Law introduced would make rudeness on the internet punishable by 2 years in prison. [Archive] - Pawn

IrishDragon1234

06-30-2009, 10:28 PM

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1966

This bill was introduced under the claimed purpose of stopping cyberbullying. It would make it punishable by up to 2 years in prison and/or being fined.

Being that there is no real way to enforce cyberbullying without having thousands of federal agents spending hours each day aimlessly browsing around the internet in search of cyberbullies, its obvious to me and the source I found this article from what the intended purpose of this law is.

The federal government has recently been passing many laws that are unconstitutional. Some may disagree, but many people(more than you might expect) are concerned about the government trying to gain control over society. With the corruption that is always present in political actions, the feds could easily use this law to imprison anyone they want. That means anyone who attempts to oppose their control.

It says this law can place punishment of no more than 2 years in prison. But it does not provide any limit on how much they can fine you.

Even with the corruption and idiocy of the current government and their will to pass ridiculous bills, I have doubts that this will pass.
Then again if you can pass a multi-trillion dollar stimulus package without allowing any senators to read it before voting, get GM and Chrysler bought out and owned by the government, and get the FDA the power to force tobacco companies to do anything they tell them to with their products, you can do just about anything.

Snoopy

06-30-2009, 10:34 PM

wow. Just wow.

wut

06-30-2009, 10:37 PM

/b/ is screwed.

Toast

07-01-2009, 08:52 AM

These assholes have America by the balls and it's pissing me off... If they want total control over everyone's lives they can GTFO and live in China.

AlbertMond

07-01-2009, 09:07 AM

First off, don't act like everything that happens is the fault of the (RUN SCREAM) current administration. At least people gave Bush a little time to prove he was a retard.

Buuuut, I'm a bit off topic here.
Years in prison for rudeness on the internet. ON. THE. INTERNET.
First thing that's wrong is the name of the bill.
"Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act."

Megan Meier was a special case. Not simply because the 'attacks' resulted in her committing suicide, but because it was a case of a full-grown adult (actually, more than one) who lived just down the damn street conspiring against (and scamming, humiliating) one 13-year-old girl over something she may or may not have even done.

This is so far from the sort of thing that's typically claimed to be "cyber-bullying," that you can't really see it if you stand there.

I can see it now. Someone who's actually too young to even legally use the internet in their state will scream "OMG CYBERBULLYING SCARRED 4 LYFE" and somebody will go to jail for a few years as a result.
All because they were rude on the internet.

Then again if you can pass a multi-trillion dollar stimulus package without allowing any senators to read it before voting

They were allowed to, as far as I know. Some just didn't.

Nick

07-01-2009, 09:11 AM

/b/ is screwed.

First thing I thought of.

(Maybe they'll run the noobs away from our site! *That'll never happen*)

MeganFoxy

07-01-2009, 09:12 AM

One word.. RIDICULOUS.

UreOnMyHitList

07-01-2009, 09:37 AM

One word.. RIDICULOUS.

Pretty much read my mind.

Most stupidest thing I have ever seen.

MeganFoxy

07-01-2009, 09:49 AM

Pretty much read my mind.

Most stupidest thing I have ever seen.

I know.. lol What is wrong with our Government..? It used to be normal but now.. I read some stuff and I'm like WTF??

wut

07-01-2009, 11:56 AM

That law is retarded for one reason,

how are they going to punish people out of the US?

FlippysKnife

07-01-2009, 12:02 PM

If people cant take internet rudeness, they need to gtfo

Xenocide

07-01-2009, 12:07 PM

Roflmao by the time the law is released there will be millions of people in jail and it will be filled up

AlbertMond

07-01-2009, 12:10 PM

That law is retarded for one reason,

how are they going to punish people out of the US?

Well, since everyone on the internet posts everything about themselves with complete truth, and there's absolutely no way to disguise your IP, the US would just use the military to hunt them down.

Leonardo

07-01-2009, 12:12 PM

Come to Canada.

