Declan McCullagh catches a ridiculous new change to federal telecommunications laws: It is now illegal, after President Bush signed H.R. 3402, the "Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005," to harrass someone by posting an anonymous comment on their blog.
This is a law open to incredible abuse both by companies and politicians who want to silence critics. ”
Section 113 of the bill has been amended and rewritten in such a way as to “rewrite this part of the Communications Act of 1934 to read: (B) makes a telephone call, whether or not conversation ensues, without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the called number and; (C) makes or causes the telephone of another repeatedly or continuously to ring, with intent to harass any person at the called number ((C) in the case of subparagraph (C) of subsection (a)(1), includes 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 (as such term is defined in section 1104 of the Internet Tax Freedom Act (47 U.S.C. 151 note)).’
That makes "annoying" someone via comments posted on a blog or Web site a crime punishable by fines of up to $50,000 and/or imprisonment for up to six months. ”
It's time to ask why last minute amendments reducing our freedoms are constantly being added to laws that have completely different puposes.
It's time to stop listening to what this administration says and only pay attentiion to what it does.
A nibble here, an amendment there, a rider to an appropriations bill, text slipped in in House Senate conference, and a President becomes Emperor.
It's all to similar to the way a crtain Reichschancellor became Fuhrer, one law at a time.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ratcliffe/index.php?p=28
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