HR 1966 2 year jailtime for hurting someone's feeling's on internet

haven't seen this on here.....so let me know what you think

revolutionradio.org...

The bill (HR 1966) proposes up to two years in prison for those whose electronic speech is meant to “coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.” Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum the potential harm of this bill on our freedom of speech will be massive

this bill was relatated to the Case in which a Mom invented a myspace personality named "josh" and teased a neighbor's daugher until she commited suicide......and this was an awful tragedy........but it the solution to impinge of free speech on the internet which could be abused by power hungry politicans to try and scare people from voicing opposing opinions toward a politician.......or just a fellow member or blogger.........heck i though a week suspension from a message board...or even banning was enough ........but instead they could sue you and if they have a good enough lawyer you could get jail time now????? in the USA

Interesting thought .. it 's there to protect people from bullies but at the same time it could be misused. Hadn't thought of that. In sue-happy America .. it could happen.

reply to post by cpdaman


Who ever introduced this bill is:

1. A douche bag.

2. A douche bag.

3. A Douche bag.

And I hope he reads it, I hope he get's his feelings hurt, I hope he cries alll the way back to his mommy who can make it all better for him. If I ever meet the douche bag who introduced this bill I will personally slap him/her in the face and call them what they are. A Douche Bag.

Oh look, I found em:

Rep Sanchez, Linda T. [CA-39]

Let's all e-mail her and tell her, Linda, to get over it. Coerce her into being a cyber bully, she's already a Freedom of Speech Bully.. might as well bring out the best in her!

It won't be long before people are thrown in jail for criticizing Obama and Jay Rocketfeller, the Rothschilds, any Powers-That-Be.

Scary times ahead.

I could see this becoming a huge cluster&#*@ of a mess down the road. I can understand that it being used in situations where cyber bullying and intimidation occure but who is to say that someone having a casual conversation or reading something they don't agree with falls under this bill?

Hmm.... this bill hurts my feelings.

Now what?

I'll bet this bill is up for review during this 2009-2010 session. Lets hope this doesnt pass.

This infringes on our bill of rights. If not this then a new treaty will be formed. The EU is already seeing restrictions.

Can you imagine the implications of this. Massive lawsuits because Joe Blow hurt my feelings on the Internet.

It's only intended for Control.

They may try to slip this bill in with the gun bill, when they ask for more Stimulas money.

Last time it was 4000 pages and no one had time to read it before signing the thing.

What a crock of BS..... myspace has a blocking feature, as do all the networking sites. I am thinking that the alleged victim wasn't the brightest bulb in the package to begin with.

The thing is, there HAS to be some sort of regulation. Harrassment is illegal in this country in person, but we have no issue with kids harrassing each other on myspace or facebook-even to the point where they push the victim to suicide.

It has happened far too many times.

I'm not saying I like this bill, but there has got to be some sort of regulation.

IDK why everyone gets bent out of shape every time a new piece of legislation comes down as far as Free Speech goes. The title of this thread is misleading. Just read the OP:

“coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.”

That's not just hurting someones feelings. In fact we have laws against this sort of thing in RL. Maybe it's time for the digital age to catch up.

reply to post by wonderworld


Every 15 year old gamer kid is going to be thrown in juvy for 2 years.. better buy some Halliburton stocks if we are going to crank up the prison construction!

HAHAHA AWESOME BEST BILL EVER!!!!

I really can't wait for this, i'm gonna get REALLY offended TEN TIMES AN HOUR everytime i read anything posted on ANY MSM, GOVERNMENT or CORPORATE website....

and yes i will be phoning the appropriate authoritys - filing formal complains - using it as an excuse EVERY time i get caught doing anything wrong.

hehe but seriously, what an insane bit of law - totally unworkable.

Originally posted by intrepid

“coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person.”

So what does that mean? Who decides what coercion, harassment and emotional distress are?

So now some girl who gets it on with some loser she met online can claim coercion when she regrets what she did a day later? Among the world of trash people and their little trash arguments claims of "harassment" take up an awful lot of police time when the truth is it's just a bunch of morons having moron fights and the harassment claim is an easy way to get back.

Something like "emotional distress" is clearly subjective. I assume there will be some panel of review for every claim made?

reply to post by intrepid


Don't see why we need a bill for this, the laws already in place are sufficient to bring charges against TRUE harassment cases.

In the events where a girl killed her self it was obvious that the kid had some serious issues far beyond a break up -- real or not --

But hey, we are a reactionary society so lets do what we do best..

Originally posted by Rockpuck

Every 15 year old gamer kid is going to be thrown in juvy for 2 years.. better buy some Halliburton stocks if we are going to crank up the prison construction!

Seriously, those juvenile gamers with their never ending streams of racial/ethnic/gender/orientation slurs and cursing. Should this bill pass Microsoft would have to end Live immediately. Sooner or later MS would get sued for enabling the kids or some other nonsense.

The actual relevant text of the bill is:

Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

The previous quotes exclude the more limiting clause. However, even with the limitations of the communications being necessarily "severe, repeated and hostile", this bill does not give a determinable enough definition of those terms to not be a 1st amendment infringement.

Intent to cause "distress", and what exactly is "hostile" in that context can be applied to a great range of political and social advocacy causes, for example.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
Don't see why we need a bill for this, the laws already in place are sufficient to bring charges against TRUE harassment cases.

Works for me. Just use them then.

More thought crime-hate speech legislation . If follow the money is any indicator, I wonder who are the profiteers in these cases?

There is a reason that pretty much most websites have a Block feature as well as a place to report abuse online.

I have multiple personality disorder and I have multiple accounts everywhere (except ATS because that is a violation of T&C ). Sometimes my personalities are cruel to each other. Does this mean I can have myself arrested?

YES IT DOES! no it dont! YES IT DOES!