Anonymous posting.. make sure its not a UK based board:

[AKDejaVu]

 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/17703.html

AKDejaVu

[This message has been edited by AKDejaVu (edited 03-19-2001).]

[TheWobble]

Figures

[AKDejaVu]

Figures? explain.

[Dowding]

I wonder what Wobble is getting at...?

[Sandman_SBM]

Amazing what you can do without a pesky constitution getting in the way.



------------------
cheers,
sand
screamin blue messiahs

[AKDejaVu]

I don't think that was the issue sandman.  I actually liked the logic behind the decision.  Someone was actually deemed responsible for what they wrote.  What a novel concept.

AKDejaVu

[TheWobble]

 

Figures? explain.

Well lets see here... i was getting at the idea that one day somebody is goning to be sued for insulting someone else's screen name,
as in....

Say i say sandman's mother is a fat cow..sandman finds my identity and takes me to court for..LIBEL(?)...i thinks thats what its called..
basically an alias insulting another alias becomes a crime.... 1 person the doesent exist insulting another person that doesent exist..and they get in "real world" trouble for it.

...Imagine saying something while playing AH like "DUMA, quit being a studmuffin" and a few days later you get a summence in the mail saying that DUMA (or whoever duma is) is sueing you for public slander..in other words spreading a rumor that is not true, he alleges that you publicaly told a mass of people (the MA arena) that he was gay and that this has had a detramental effect on his life...

see what im gettin at?
whats kinda spooky is that given the precidence that the incident in the article is speaking of, if that sticks and forms a law, then the above 2 scenarios i just made up could quite possibly happen..and thats nbot even an extreme case.and I (or accused) would most probably lose...especally considering an old woman deep frying her crotch with hot coffe from McDonalds can win 12,000,000 dollars in "damages"


Basically the neutering of the free speech of the internet as we know it.

nothing against europe or anywhere else..this was bound to happen eventually somewhere, now its just a matter as to weather it is handled in a NON handsomehunk manner by the "law makers"

[AKDejaVu]

Wow wobble.. you are young aren't you?

You don't get sued for calling someone a name.  If I call you a "Dickhead"... that's not something you'll get me into court over.

If I say that you raped my little sister to your employer and got you fired... then you'd have a pretty serious case against me... especially because I have no little sister.

Basically, standard laws should apply.  Hiding behind anonymoty shouldn't give you the right to say what you wouldn't say to someone's face.  Seems that is finally being adressed.  ...at least in some countries.

I have to give the UK kudos for this one.

AKDejaVu

[Fatty]

Well, curiously, in the interests of Civil Liberties we (in the US) have a freedom of information act, some states such as Florida and their Sunshine law go much further than that.  It's funny how Freedom of Speech gets twisted into Freedom of Anonymity.

While limited to government documents, it means anyone has access to pretty any information.  You might have every right to post anything anywhere, but others would have every right to see who posted what everywhere, I'd be every interested to see what happened if someone took it to court in the US.

Would the ACLU side the individual in that case?  If so they would be asking that the public be kept in the dark, essentially taking their rights away.

[Saintaw]

Wow Deja! I didn't realise that you guys had access to "The Register" too ! lol ! (I thought it was relegated to the Euro-Int*l-haters only...).

Bear in mind that some Countries here have "Discovered" that things such as "child abuse" and so on...only a few years ago   , so... they are taking "drastic measures"...

I don't believe much is actually BEING DONE, but, yeah...


Saw

[Swoop]

It gets worse.


You guys prolly havnt heard about it but the GB gov just passed the "RIP bill".  Dont ask me what RIP stands for cos I cant remember (plenty of stories at the Reg about it, look it up).


The basics of it are that the GB Police can ask ISPs and companies with their own email systems for copies of any (repeat: any) email you have sent or received.  They can also demand to know passwords and infrastructure details from any company employee to allow the police to gain access to company email systems and that employee is then COMMITTING AN OFFENCE if he tells his employer about it.

Another part of the bill also states that ALL traffic through EVERY ISP in GB must be copied to a government server for record keeping and perusal at the gov's leisure.  This part has not been implemented yet but it's clear they have absolutely no idea how much traffic they're talking about......

Thankfully, however, the IT literacy of the average GB policeman is such that ISPs in GB have been receiving demands to know what web sites specific people have visited.  Some ISPs have even received these demands for people who hold accounts with other ISPs.  There have also been demands to know what was posted on BBs in other countries.

Imagine that, you're a helpdesk pleb at Demon UK and some dopey copper rings you up and demands to know what someone has posted on a public BB (for all to see) in the US and if you dont comply (or inform your supervisor) you could be arrested.   "Er......ok dude, here's the URL, go look.  Wassat you say constable?  No internet connection.....let me put you through to sales."

duh.

   

[This message has been edited by Swoop (edited 03-20-2001).]

[-duma-]

 

Originally posted by TheWobble:
...Imagine saying something while playing AH like "DUMA, quit being a studmuffin" and a few days later you get a summence in the mail saying that DUMA (or whoever duma is) is sueing you for public slander..in other words spreading a rumor that is not true, he alleges that you publicaly told a mass of people (the MA arena) that he was gay and that this has had a detramental effect on his life...

Don't start this toejam AGAIN wobble  

[AKDejaVu]

 

Wow Deja! I didn't realise that you guys had access to "The Register" too ! lol ! (I thought it was relegated to the Euro-Int*l-haters only...).

I work for Intel.  We all know about the register here.  We read it frequently for a good laugh.

AKDejaVu

[Mickey1992]

In the US, Yahoo has already had cases where they had to cough up information about users who posted to their boards.  My girlfriend's company fired an employee in the field because he was posting confidential company information on a Yahoo BBS.  They had to subpoena Yahoo to get his user info.


------------------
Mickey
3./JG2

[Dowding]

In *real* life, companies and individuals are *extremely* litigious about what is written about them in the media. Look at those two British anarchists who handed out leaflets concering McDonald's activities - they were dragged through all the British courts over it.

It's even worse in America, I'm told.

Frankly, with any freedom or right there must be responsibility. It's about time there was at least some accountability on the internet.

Did you know that some British ISP's charge anti-paedophile police about £160 for just one search on their systems? Read some of the stuff about predatory paedophiles, and you would never let your kids even switch your computer on, nevermind enter a chat room.

"Cool, the internet is like some far-out free-speech orientated community."

Bollocks. If it is a 'community', then it turns a blind eye to all the perverts, scum and sub-human slime that seem to find it so easy to peddle their filthy trade.