No more annoying

Not sure where to put this. But it has two parts.

One- Is this a furtherance of the dystopian universe we see in Shadowrun?

Two- Uh am I going to jail, because I am sure I have annoyed people

this post annoys me. And you didnt reveal yourself fully. go to jail. do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

OK. At least I'm safe.

-Frank

RL This is not likely to withstand much court review, first because it certainly does stretch what can be regulated under the First Amendment, secondly in order to prosecute succesfully you would have to prove intent to annoy which is far different from the offended party becoming annoyed, heck I bet GM is still annoyed at Ralph Nader.

I agree with Frank that this is the sort of stuff that probably snowballed in to the "Big Brother is watching" environment presented in Shadowrun's version of 2070 though, and of course it's probably worst in Extraterritorial Corps.

So what if all the add-throwing of the corps annoyes my?

Under this law, absolutely nothing. They have to be annonymous, and since an incorporated entity has the same legal standing as an individual under US law an ad (at least one compliant with the CAN SPAM) is not annonymous secondly you have to prove that their intent was to annoy you, and the corp can very reasonably argue that their intent was to sell you something, as the complainant the onus would be on you to prove intent to annoy.

just disclose who you are and you're not covered by the law.

so....

"your father was a hamster, and your mother smelt of elderberries... your truely, the french"

Also, some bad news for non-US posters - US law is structured to allow the US to seek to prosecute those who post on a US-based server from overseas, because you're deemed to be committing an offence against US law on US soil. Of course, as far as I'm concerned the US system of laws is an international joke anyway and they can come get me.

Of course Specter is the one that put this in an act that was mainly for the Dept. of Defense. Why, oh why, did my state vote for him again?

The article used somewhat truncated text to skew perceptions. The actual law applies to vulgar and obscene correspondence initiated by the one being charged unless the 'victim' is under 18, then it doesn't matter who initiated it. Of course, this is still somewhat problematic given that the US Supreme Court's official legal definitation of obscene is "I know it when I see it."

They can´t do nothing to me, if I´m just waring my tinfoilhat, anytime I´m posting "What they know when thay see it"

you're all going to jail for your crimes.

Confusing politicians might be a milk run. I'm not seriously convinvced any of them think, and its common practice for legislators to read only the summary of the bill presented to them, if even that. A better run would be replacing the summary sections of the bill with a fake to alter the outcome.

Plus its funny to watch Congress defend itself with "Thats not what we thought it said!"

The worst system of Government, with the exception of all others proposed.

I'm not sure about outlawing stupidity, as long as they extended it to the religious right.

This thread is annoying. Hey, you are all under arrest!

My god, what will politicians think of next? Why don't they do something useful like outlawing lawyers?

*unironic two thumbs up back*

Perhaps there is less call for concern than we thought!

what an amazing waste of tax dollars, i'm pretty sure that money wasted could of helped a school in need or feed a family.

It's a waste of tax dollars to make it so e-mailed death threats are just as much of a crime as death threats made over the phone?

Anyway, those congressmen get paid the same amount whether they pass the bill or not. There was no money 'wasted'.

But how much will they spend to enforce this bill? How much time will be wasted in court when time could be spent prosecuting, like, everything else?

Congress will not spend a dime enforcing this bill. Congress is part of the legislative branch of government and thus has very little power to enforce the laws it passes. The checks and balances within the American political body pass such responsibilities to the Judicial branch. Whether the Judicial branch will waste money on this or not remains to be seen, as many judges will require prima facia evidence that the message violates first amendment rights.

The initial article is heavily biased on one side of the spectrum and Deamon Knight's linked article is biased from the other side. The truth lies in the murky waters in between. Dumpshock is probably not the best place to discuss political theory and the possible effects of a highly conservative Supreme Court and Chief Justice.

I think it would be entertaining to watch a group of deckers (or hackers for SR4) infiltrate the Congressional host and begin editing all the files simultaneouus to the voting process, perhaps changing the wording to make "computer crimes" legal or the like, unfortunately, it probably would not get Presidential endorsement. But it'd be a fun time...

It it the Executive Branch that executes laws, not the Judicial Branch. The Judicial Branch is responsible for reviewing laws passed b the Legislative Branch and reviewing the actions of the Executive Branch. The FBI, which would be the primary enforcer of this law, is a part of the Justice Department which is a part of the Executive Branch.
The trick to getting wacky laws passed is to attached them to last-minute budgets. Everyone will be so concerned with getting the budget passed before the deadline that they won't care about little tidbits that legalize all forms of homocide and other such things. They can straighten that out latter, after the government hasn't collapsed because no one got paid.

We are again suffering from an imprecision of language here, hyzmarca. While the executive branch is tasked with enforcing the law, the decision to prosecute will be made by the prosecuting attorney, an agent of the judicial branch.

Emo, you could also ask how much prosecuting Threats made over the phone. IIRC alot of laws are written broadly and rely on the oversight of the judicial system to prevent abuse. Might not be the best way to write laws, however.

Does lead to an interesting situation where Deckers could attempt to edit court records, insert a false, obscure, court decision in attempt to create a false precedent to exhonerate a friend on trial. Or the usual routes, corrupt the records of LoneStar to try and make evidence inadmissable or suspect. Or attack the courthouse, if the Sammie is getting bored!

Incorrect, prosecuting attorneys are agents of the Executive Branch. In the federal system, they recieve their paycheck and their orders from the President. The Judicial Branch is comprised solely of judges and their underlings. This, among other things, prevents the obvious conflict of inerest that would exist if both judge and trial lawyer were tied to the same chain of command. Licensed attorneys, regardless of their employers, are sometimes refered to as "officers of the court" but that is really just semantics refering to their ethical obligations.

Hyzmarca--You're correct that the FBI is part of the Executive branch, however if judicial review determines that the prosecuting attorney does not have sufficient evidence to prove illegal activity, or if the judge decides that the law itself is illegal (violating higher laws, such as the constitution) then the law itself will not be enforced by the court. This happens infrequently but is one of the strongest powers of the Judicial branch.

Some things you may not know about the US Federal System.

In Theory, State and Federal Goverments are supposed to have equal, but different powers. In practice the Federal Goverment is vastly more powerful.

The executive branch of the Federal goverment is the largest branch in terms of employees. It's also the number one employer of lobbyists.

Congress passes laws, but Congressional Staff members actually write them. However the laws passed in Congress are not the laws you live by, that is the Code of Federal Regulations which is written by the departments of the Executive branch given authorities by the laws passed by Congress.

this should get closed.

US is now THEM.

Considering we now have our own Gulags in Cuba and Poland, this doesn't surprise me on bit.



"...and the most insidious Commie plot to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Gen Jack D Ripper, Burpuleson AFB

Duck and Cover Boyos.

Peace On Earth.
Our Precious Essence.

edit: What? It has the word essence. That's sort of SR related. I love that movie.