Xenocide

07-01-2009, 12:14 PM

Come to Canada.

lmfao canada is where Mechinima( i think) and the person who made "Master cheif sucks at halo 3" O_O ill go

Leonardo

07-01-2009, 12:16 PM

Machinima?
I like those animations, they're funny.
But who cares, you get to see the CN Tower. ooooooo.

maggerz

07-01-2009, 12:19 PM

Living in Dubai FTW!

Well, there's no porn, but still. Internet proxy programs FTW!

RaptorZ

07-01-2009, 12:19 PM

Magnester, Thats Genius, Maybe /b/ will be saved!

wut

07-01-2009, 12:27 PM

Eiliosdraye

07-01-2009, 01:00 PM

Well, since everyone on the internet posts everything about themselves with complete truth, and there's absolutely no way to disguise your IP, the US would just use the military to hunt them down.
You're a moron.

The US is not going to send soldiers and use computer technicians for the sole purpose of finding people on the internet and arresting them for being rude.

AlbertMond

07-01-2009, 01:01 PM

You're a moron.

The US is not going to send soldiers and use computer technicians for the sole purpose of finding people on the internet and arresting them for being rude.

That's what you think.
The internet is srs business.

vSkyzv

07-01-2009, 01:23 PM

I don't have a problem with the law as long as the wording is a lot more specific.

AlbertMond

07-01-2009, 01:35 PM

I don't have a problem with the law as long as the wording is a lot more specific.

So... something along the lines of "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW"?

SneaK

07-01-2009, 01:36 PM

*Sniffs*

Copy & paste newb.

vSkyzv

07-01-2009, 01:37 PM

So... something along the lines of "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW"?
Cyberbullying is a serious problem. You should try Googling it and see if you get any good information about it.

I'm not going to explain it now since I'm eating breakfast :p.

wut

07-01-2009, 01:46 PM

Cyberbullying is a serious problem. You should try Googling it and see if you get any good information about it.

I'm not going to explain it now since I'm eating breakfast :p.

Its the internet.

If you kill yourself over something you read on the internet,

you deserve to die.

Kirby887

07-01-2009, 01:59 PM

These assholes have America by the balls and it's pissing me off... If they want total control over everyone's lives they can GTFO and live in China.

Screw China. Throw them into North Korea! Let them starve ;..;.
As for them wanting control over America, let them dream, the people (Some) will wise up and kick their ***** out.

AlbertMond

07-01-2009, 02:03 PM

Screw China. Throw them into North Korea! Let them starve ;..;.
As for them wanting control over America, let them dream, the people (Some) will wise up and kick their ***** out.

I <3 irony.

Pochitos

07-01-2009, 02:06 PM

This guy above me is stupid.

:O

arabftw123

07-01-2009, 02:23 PM

Its the internet.

If you kill yourself over something you read on the internet,

you deserve to die.

Cyber bullying is not the kind of crap that happens around here on Pawn, which is what has all of you worked up. Cyber bullying IS a serious issue, and simple googling will bring up some heart wrenching stories.

EDIT:

And lol @ 'America stomping on our rights.' Politics is obviously not Pawn's forte, if you want your rights stomped on, go live in the UK.

Kirby887

07-01-2009, 02:27 PM

'This guy above me is stupid'
And to whom are you refering too?
But seriously, kick them out.

imnotanoob

07-01-2009, 02:30 PM

I would like to report kaspersky for cyberbullying on several occasions.

IrishDragon1234

07-01-2009, 04:31 PM

vSkyzv

07-01-2009, 04:48 PM

The thing is that this doesn't just apply to the internet. It applies to all forms of electronic communication. They could easily use this to take conservative radio talk hosts and put them in prison under the pretense that the negative things they said about the Obama administration qualified as threatening or abusive.

Wrong.

Cyberbullying = school bullying + internet

What you mentioned is an opinion. We're talking here about students who are big enough dicks to get a webpage and harass another student using it. Also know that any libel (false information) is not protected by the First Amendment.

IrishDragon1234

07-01-2009, 05:08 PM

Wrong.

Cyberbullying = school bullying + internet

What you mentioned is an opinion. We're talking here about students who are big enough dicks to get a webpage and harass another student using it. Also know that any libel (false information) is not protected by the First Amendment.

