Several bloggers today have been discussing the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act which contains a provision making it a crime to anonymously “annoy” anyone over the Internet.
Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called “Preventing Cyberstalking.” It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet “without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy.”
And just who do we have to thank for this particular assault on freedom of speech ?
To grease the rails for this idea, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and the section’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.
I may just have to start blogging anonymously to protest this latest piece of nonsense to come out of the halls of Congress. From now on, just call me The Unknown Blogger.
Technorati Tags: First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
