Today I was catching up on the news and I read some disturbing reports about the digital age and how anyone can post a blog entry, send an email, or a text message that others may find objectionable or disagree with and the idea is that the government should step in and come to our rescue to protect our eyes and ears from information that they feel would cause one to be uncomfortable. What? Does anyone really believe this garbage? Please tell me this is not so. Am I offending you right now with my view on this subject? Freedom of speech is one of the many aspects that makes this country great and I for one do not believe the government should police digital media and determine what is appropriate and inappropriate.
Upon reading these new reports I decided I should do some research and see what if anything our elected officials and considering. What I found surprised me! A bill introduced by Representive Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., is designed to prevent cyberbullying, making it punishable by law.
I believe that we can protect our right to free speech and victims of cyberbullying at the same time,” continued Sanchez. “I want the law to be able to distinguish between an annoying chain email, a righteously angry political blog post, or a miffed text to an ex-boyfriend – all of which are and should remain legal; and serious, repeated, and hostile communications made with the intent to harm. When the latter rises to a criminal level, as it did in the case of Lori Drew, prosecutors should have a tool at their disposal to allow them to punish the perpetrator.
As I read more on the press release from September 30, 2009 Rep. Linda Sanchez also mentioned a case of a 17 year old victim and to my amazement Rep. Linda Sanchez has provided a link to the video, court transcripts, and more. I agree with what these boys did was wrong and they deserve punished I do find myself asking is there really a need to provide access to the graphic details in this manner? I think not! My problem with this bill is not with what Rep. Linda Sanchez stated in her quote but the language of the bill itself. Section 881 reflects:
- 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 term communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; and
- the term electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.
Oh what times we live in. In fact I found a web site titled Stop Cyberbullying which provides a list of both direct and indirect attacks and the one on blogs jumped out at me. Here is what it states:
Blogs are online journals. They are a fun way for kids and teens to messages for all of their friends to see. However, kids sometimes use these blogs to damage other kids’ reputations or invade their privacy. For example, in one case, a boy posted a bunch of blogs about his breakup with his ex-girlfriend, explaining how she destroyed his life, calling her degrading names. Their mutual friends read about this and criticized her. She was embarrassed and hurt all because another kid posted mean, private, and false information about her. Sometimes kids set up a blog or profile page pretending to be their victim and saying things designed to humiliate them.
While I see the basic common decency issue in this example use of a blog I must ask the question what if the boy had simply voiced his thoughts or wrote them on a sheet of paper and passed this note to the mutual friend? This is why I see this as a gray area and I am sure if you think about you high school years you probably said a great number of horrible things during that difficult time in life. Did I offend you here? Will the digital media police be knocking on my door? Where does it all stop?
The problem is not the digital medium rather I see it much like the saying “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. It’s true that one can sit at their desk and bang away at the keyboard without anyone watching over their shoulder however I put the blame on government, society, and parents. How can anyone expect any individual to act with morals when no one is teaching proper morals today for the most part. One does not have to look any further than out elected leaders to see they demonstrate poor judgment as well. Check check out Alan Grayson Attacking The GOP, Illinois governor’s cure for Chicago teen violence: More money by Michelle Malkin, and Friendly reminder from ACORN chief Bertha Lewis: You’re racist by Allahpundit .
It seems everyone has an excuse for everything!
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Steven enjoys all things technical, politics, fun and family. Basically life in general.
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