I wasn't talking about the definition of cyberbullying. I was talking about the terms outlined in the bill itself. If you read the bill, it describes the offense as any sort of harassment or provocation through any form of electronic communication.

So if a radio talk show host were to make racist jokes about Obama on his radio show, it could qualify as cyberbullying under this bill.

Eiliosdraye

07-01-2009, 05:10 PM

Most kids don't even have the intelligence to maintain a website.

vSkyzv

07-01-2009, 05:20 PM

I wasn't talking about the definition of cyberbullying. I was talking about the terms outlined in the bill itself. If you read the bill, it describes the offense as any sort of harassment or provocation through any form of electronic communication.

So if a radio talk show host were to make racist jokes about Obama on his radio show, it could qualify as cyberbullying under this bill.
You have a point, which is why I supported this bill only with more specific wording.

@Eilios: MySpace\Blogs

Sign up, post crap, you're done.

Eiliosdraye

07-01-2009, 05:22 PM

You have a point, which is why I supported this bill only with more specific wording.

@Eilios: MySpace\Blogs

Sign up, post crap, you're done.
MySpace is stupid as hell. It should be shut down for people under 18, and there should be significant evidence to prove you're over 18.

As for blogs, same policy.

BANGdead

07-01-2009, 05:26 PM

/b/ is screwed.

FFS rules 1 and 2. You don't talk about it.

And this is a really stupid bill. What's next, being rude IRL will get you 2 years in prison also??

Xenocide

07-01-2009, 05:33 PM

Cyber bullying is not the kind of crap that happens around here on Pawn, which is what has all of you worked up. Cyber bullying IS a serious issue, and simple googling will bring up some heart wrenching stories.

EDIT:

And lol @ 'America stomping on our rights.' Politics is obviously not Pawn's forte, if you want your rights stomped on, go live in the UK.

eh he has a point....i just googles and this girl was bullied too much and she had to me home schooled......so....that what i said in my post ..The jails are gonna be full of them.

blondie

07-01-2009, 05:39 PM

Rudeness on the internet is punishable by up to 2 years of prison.

And rudeness in real life is what? Death? I was moving in my scooter yesterday when a pair of white and black teenagers called out to me that they wouldn't steal my you-know-what. I wanted, and was going to fight with them, but I didn't.

Even so, I wouldn't think that's worth two years in prison. It's impractical, and it'll show weakness in government.

...And, it's unconstitutional.

vSkyzv

07-01-2009, 07:06 PM

Calling cyberbullying "rudeness" is like calling murder "kinda bad".

Ryuk

07-01-2009, 07:08 PM

We will run out of space in our prisons with the high number of people that are going to be jailed by this law. -_-

vSkyzv

07-01-2009, 07:11 PM

We will run out of space in our prisons with the high number of people that are going to be jailed by this law. -_-
True. That's why we need better wording that's not vague.

Xenu

07-01-2009, 07:25 PM

I approve of this law. It has my full support.

Dax

07-01-2009, 07:44 PM

Hmm, I've caused emotional distress by inflicting bans on users. I shall be jailed for a couple years and filed 3 million dollars for cyberbullying.

Dumbest thing ever.

DanielSoBr

07-01-2009, 08:13 PM

Two years in jail for rudeness... Rudeness is part of free speech, you can't make it illegal. We have harassment laws already.

IrishDragon1234

07-01-2009, 11:11 PM

We will run out of space in our prisons with the high number of people that are going to be jailed by this law. -_-

This law isn't going to be used to get cyberbullies. A lot of people, including myself, see this as an attempt at media censorship. Some guy is making a radio show or blog that opposes the government's actions, it gets too popular for the government's liking, they take the owner and say that the stuff he said was harassment of the state and throw him in prison for 2 years(enough time for people to forget about him) and fine him a lot of money(enough that he won't be able to do the same thing when he gets out.

