R.I.P. Internet Trolls?

[arus2001]

Pleading the first isn't a perfect defense. Fine, you have a right to say whatever. In the flesh, we can't exactly pretend we don't hear the bullshit and just walking away isn't always an option. The same can be said of the net, as you won't know what's been said until it's been read. Yes, we could also turn around and argue that the net's a luxury for entertainment purposes, but seeing how some use the anonymous veil to reenact juvenile stupidity, they won't get my sympathy if they're ever called out on it.

Generally, I'd say this applies more to people going to great lengths to slander or humiliate in terms of pursuit and punishment. The recent thread about the girl getting caught posting sexual shit on her photobucket comes to mind. Was she a moron? Yes. Did it deserve the darkest recesses of the internet swooping in like vultures to exacerbate her indiscretion? No. Can talk about genes and how those who can't take the heat shouldn't deserve to live. I'd rather have the genes of those who help those get back up when they fall being circulated, not the genes of those that kick them.

Should this come to pass and enforcement become mainstream, I'm not worried. I don't seek my fun at the expense of others. Can try to call it getting a sense of humor at times, but I don't think any of us can deny the fact we've all seen somebody zealously go out of their way to make someone's life hell on the net. And usually it's not because they've done something truly wrong.

[Jefe]

(...)

A rational person would react differently other than killing themselves over insults in the intrawebs. HOWEVER, when a grown up person takes advantage of an adolescent, which are stupid and susceptible, needs to be punished, period.

The adult woman's intent was clearly to harm the adolescent. She orchestrated a relationship with the 13 year old girl and later left her, told her she was "worthless" and to kill herself. Think about it, the woman did all that with the sole purpose to harm her psychologically and physically.

[Correction]

The adult woman's intent was clearly to harm the adolescent. She orchestrated a relationship with the 13 year old girl and later left her, told her she was "worthless" and to kill herself. Think about it, the woman did all that with the sole purpose to harm her psychologically and physically.

Such behavior is already covered under civil law. The victim's family is free to file a wrongful death claim against the woman who made the fraudulent MySpace account without needing some ridiculous, impossible to enforce law made with a cute name that costs a lot and does little to nothing.

[sb]

Think most of you are getting the wrong impression of internet harassing. Theres a huge difference between trolling someone in a forum and using the internet to troll someone in real life. Situations where peoples phone numbers, addresses, and other personal information are are more an example of what this is directed at, and even those are minimal considering how the internet has been used to ruin or sabotage some peoples lives.

While I can see this bill as a huge anti-privacy/big brother issue, I can see a need for some sort of accountability. Some of the thing that go on in internetland are really pretty fucked up. Anonymity shouldn't allow people to turn into something or someone they wouldn't otherwise if face to face, but it does and many instances of "real" (i.e. not just forum banter) internet harassment probably wouldn't have happened if there was direct accountability.

[Tomk]

I think that there is a precedence here. Things that are said do not become illegal unless an actual believable threat is made.

With all due respect, everytime someone talks about law suits people bring up McDonalds and the hot coffee. Please research this case. I studied it in buisness class and my wife studied it in Law school. The lady had 3rd degree burns on her legs and groin. She had to have skin grafts. The coffee melted her pants into her skin. I think that is too hot. McDonalds knew the coffee was that hot. They made it that way on purpose because they said "It tastes better".

If I have offended anyone I am sorry. I feel that you are a valuable person greatly needed by all that love you. In no way do I want you to die in a fire.

[Pharaun]

I can't wait for the FBI to raid 4chan, wait what continent is the internet in?

Seriously though, I understand the intent behind the law. In this situation something clearly criminal happened, but the family was left with no criminal punishment, only civil. The sad part is that you'll never really be able to make this law balanced so that some cuntwad with sand in his vagina can't abuse it. Because of that I have to say that this law should be struck down as unconstitutional.

[BRP]

Finally, the internet is pure and clean. After clearing up all the child porngraphy, software and music pirating, cyberterror, and now trolling, there is nothing wrong with the internet.

[Churchill]

I don't give a flying fuck if some faggot kills himself for any fucking reason.

I don't give a flying fuck if people look at CP or loli.

Using the internet is a choice and you are not guaranteed a right to it, so if it creates an environment your faggot ass can't handle then either kill yourself or be responsible and remove yourself from the situation.

[Churchill]

I think that there is a precedence here. Things that are said do not become illegal unless an actual believable threat is made.

With all due respect, everytime someone talks about law suits people bring up McDonalds and the hot coffee. Please research this case. I studied it in buisness class and my wife studied it in Law school. The lady had 3rd degree burns on her legs and groin. She had to have skin grafts. The coffee melted her pants into her skin. I think that is too hot. McDonalds knew the coffee was that hot. They made it that way on purpose because they said "It tastes better".

If I have offended anyone I am sorry. I feel that you are a valuable person greatly needed by all that love you. In no way do I want you to die in a fire.

Shut up faggot.

[Suburbanelite]

GOODBYE FOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

(sung to the tune of goodbye horses.)

Fuck, this law would be so insanely active if it went into effect. They'd probably arrest people for swearing on the internet. Everybody dance now.


THEHAMSTERSSEEINTOYOURINTERNET

[terranova]

This isn't going to stop someone from being an asshole online.

[KuaiEQ]

WHITE HOUSE. BOMBING. GEORGE W. BUSH. AL'QUESADILLA. SHIGERU MIYAMOTO. B^U. BARACK OBAMA.

[skurlover]

WHITE HOUSE. BOMBING. GEORGE W. BUSH. AL'QUESADILLA. SHIGERU MIYAMOTO. B^U. BARACK OBAMA.

Bye.

