimate children after having been jilted by a dishonest lover in her youth. The woman argued that she should be commended rather than condemned because, after all, she was just obeying the Biblical instruction to multiply.

This woman's letters were widely read and discussed. She received a fair amount of public sympathy in some quarters. Benjamin Franklin did not admit to having written the letters until many years after their publication. He wrote a lot of anonymous letters and in some of them said critical things about other people.

Then there is Mark Twain who wrote under a pseudonym. Even Jay, Madison, and Hamilton used pseudonyms when writing The Federalist Papers. Those are just a few examples of the great American tradition of publishing anonymous letters and opinions.

It was much more difficult to ferret out the author of an anonymous letter or article back in the days of Franklin, Jay, Madison and Hamilton. Today, our computers can be traced to our offices or homes and what is more, Bush is snooping on everything we write anyway.

The Kentucky lawmaker deserves to have a whole website devoted to him. Lots of people would have interesting things to say about him, I'm sure -- all of them anonymous.

Anonymity is the hallmark of freedom. We are free only so long as we can write anonymously. That's the American way.

Sorry. No spellcheck at this hour of the day/night.

[Hugabear]

63. There was also no Oprah Winfrey back in those days

I get the feeling that Oprah would have praised Franklin's LTE, and then castigated him after she found out the truth.

[Wabbajack_]

58. Fuck you Timmy

love, Wabbajack.

Real name: Blo W. Me.

Email: [e-mail]

Address: Your Mom's bedroom

[B3Nut]

64. This is why politicians should NEVER be allowed to legislate tech.

The laws they propose betray a colossal ignorance of how technology works. There is no way in Hell you could enforce or make anything like this stick or be workable.

Then again, I've always thought that the world should be run by scientists, programmers, and engineers... ;)

[ileus]

65. ALT wacker software for all.

[NoodleyAppendage]

66. Please explain or expand on this...if there's something I need to combat the problem.

To what are you referring?

J

[Q3JR4]

67. And just how

are they going to enforce it if it becomes law?

Q3JR4.

[Q3JR4]

68. Oh wait that's right,

they can't. Unless they want to slog through IP masking software, proxy servers, and other internet anonymizers.

Q3JR4.


On edit:
Is "anonymizers" even a word? Oh well, gets the point across.

[bean fidhleir]

69. I don't believe McIntyre has been overturned, has it?

including on the inet.

The McIntyre case arose when a woman was subject to a fine for distributing anonymous pamphlets opposing a proposed school tax. The woman's actions violated an Ohio statute that required campaign literature to bear the issuer's name and address, purportedly to prevent false statements from being disseminated. But the Court held that the statute violated the First Amendment by penalizing anonymous speech. Thus, it struck down the provision requiring that the issuer identify himself or herself.

The speech at issue was, of course, political speech, which the Court views as being at the core of the First Amendment. It was also speech relating to an election, which is perhaps the most important kind of political speech there is, as the Court noted in its opinion. Finally, it was a relatively unusual kind of anonymous speech in that it was anonymous but not secret or even private. Rather, it was made public through leaflets that anyone could pick up, and try to refute, perhaps by counter-leafleting.

Accordingly, the Court could have written a very narrow opinion had it chosen to do so. But, significantly, it did not. Instead, six of the majority Justices ö including moderate-to-conservative Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy ö joined an opinion, penned by Justice Stevens, that not only protected but applauded anonymous speech.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20011129.html

[Traction311]

72. Real Republicans are gonna start bolting the party soon

Remember how Reagan used to say how government was the enemy, and railed against big government? Well, the Bush neo-cons have taken over. You know, I never could understand why Reagan picked Bush for his running mate, since the families hate each other and they are very different types of Republicans. But now it's perfectly clear after watching a JFK documentry. I honestly believe Reagan was threatened and picked Bush out of fear. The CIA probably had an involvement in the '81 shooting as well.

[angrycarpenter]

73. thought about using my real name

I like to think that I have no opinion that I would not say to anyones face or sign my name to.

[WinkyDink]

78. Just remember: Psychopaths read the Internet, too. ALL. OVER. THE. WORLD.

[MaraJade]

74. Then all of the Nazi and KKK wingnuts...

can pay you a little nighttime visit at home. What fun when they decide to use you and your family for
their necktie party!

Or think of all the rotten bosses who can get back at employees who blog about their problems at work.

Or all of the domestic abuse victims whose stalkers get the break they need to "catch up with old times."

Oh what fun we'll all have then!

[wpelb]

75. How would such a law be enforced?

The Internet doesn't know state (or even international) boundaries, at least for the most part.

[WinkyDink]

77. There are those who say....this will never fly. Aside from hiding the identities of

perverts and nutcases, such a law would stifle free speech, period.

[Akoto]

79. This would be impossible to pull off.

There are nearly countless websites out there. He expects each one to maintain a database? What about websites hosted in places not subject to US law?

Let me guess. He's another dinosaur who thinks the internet is a series of tubes occasionally menaced by clogs.

[moondust]

80. You're free to do that yourself if you want to, Tim.

But you really should take some classes in Freedom 101 before you start promoting totalitarian ideas in public.