Hidden Laws
Stuck inside a funding package for the Department of Justice is a new law making it a felony to be anonymously annoying on the Internet. It was supposed to address Cyberstalking but it is so badly written that someone is going to have to drag this thing through the courts so it can be thrown out as unconstitutional.
Anonymously Annoying describes most of the news groups on Usenet. If P. Lapin can’t attack Muffy, International Kitten of Mystery, over Easter customs, what’s the point? [rec.org.mensa] People who complain about spam have never been part of a full-bore flame war.
Given the way this law was passed, Congress had better have given itself an exemption, because the law is definitely annoying, and it certainly was enacted in an anonymous fashion.
