But sometimes, they’re the most fun.
There is this big kerfuffle going around the blogosphere about some bill Bush signed to protect people from on-line stalking that supposedly says that ‘annoying’ someone anonymously is now a felony.
Some folks are taking this to mean that comments left by an anonymous commenter or someone using a pen name is covered under this.
OK, so let me get this straight: I go to Oliver Willis’ place and leave a comment on a post of his (like I just did this morning), and if he finds it ‘annoying’ he can have me prosecuted?
I may be the least ‘computer savvy’ blogger around, so help me out here; didn’t I leave an IP addy on his server when I hit the submit button? Am I to understand that he is unable to see my name, my email addy and the address to this very website that I put into the little boxes before I hit said submit button and that he is unable to do a domain registration search?
Don’t those tidbits of info mean that I am no longer anonymous?
Are people thinking that everyone now has to leave their name, address and home phone number in order to be safe?
Is this just a bunch of horse shit people are overreacting to?
I would think that as long as the person’s info is traceable, everyone is hunky dory. The only people who leave anonymous comments are trolls and even then I have a traceable IP with the old MT software I run (that will be gone shortly, along with TypeKey. Yay!).
I don’t mean to be insensitive to people’s fears, what with the Dems wanting to tie bloggers into McCain-Feingold, but did bloggers just turn into whiners overnight? Who the hell runs a full on blog and then goes around to leftie websites and tries to post anonymously?
I’m a bit confused at the worry here.
Allow me to address your concerns, AK.
It seems the trees got in your way.
The forest is over here, in First Amendment Country.
A bill requiring that any part of free speech be identified as to author to qualify under the First is an anathema to supporters of the Constitution.
This rider was written solely to limit free expression that is political commentary. It’s that simple. Since conservatives ARE a minority, all their commentary generally opposes the political establishment, both on the Left and the center/right.
This ploy is simply Arlen Specter taking the side of the Big Media against that whorish group’s main competition, blogs. Specter has been bought and paid for by the Big Media, to whom he is a liberal darling who happens to call himself a Republican.
You were correct: the ACLU will make short work of this rider, hopefully by immediate injunction.
And AK, it IS a big deal. It’s as big a deal as a new restriction on the purchase and possession of weapons would be.
Just as we can’t have the First without the Second, we also can’t have the Second without the First. How the hell are we going to educate the uneducated masses that they still need the R2KBA if Arlen Specter is allowed to zip our lips?
BTW, since you read the KluLess Kos daily, and I can’t bring myself to, how are the imbibers of Kool-Aid(tm) taking this abridgement of THEIR rights. Kos gets a lot of commenters, hundreds on every post, and few bother to identify themselves, except by tree-hugger pseudonyms. Do those KluLess filk over there realize that this sword cuts both ways?
Yeah, RD, I saw that part first, but I was wanting to know why the discussion was all about blogs and why folks were forgetting IP addys. It’s a non-starter when dealing with things such as comments on a blog because of the tracking ability of the internet.
While I don’t care what anyone thinks of what I write, I can see certain times when some people would want to be anonymous.
I just can’t think of anyone stupid enough who thinks they can do anything on the internet anonymously.
Email, on the other hand, is a completely different matter. Anyone can get an anonymous email and harass or aanoy anyone they want to.
So, if this covers annoyances, does it make felons out of the uber-spammers? They’re stuff is definitely annoying.
As for the Kos Kids, they aren’t really liking it, but I’ve only seen it reported on one major left wing blog and a couple minor ones.
Nothing like what I’ve seen on the right wing/libertarian blogs.
Umm, check out Geek With a .45. I think this whole thing’s a nonissue at this point.
http://geekwitha45.blogspot.com/2006_01_08_geekwitha45_archive.html#113699946006239113
Wait a minute, let’s get to the really IMPORTANT talking point:
You’re getting rid of TypeKey?
YAY!!!!! (TypeKey… hsssssssssssssss)