Xenu

07-01-2009, 11:19 PM

This law isn't going to be used to get cyberbullies. A lot of people, including myself, see this as an attempt at media censorship. Some guy is making a radio show or blog that opposes the government's actions, it gets too popular for the government's liking, they take the owner and say that the stuff he said was harassment of the state and throw him in prison for 2 years(enough time for people to forget about him) and fine him a lot of money(enough that he won't be able to do the same thing when he gets out.

They would never be able to do that as, even if this law was passed.

OmegaLemming

07-01-2009, 11:26 PM

/b/ is screwed.

Agreed.

That law is retarded for one reason,

how are they going to punish people out of the US?

Exactly, in a way it defeats itself.

Cyber bullying is not the kind of crap that happens around here on Pawn, which is what has all of you worked up. Cyber bullying IS a serious issue, and simple googling will bring up some heart wrenching stories.

EDIT:

And lol @ 'America stomping on our rights.' Politics is obviously not Pawn's forte, if you want your rights stomped on, go live in the UK.

Also agreed. While the internet can sometimes be a big joke to most people (and trust me, I know we all have our lulz sometimes) sometimes it's not just a joke, people really do take things too far and things end badly. Most of you'd be surprised.

The thing is that this doesn't just apply to the internet. It applies to all forms of electronic communication. They could easily use this to take conservative radio talk hosts and put them in prison under the pretense that the negative things they said about the Obama administration qualified as threatening or abusive.

I honestly don't like any of the talking heads, but people like Limbaugh and Stern make me sick. While I don't agree with what he says, I will admit that what he's doing isn't necessarily breaking any amendments though.

We will run out of space in our prisons with the high number of people that are going to be jailed by this law. -_-

Well said.

mondo909

07-01-2009, 11:32 PM

/b/ is screwed.

i lol'ed
ya it is...

might as well nuke my hard drive now...

TopHatMan

07-01-2009, 11:52 PM

its Obama, what do you expect.

Xenu

07-02-2009, 12:23 AM

its Obama, what do you expect.

Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California (for herself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HARE, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. CLAY, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. COURTNEY, and Mr. KIRK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

Obama has nothing to do with the bill, as far as I know from what I read.

Not defending Obama, just stating a fact >.>

brohana

07-02-2009, 12:36 AM

The government knows whats best, why are you questioning it?

AlbertMond

07-02-2009, 12:53 AM

The thing is that this doesn't just apply to the internet. It applies to all forms of electronic communication. They could easily use this to take conservative radio talk hosts and put them in prison under the pretense that the negative things they said about the Obama administration qualified as threatening or abusive.

As OG said, it has nothing to do with Obama.
The bill is bad, but please take your 'ZOMG T3H ANTICHRIST' crap elsewhere.
Kthnx.

Calisniper13

07-02-2009, 12:57 AM

You all know this has almost 0% chance of ever making it to a vote.

Marine22

07-02-2009, 12:58 AM

You all know this has almost 0% chance of ever making it to a vote.
Agreed .

krista835

07-02-2009, 07:21 AM

AlbertMond

07-02-2009, 07:25 AM

You can't really stop it, people will always be idiots :P
But either way if you can't take the bullying then don't get on the Internet, problem solved.
It's really not that hard and why care what someone somewhere else thinks when they probably don't even know you..
Common sense.. Lozl oh well like I said people will always be idiots :)

As P00ner pointed out, if they're actually referring to cyber-bullying and not "ZOMG HE CALD ME STOOPID" crap, it wouldn't require the 'victim' to so much as possess a computer.

krista835

07-02-2009, 07:53 AM

As P00ner pointed out, if they're actually referring to cyber-bullying and not "ZOMG HE CALD ME STOOPID" crap, it wouldn't require the 'victim' to so much as possess a computer.

Okay well that's true too, but really it all depends on how you handle everything and perspective in a way, but really it seems like it would be hard to find all the bullies unless people report them or something because it could just be like two friends messing around or something. I just personally don't think this law makes much sense although I think that when Internet bullying is taken too far it's a serious problem. Except when I've heard about victims of bullying I never hear about how the victim told anyone which could probably prevent a lot of it.. Just my opinion though lozl