Watch out US users!

[Jon the Hat]

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2381

Brilliant. You write anything that annoys me and I can have you prosectued!

Only in the USA. Land of the free!

[Polyphonic]

Quality lets hope this isn't copied over here, man the whole board will be off to the slammer

[Hitesh]

Only in the US!

[Jordan]

In the U.S., the regulations against libel are much more strict than they are in the UK.

For the most part, this law is an extension of other laws that prevent harassment in print media and via telephone into the cyberspace realm. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees American citizens freedom of speech, but this does not protect the right to make libelous statements or harass others, it does not always protect anonymity and it's not something behind which one can hide.

However, the diction in this law is very vague and that does worry me--the Republican-controlled Congress is always figuring out ways to curtail freedoms, and is this another tactic to fight dissent? They stuck this law on a bill that had to pass--underhanded moves like this (and its opposite, sticking a must-fail law on a bill they don't like) are typical of the slimy GOP regime.

The Republicans went about this like a bunch of douchebags--there's not that much of a need for this law, and if necessary, a little time and effort would have resulted in more precise language and meaning. Anyway, it'll be impossible to enforce, and in the unlikely event that someone is prosecuted under this, s/he'll definitely receive legal backing from the American Civil Liberties Union and either win his/her case or an appeal in case of conviction (whereby the case might actually go all the way to the Supreme Court and the original law may be declared unconstitutional...). I don't think the GOP would even bother with this bill if they didn't plan on doing something with it, but they'll never do anything with it anyway, so it's just a waste of time.

~Jordan (Ha, GOP! I've revealed my identity, so I can't be prosecuted!)