New Jersey Bill Would Prohibit Anonymous Forum Pos...

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Author: Patrick Gaines

Started: March 8, 2006, 6:26:40 am

Target: New Jersey State Legislature

Category: Government & Politics

Supporters:

Goal:

Goal Progress:

Status

Goal Met!

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/nj_bill_a1327

SYNOPSIS

Makes certain operators of interactive computer services and Internet service providers liable to persons injured by false or defamatory messages posted on public forum websites.

Bill A1327, proposed in the New Jersey State Legislature by Assemblyman PETER J. BIONDI of District 16 (Morris and Somerset) in the year 2006, would "require an operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish, maintain and enforce a policy requiring an information content provider who posts messages on a public forum website either to be identified by legal name and address or to register a legal name and address with the operator or provider prior to posting messages on a public forum website.

The bill requires an operator of an interactive computer service or an Internet service provider to establish and maintain reasonable procedures to enable any person to request and obtain disclosure of the legal name and address of an information content provider who posts false or defamatory information about the person on a public forum website.

In addition, the bill makes any operator or Internet service provider liable for compensatory and punitive damages as well as costs of a law suit filed by a person damaged by the posting of such messages if the operator or Internet service provider fails to establish, maintain and enforce the policy required by section 2 of the bill."

A complete copy of this bill can be found at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/20 06/Bills/A1500/1327_I1.HTM.

Such a bill would attack the privacy of each and every internet user, a.k.a. "Information content provider", as it would force users to supply a Legal Name and Home Address each and every time they want to join an online forum community, a.k.a. "Interactive computer service", such as those that use popular forum system scripts, namely, phpBB (http://www.phpbb.com/) and vBulletin (http://www.vbulletin.com/), as well as many others.

Furthermore, this bill would attack online forum communities themselves. Part of the value of the Internet is the anonymity and assurance of privacy guaranteed by Internet Service Providers, who want to protect users from creeps, stalkers, sex offenders, pedophiles, and any manner of ne'er-do-wells. To attack this value is to stifle the Internet, and the innovation and creativity it facilitates.

To pass this law would place many users in the position of deciding whether or not to give personal information to a complete stranger. Many users would choose instead to protect their privacy, and not register an account on any of the thousands of privately managed forum communities in order to post messages.

Some owners, a.k.a. "Operators" of such forums, not wanting to deal with the regulatory red tape that such a law would impose, would instead simply close their forum communities.

The measures proposed in Bill A1327 would also attack news blogs such as Slashdot (http://slashdot.org/), a major draw of which is to provide users the opportunity to make anonymous comments that are appended to news articles.

All of these things would detract from the sense of community that is facilitated by the Internet and the World Wide Web, and again, stifle innovation and creativity.

The following thoughts are posted at http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/:

"Many people don't want the things they say online to be connected with their offline identities. They may be concerned about political or economic retribution, harassment, or even threats to their lives. Whistleblowers report news that companies and governments would prefer to suppress; human rights workers struggle against repressive governments; parents try to create a safe way for children to explore; victims of domestic violence attempt to rebuild their lives where abusers cannot follow.

Instead of using their true names to communicate, these people choose to speak using pseudonyms (assumed names) or anonymously (no name at all). For these individuals and the organizations that support them, secure anonymity is critical. It may literally save lives.

Anonymous communications have an important place in our political and social discourse. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the right to anonymous free speech is protected by the First Amendment. A much-cited 1995 Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:

Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society.

The tradition of anonymous speech is older than the United States. Founders Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers under the pseudonym "Publius," and "the Federal Farmer" spoke up in rebuttal. The US Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized rights to speak anonymously derived from the First Amendment.

The right to anonymous speech is also protected well beyond the printed page. Thus, in 2002, the Supreme Court struck down a law requiring proselytizers to register their true names with the Mayor's office before going door-to-door.

These long-standing rights to anonymity and the protections it affords are critically important for the Internet. As the Supreme Court has recognized, the Internet offers a new and powerful democratic forum in which anyone can become a "pamphleteer" or "a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox."

In summary, the purpose of this petition is to prevent the passage of any sort of law that would attack the anonymity, and therefore the privacy and freedom of speech of "Internet content providers," which would damage the value of the Internet and the World Wide Web, and stifle innovation and creativity.

In addition, this petition's purpose is to raise awareness about Internet Anonymity and Privacy issues, and to encourage the involvement of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org/) in this issue.

The end goal of this petition is to collect at least 1,000,000 signatures, and deliver the list of these signatures to the New Jersey State Legislature.

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/contact.asp

The author of this petition hereby gives permission to any and all persons to copy and reprint this petition in any format or medium as seen fit, giving credit to the original author, Patrick Gaines, a.k.a. "Mifune". Furthermore, any persons wishing to copy or reprint this petition must copy the whole text, including this statement of copy permission, and a link to this petition, provided below:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/nj_bill_a1327

Users are requested to make only one signature per person in this petition, in order to preserve the integrity of this petition.

Users who receive this petition in an email are requested to forward it to as many people as possible.

In addition, users may feel free to discuss this petition with full assurance of anonymity at ShardWire (http://www.shardwire.org/), a News and Resource Site for Online Game Server Emulation, and related topics.