[Kiro]

I didn't really read through all of this, but why didn't the fucking morons getting harassed not just turn off their fucking computers or sign out?

"Report Spam" option in e-mail isn't a feature of dumbfuck explorer 5.0?

[Turambar]

I can't wait for the FBI to raid 4chan, wait what continent is the internet in?

Seriously though, I understand the intent behind the law. In this situation something clearly criminal happened, but the family was left with no criminal punishment, only civil. The sad part is that you'll never really be able to make this law balanced so that some cuntwad with sand in his vagina can't abuse it. Because of that I have to say that this law should be struck down as unconstitutional.

So, in other words, nothing criminal happened. Regardless of this woman's intent, no amount of harassment makes her criminally liable for the girl killing herself. I personally don't think she should be civilly liable, either. The fact is, there was nobody forcing the girl to read the supposedly-harassing messages. It's trivially easy to ignore and/or block unwanted communications on the internet, whether it's an email or a Myspace-style site. I have no sympathy at all for that kid.

[skurlover]

I can't wait for the FBI to raid 4chan, wait what continent is the internet in?

Seriously though, I understand the intent behind the law. In this situation something clearly criminal happened, but the family was left with no criminal punishment, only civil. The sad part is that you'll never really be able to make this law balanced so that some cuntwad with sand in his vagina can't abuse it. Because of that I have to say that this law should be struck down as unconstitutional.

So, in other words, nothing criminal happened. Regardless of this woman's intent, no amount of harassment makes her criminally liable for the girl killing herself. I personally don't think she should be civilly liable, either. The fact is, there was nobody forcing the girl to read the supposedly-harassing messages. It's trivially easy to ignore and/or block unwanted communications on the internet, whether it's an email or a Myspace-style site. I have no sympathy at all for that kid.

Hi Darkheart, would you like to meet my friends the Care Bears? Maybe after a rousing game of cloud bouncing, you might get your heart back.

And yes, you are right about nothing criminal technically happening in this case as far as I have see, but with this new law, it would become a criminal offense. There is zero reason for people to be destructive to each other like this, whether to get back at someone (revenge) or just for the lulz (for you socially inept protectors of the internet).

[Fhqwghads]

I can't wait for the FBI to raid 4chan, wait what continent is the internet in?

Seriously though, I understand the intent behind the law. In this situation something clearly criminal happened, but the family was left with no criminal punishment, only civil. The sad part is that you'll never really be able to make this law balanced so that some cuntwad with sand in his vagina can't abuse it. Because of that I have to say that this law should be struck down as unconstitutional.

So, in other words, nothing criminal happened. Regardless of this woman's intent, no amount of harassment makes her criminally liable for the girl killing herself. I personally don't think she should be civilly liable, either. The fact is, there was nobody forcing the girl to read the supposedly-harassing messages. It's trivially easy to ignore and/or block unwanted communications on the internet, whether it's an email or a Myspace-style site. I have no sympathy at all for that kid.

Hi Darkheart, would you like to meet my friends the Care Bears? Maybe after a rousing game of cloud bouncing, you might get your heart back.

And yes, you are right about nothing criminal technically happening in this case as far as I have see, but with this new law, it would become a criminal offense. There is zero reason for people to be destructive to each other like this, whether to get back at someone (revenge) or just for the lulz (for you socially inept protectors of the internet).

It's not up to the judicial system to determine what is, for all intents and purposes, being "mean." If someone wants to be an asshole then he/she should be able to be an asshole. If people are too weak minded to realize that internet trolls have about as much significance as the lint under a bed, then good riddance. This is a bullshit law that will be exploited by prosecutors, and tossed around as frivolously as other lame ass lawsuits.

[Lampoon]

And here I thought Ethugin was still cool

[arus2001]

I didn't really read through all of this, but why didn't the fucking morons getting harassed not just turn off their fucking computers or sign out?

"Report Spam" option in e-mail isn't a feature of dumbfuck explorer 5.0?

Those who receive said spam reports are subject to bias, particularly in niche forums where the trolling is often done publicly and quite fiercely. I really like when people spam up FFXI threads with "stop being such an Allatard!", "It's 2 pages back, dumbass!", "Use the fucking search function!", and similar comments, often repeatedly and for pages at a time. It's like they think they're contributing to the original discussion, but more toward a derail. Just ignore the shit, or better yet, report said dumbfuck posts and stop playing moderator vigilante.

Suppose the most unbiased form of moderation actually comes from outright censoring. Turn cuss words into #%@! and so on, but then you get people trying to break the system using the bbcode itself. Some insults come and go as fads, so administration would need to keep such parameters up to date, too. Of course, a lot of people try to equate the internet to America in that they're free to say whatever. Nope. Unless you're paying for the web space, your opinion is about as meaningful as the host, and even then, their provider deems. They've also got every right to go SE on our asses and ban for whatever reason at any time, and I'm actually beginning to wonder if a host could legally pursue a rulebreaker if a contractual obligation is made by the user. Some might get thrown out, but at what point would a judge get serious?

In terms of general spam, when I click 'report spam' in my email about enlarging my breasts, cheap meds, and so on, I don't feel like anything's being accomplished. It's just ferried off to some abyss bin while the spam bot creates another email somewhere and just sends it to me again a few days later because some corporation decided to sell my email addy for a few pennies. Whitelisting in these cases is a lot like board censoring in that I'd need to be vigilant about constantly updating that list so I wouldn't possibly miss a needed email.

[pirahna1]

Sooo, they want to pass a law making internet bullying illegal, yet the school system still does nothing against school-yard bullies? Just a slap on the wrist for them, but internet harassment is a fine and jail-time?

I love America.